Welfare reform: impact on children under age 18 receiving SSI

When the Federal welfare reform law was enacted in August 1996, the law mandated substantial changes in the definition of childhood disability and in childhood SSI regulations. A quantitative-descriptive analysis of statistical reports from the Social Security Administration's Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics was conducted to explore whether these changes decreased the number of children eligible to receive SSI benefits. The findings suggest that the major impact from the law occurred about a year after the enactment and implementation of the law. In addition, the study describes differences among the ten SSA-designated regions and the characteristics of child SSI recipients before and after the enactment of the law.