Prior to the 1930s, social welfare programs were the province of county government and private agencies. Asylums, particularly poor farms, were built in most counties following the Civil War; they provided custodial care for orphans, the very old, the helpless, sick, and itinerant "tramps." Most people who needed help, however, turned to relatives, neighbors, or church agencies. The local and private agencies were overwhelmed by the severe depression of the 1930s, forcing first the state and then the federal government to intervene. Social welfare programs are implemented by county agencies but funded by local and state taxes and federal aid. In the early 1990s, the annual outlays for the five largest welfare programs in Illinois totaled more than $2 billion, or $421.05 per capita, in state government expenditures.
In 2001, the average weekly unemployment benefit was $265.40. Average monthly participation in the food stamp program in FY2002 comprised 886,344 persons (392,909 households). The average monthly benefit was $86.81, and the sum total of benefits paid in FY2002 was $923,305,728.
With the enactment of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, the US government has changed the form and regulations for many of its social welfare programs. Most significantly, it replaces Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), an open-ended entitlement program, with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), a limited system of assistance funded largely through federal block grants. The reform act also impacts the food stamp program, the Supplemental Security Income program, and the child nutrition program. The law took effect on 1 July 1997 and provided $16.38 billion in block grants for fiscal years 1997–2002. The grants are to be divided among the states based on an equation involving the numbers of former AFDC recipients in each state.
Reauthorization of the 1996 social welfare legislation, scheduled for 2002, was delayed, and the original law had been extended three times as of July 2003, with the most recent extension running through September 2003. Illinois's TANF program has no separate state name. In June 2000 the state had 259,242 welfare recipients. State expenditures on the TANF program in FY2002 totaled $426,774,903.
In December 2001, Social Security benefits were paid to 1,845,500 Illinois residents. This number included 1,201,790 retired workers, 207,560 widows and widowers, 179,850 disabled workers, 107,430 spouses, and 148,870 children. Social Security beneficiaries represented 14.8% of the total state population and 91.7% of the state's population age 65 and older. Retired workers (excluding persons with special benefits) received an average monthly payment of $915; widows and widowers, $882; disabled workers, $842; and spouses, $466. Payments for children of retired workers averaged $449 per month; children of deceased workers, $600; and children of disabled workers, $250.
Federal Supplemental Security Income payments in December 2001 went to 249,004 Illinois residents, averaging $401 a month.