Advocates for one of the state's most critical welfare programs are rallying to encourage lawmakers not to make any cuts until they've had a chance to review a new study on who benefits from the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families Program. The study's findings refute some perceptions of TANF's critics, who claim that the program encourages people to enroll for long periods of time. The Maine Women's Lobby maintains that, instead, the median length of time a Mainer benefits from the program is 18 months.

Anyone who thinks that a family would choose to live off the benefits supplied by the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families Program, known as TANF, should talk to Pam Smith. The southern Maine divorced mother of three has been on and off TANF for years as she tries to keep her family afloat in an uncertain economy.

"I didn't choose to go on TANF, I had no other option when I went through my divorce," Smith said. And Smith says she's no deadbeat. Without the TANF program's cash benefits, that can run as high as $485 for a family of three, Smith says she doesn't know how she would make ends meet.

"I work, I go to school, I support my kids on my own, and if it wasn't for TANF, I'd have no other option," Smith said. "My ex-husband doesn't pay the child support he's supposed to pay and it leaves me with no other option. And I wouldn't be able to put a roof over my children's heads if it wasn't for the TANF program."

But as Gov. Paul LePage and majority Republicans in the Legislature prepare to take up a new two-year state budget next month, proponents of the TANF are increasingly feeling like their program is in the cross-hairs. Republicans are concerned about what they think is significant fraud and abuse in a system they believe enourages some Mainers to rely on public assistance instead of going out and finding a job.

Sarah Standiford of the Maine Women's Lobby says she doesn't mind debating the merits of the program, as long as the information critics use is valid.

"As we all know, safety net programs more important now than ever before," Standiford said. "TANF has drawn particular attention by Gov. LePage in his inaugural address, by legislators in this building and in the news and opinion pages. Unfortunately, much of what today's debate on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families has been driven by are anecdotes and stereotypes--not credible information."

Rather than making a conscious choice to go on TANF, program recipients enroll as a last resort and are usually employed right up until the time they began to receive benefits, according to Prof. Thomas Chalmer McLaughlin of the University of New England.

McLaughlin conducted the survey of the program for the Maine Women's Lobby, Maine Equal Justice Partners and the Maine Children's Alliance after receiving responses from about 17 percent of 6,000 TANF families. He says the study showed that most of TANF's beneficiaries are working Maine mothers.

"What we learned is that people are on TANF because of their inability to find and maintain stable and secure employment," McLaughlin said. "We also learned that families come on TANF because of family health problems that limit the parents' ability to work. We found that familiy-related crisis stemming from divorce separation or domestic violence also mean that people come on TANF. Many families turn to TANF when they can't find work or struggle to sustain employment in sectors of the labor market where low wages are predominant."

"I'm going to be looking at any proposals related to TANF to say, 'How is this going to impact those who are really trying to get back on their feet and to get back to work,' and not just lumping them together as if somehow it's bad to use those programs," says House Democratic Leader Emily Cain, of Orono.

Cain says the TANF program exists to help people get back into the work force and does not promote a culture of dependence. Assistant Senate Majority Leader Debra Plowman, a Hampden Republican, says no one wants to pull out the rug from beneath those families who are using the program responsibly. But she wants greater guarantees that will eliminate abuse and fraud of the system and incentives to move the program's beneficiaries off welfare as soon as possible.

Plowman says Republicans are working to craft a welfare reform package that will create a TANF program that is more accountable to taxpayers while still providing benefits to those who need them.