Welfare States
How the Southwest Transformed Welfare
Welfare reform allowed states to choose how they provide assistance to the poor — or hardly provide it at all. In the rapidly changing Southwest, that has sometimes led to bizarre or impossible requirements for getting help.
More States Are Allowing Child Support Payments to Reach Children
Since a ProPublica investigation found that states were seizing child support headed to families as reimbursement for the mother having received welfare, at least six states have changed their policies. Others are debating doing the same.
Biden Administration to Overhaul Welfare Following ProPublica Reporting
The Administration for Children and Families has quietly proposed closing loopholes in the nation's cash assistance program for the poor that a 2021 ProPublica investigation found states had exploited for years.
Southwestern States Make Changes to Welfare After ProPublica Investigations
The moves follow months of reporting on punitive and outdated welfare policies in this part of the country and come amid a yearslong surge in the region’s cost of living.
Head of New Mexico Child Support Agency Asks State to Stop Intercepting Payments to Poor Families
Following a ProPublica investigation, the New Mexico Child Support Enforcement Division is calling on the state Legislature to stop funding the agency with millions in child support confiscated from single mothers who previously received welfare.
