2007 年 3 巻 p. 45-56
This article examines the historical transformation of mothers' pension programs into Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) of the United States Social Security Act of 1935. The mothers' pension system, which aimed to provide widows with cash assistance so that they could care for their children at home, was one of the most significant achievements of women's reform movements in the Progressive Era. By 1935, mothers' pension laws had been enacted in 46 states, but they failed to give subsistence to single mothers because of the shortage of financial resources and lukewarm public interest. The Great Depression further damaged the mothers' pension programs leaving many destitute women to general relief.
The U.S. Children's Bureau, which had been a strong advocate of mothers' pensions since its inception, worked closely with the Committee on Economic Security (CES) appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to draft the ADC plan. Its director, Kathleen Lenroot, expected that the enactment of ADC would "nationalize" mothers' pensions under the supervision of the bureau and realize the "whole child approach" that they advocated as experts on the issue.
However, the bureau's initiative was opposed by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), which attempted to establish a "generic" public assistance system under its leadership. The final report of the CES accepted most of FERA's recommendations because FERA was playing a leading role in giving cash assistance to impoverished families during the Great Depression,
Deliberations in Congress further emasculated the plan proposed by the Children's Bureau. Lawmakers, mostly from southern states, limited the amount of assistance and eliminated the provision of minimum subsistence. Motivated by racial prejudice against African American women who they feared would leave wage work for ADC, they succeeded in decentralizing ADC giving each state the right to determine the details of ADC according to the "local situation."