All Massachusetts recipients are required towork or perform community service for 20 hourseach week. Those still at home are eitherpregnant, disabled or have a child younger thanthree months. Those who don't comply simply stopseeing the monthly checks.

The act shifted control over welfare spendingfrom the federal government to state legislatures.From Honolulu to Augusta, states equipped with ageneral road map from Washington have blazed theirown paths in reforming welfare.

For fiscal year 1998, the Bay State's DTAreceived $459 million in a Temporary Assistancefor Needy Families block grant.

Federal law now prohibits the DTA from usingthe money to support individuals for more thanfive years in a life-time. Still, states canexempt as much as 20 percent of its case load andthe DTA plans on using its full exemption.

The 1996 federal reforms were less a definitivedirective than a green light for states tocontinue their own tinkering. Even as statestightened the screws on work requirements, manyset in place the support structures critical tosuccessful employment.

Illinois pledged $100 million in state money toprovide child care for all low-income workers,regardless of their status on welfare.Massachusetts offers a similar arrangement wherenon-welfare low-income families receive a slidingscale subsidy for child care. In New Jersey, thestate recognized that entry-level jobs may be infar-away locales and established a $3.7 milliontransportation fund.

But the gentler supporting hands can't mask thehard push towards work.

In an effort to nudge recipients into the workforce, Massachusetts imposed a two-year limit onbenefits (within a five-year span), stricter thanfederal guidelines but not as harsh as the 12month maximum in Texas.

In the Cambridge area, however, it's clear thatself-sufficiency doesn't come just by turning offthe state spigot.

Caring for the Children

Kristine Kirkland, 5, squirms onto her mother'slap in the Davis Square DTA office and deliversher most pathetic puppy-dog expression. She wantsan audience for her reading of Cat in the Hat, andshe wants it now. As her mother explains theimportance of day care for single parents, littleKristine plows ahead with her impassionedrendition of the Dr. Seuss classic.

"My children mean the world to me," KimKirkland, mother of three, says while patting downa few stray strands of Kristine's hair.

Kirkland schedules her life around caring forher kids, making it impossible to hold a normaljob.

Fortunately, Kirkland's employers at Home Depotallow her to mold her hours around her children'slives, an unusual arrangement that ends whenKristine finishes half-day kindergarten in June.

Because Kristine's kindergarten class meetsonly in the mornings, Kirkland had to locate anafternoon day care center. Every weekday at 8:20am, Kirkland drops Kristine off at the EdgerleyKindergarten and then drives to her first shift atHome Depot. She leaves work to pick up Kristine at11 a.m. and plays with her until the YMCA day carecenter opens at 3 p.m. Kirkland returns to HomeDepot for her second shift which lasts until 7.