<P> Jason DeParle of the New York Times, after interviews with single mothers, said that they have been left without means to survive, and have turned to desperate and sometimes illegal ways to survive, including shoplifting, selling blood, scavenging trash bins, moving in with friends, and returning to violent partners . </P> <P> Diana Spatz, executive director of Lifetime, a statewide organization of low - income parents in California, advocates for the repeal of PRWORA because it prevents women from doing what she did prior to its passage, earn her bachelor's degree while supported by welfare . </P> <P> Besides the economic trends occurring during the passing and implementation of PRWORA; researcher's cannot exactly pinpoint to the exact factors that led to the decrease in enrollment in AFDC / TANF, even in times of economic downturn . Some Labor Economists argue that the continuing decline in AFDC / TANF enrollment was not due to a rise in the standard of living but offset by an exponential growth in the Earned Income Tax Credit, that by 2012 was the largest cash - benefit entitlement program in the United States . </P> <P> The first real tests for the effects on income and household financial health under PRWORA were the recession caused by the 2001 tech bubble crash and the 2008 economic meltdown cause by the housing bubble and the instability of the financial markets . During these two periods of economic problems, the enrollment in TANF followed a downwards trend . But macroeconomic indicators like the unemployment rate, the number of children in poverty and extreme poverty, and single - parent households below the poverty line followed an upwards trend with sharp increases during the late 2007 - 2009 recession . Indicating that enrollment in the program didn't track poverty, critics of welfare reform point to this as a failure of the PRWORA . </P>

What are the effects of the welfare reform act of 1996