The Social Security Act of 1935, which created Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) (subsequently renamed AFDC), gave authority to the states to set their own standard of need and benefit level (Abramovitz, 1996; Gordon, 1994).

What is the difference between ADC and AFDC?

Aid to Dependent Children or ADC (later renamed Aid to Families with Dependent Children, AFDC) was Title IV of the Social Security Act of 1935. At first it functioned mainly to provide federal grants to help the states maintain their mothers' aid laws that had been passed in 40 states between 1910 and 1920.

When did the AFDC program start?

Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) was established by the Social Security Act of 1935 as a grant program to enable states to provide cash welfare payments for needy children who had been deprived of parental support or care because their father or mother was absent from the home, incapacitated, deceased, or ...