APPENDIX L. MONITORING THE EFFECTS OF WELFARE REFORM
CONTENTS
Evaluations and Reports Required by Law
Major Research Programs Monitoring or Evaluating Welfare Reform
National Surveys
State Policy Monitoring
Development of Program and Social Indicators
Implementation Studies
Topical Studies
State Welfare Demonstration Programs
Other Evaluations
EVALUATIONS AND REPORTS REQUIRED BY LAW
Numerous governmental and other organizations plan to
monitor the effects of the 1996 welfare reform law. The law
itself requires information and data reporting by States; calls
for several reports by States and Federal agencies; and
authorizes evaluations of programs and policies it created or
modified. Table L-1 summarizes the various reporting
requirements and evaluations related to welfare reform
specified in law.
MAJOR RESEARCH PROGRAMS MONITORING OR EVALUATING WELFARE REFORM
A variety of research activities are planned or underway
to monitor and evaluate welfare reform. These activities
include the fielding of new national surveys of families likely
to be affected by welfare reform. Most notable among these
survey efforts are the Census Bureau's Survey of Program
Dynamics (SPD) and the Urban Institute's Survey of American
Families. Several organizations are monitoring State welfare
policies under the devolved welfare system. Other organizations
are developing and compiling program and social indicators that
will aid in evaluating the new welfare program. Some groups are
undertaking studies to examine how States go about implementing
policy changes under the new welfare system. A number of
researchers are investigating special topics relating to
welfare reform, such as the effects of benefit termination and
grant diversion, others are studying the role of child care
under the new system, while still others are focusing on
certain groups such as the urban poor and immigrants.
TABLE L-1.--WELFARE REFORM: SURVEY AND DATA COLLECTION, REPORTS TO
CONGRESS, AND EVALUATIONS REQUIRED OR AUTHORIZED BY LAW
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Section \1\ Description Date due
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National surveys
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414 Census Bureau household Ongoing
sample survey to provide
data on TANF recipients
and other low-income
families. Funding $10
million each year, fiscal
years 1996-2002 \1\.
105 (PRWORA) Census Bureau required to November 22, 1996
expand data collection to
enable analysis of
grandparents as primary
care givers.
429A Department of Health and Ongoing
Human Services (DHHS)
national random sample of
child welfare containing
longitudinal data reliable
at the State level for
children who have been
subject to, or are at risk
of, abuse and neglect.
Funding $6 million each
year, fiscal years 1996-
2002 \2\.
1110 The fiscal year 1998 Interim report
appropriation law for DHHS submitted to the
includes $5 million for a Appropriations
DHHS study of ``welfare Committees by April
outcomes.'' The study 1998
should involve State-
specific surveys and data
sets, survey data on the
impact of State waiver
programs, and
administrative data.
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Evaluations
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413 DHHS research and Ongoing
evaluation of TANF,
welfare-to-work programs,
and abstinence education
programs. Also funds for
State-initiated
evaluations. Funding: TANF
research and evaluations:
$15 million per year
(fiscal years 1996-2002)
\1\; welfare-to-work
evaluations: $9 million
per year (fiscal years
1998-1999); and abstinence
education evaluations: $3
million per year (fiscal
years 1998-1999).
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Periodic reports to Congress
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411(b) TANF annual report by DHHS April 1, 1998 and
includes information on annually thereafter
whether States are meeting
TANF work requirements and
program objectives;
demographic and financial
characteristics of
families receiving TANF;
and characteristics of
TANF Programs.
452(a)(10) Child Support Enforcement 3 months after the
annual report by DHHS end of the fiscal
includes program costs and year
collections; number of
cases in which an
obligation has been
established and in which
collections have been
made; information on
collections for families
who receive, or used to
received, public
assistance.
1637(a) Supplemental Security May 30 of each year
Income (SSI) annual report
by the Social Security
Administration includes
current and historical
data on applications and
allowances,
characteristics of
recipients, program costs,
and 25-year projections of
program enrollment.
658K (Child Care and Child Care and Development July 31, 1998 and
Development Block Block Grant (CCDBG) annual every 2 years
Grant Act of 1990) report based on data thereafter
supplied by States,
includes number of
families served,
demographic and financial
characteristics of
families receiving care,
monthly cost of child care
services by type of care,
number of providers that
gave subsidized care.
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Other reports to Congress
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106 (PRWORA) DHHS report to Congress on Feb. 1997
the status of automated
systems to manage TANF
Programs.
