Welfare study by Tom McLaughlin cited in Seacoastonline story on reform debate

A study of Maine's Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program conducted by UNE Professor of Social Work Thomas Chalmers McLaughlin, Ph.D.,and Sandra Butler, professor of social work at the University of Maine at Orono, was cited in an April 24, 2011 Seacoastonline story on the debate over Gov. Paul LePage's call for the reform of the state's welfare system.

In the story State Rep. Mark Eves, D-North Berwick, who disagrees with the governor and his GOP colleagues on some issues of welfare reform, points to the the TANF study conducted earlier this year, which was commissioned by the Maine Equal Justice Partners and the Maine Women's Lobby. According to the study, the median time most families receive TANF is 18 months. Some 90 percent of the families that receive TANF for more than five years have a family member with a long-term disability.

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