Aid to Families with Dependent Children is commonly known as AFDC, the program was in place to help needy families. When enacted in 1935, it was designed to help widows with minor children. The cost was shared between the Federal and State governments. All 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands had an AFDC plan. The benefits of AFDC were calculated by what is known as a standard of need. Each state set its own standard of need that is how much it cost a family to live in that state. There were certain requirements that people who received benefits must meet. The family must have a child that was under the age of 18, they must be a resident of the state were they received the AFDC benefits, and they must be a United States citizen or an alien permanently residing in the United States.
English: Official White House photo of President B...
A chart showing average monthly welfare benefits (...
President Bill Clinton signing welfare reform legi...Aid to Families with Dependent Children was established by the Social Security Act of 1935. A program that provided money to the states to care for children who were in need. When the Social Sericuty Act was established, the United States was in the middle of the Great Depression. There were many people who had lost their jobs. President Roosevelt felt that the way to get the country out of the depression was to create public works programs and get the people of the United States back to work. AFDC was first meant to provide financial assistance to needy children who had only one parent or their parent was unemployed. In the early days of AFDC, the state was reimbursed by the federal government for a maximum payment of six dollars a month for the first child and four dollars for each additional child. AFDC also provided...