107 (PRWORA) DHHS report on outcome September 30, 1998
measures as alternatives
to TANF work participation
requirements.
5001 (Balanced GAO study of the effect of August 5, 1998
Budget Act of 1997) family violence on the
need for public assistance.
232 (PRWORA) GAO study of the effects January 1, 1999
of: (1) changes in SSI
eligibility for children;
(2) extra expenses
incurred by families with
children; (3) bar on
benefits for those who
have committed welfare
fraud, fugitive felons,
and parole violators.
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Information and data reported by the States
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402(a) TANF State plans must July 1, 1997, and
outline State program to every 2 years
serve low-income families thereafter
with children.
411(a) Quarterly reports by the No later than 45 days
States to DHHS that after the end of the
include TANF disaggregated fiscal quarter
case record information, beginning July 1,
aggregated caseload 1997 and every
information, and financial quarter thereafter
information.
411A Report by the States to the At least 4 times
Immigration and annually and at the
Naturalization Service request of the INS
(INS) furnishing
information on illegal
aliens in the State.
413 Chief executive officer of May 31, 1998 and
each State must submit a annually thereafter
statement about the child
poverty rate in each State.
469 DHHS must collect and Ongoing
maintain up-to-date
statistics by State of the
child support enforcement
caseload and services
provided for paternity
determination, location of
absent parents, and
establishment of child
support obligations.
453A States must establish Directory must be in
directory of new hires place October 1,
under the Child Support 1997 (no deadline
Enforcement Program. DHHS for when data
may make this directory becomes available
available for research for research
purposes likely to purposes)
contributing to meeting
the goals of the TANF
Program.
658K (Child Care and States must submit Aggregate data due
Development Block information on the from the States
Grant Act of 1990) demographic and financial December 31, 1997
characteristics of and annually
families receiving child thereafter; case-
care assistance and level information
information about the cost first due from the
of care provided to States August 31,
families. Information is 1998 and quarterly
collected on a monthly thereafter
basis, but submitted to
DHHS quarterly.
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\1\ Unless otherwise noted, section references are to the Social
Security Act.
\2\ The appropriation law for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human
Services (HHS), and Education (Public Law 105-78) rescinded the fiscal
year 1998 funding of $15 million for welfare reform evaluations
(section 413) and $6 million for the child welfare sample (429A) and
included funding for these activities in a $26 million line item for
Social Services and Income Maintenance Research.
Note.--PRWORA = Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity
Reconciliation Act of 1996; TANF = Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families Program (title IV-A of the Social Security Act).
Source: Congressional Research Service.
A number of evaluations employing experimental or quasi-
experimental methods are also being conducted on various
components of States' welfare programs. These include studies
of work requirements, time limits, and increased earnings
disregards. For example, the Department of Health and Human
Services (DHHS) has awarded funds to States to continue
evaluations of demonstration programs that were begun under the
Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) Program. These
demonstrations were authorized under section 1115 of the Social
Security Act.\1\ A national evaluation of welfare-to-work
strategies, the former AFDC Job Opportunities and Basic Skills
(JOBS) evaluation, is also being undertaken.
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\1\ Under section 1115 of the Social Security Act, States were
required to support an evaluation of the impact of program changes
granted under waivers. The costs of section 1115 waiver evaluations
were matchable by the Federal Government. While States are allowed to
continue their waivers under the Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families (TANF) Block Grant, they receive no automatic additional
funding beyond the block grant for conducting evaluations. However,
DHHS has allocated discretionary research funds to protect its
investment in these evaluations. In fiscal year 1997, DHHS invited
States with waivers to apply for additional funding for up to 95
percent of the costs of continuing the evaluations under TANF. Nine
States were awarded funding to continue their evaluations under their
existing designs. Most of the waiver evaluations used an experimental
approach in which participants were randomly assigned to experimental
or control groups. In addition, DHHS has thus far funded grants to 10
States to implement modified evaluations for their new TANF Programs.
Under these evaluations, DHHS is supporting projects that will include
different evaluation methodologies, such as pre- and posttreatment
comparisons of the same groups and quasi-experimental designs.
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In addition, the DHHS 1998 appropriation (Public Law 105-
78) includes $14 million for policy research, of which $5
million has been earmarked for a study on the outcomes of
welfare reform. The House and Senate conferees on the bill
recommended that the study involve State-specific surveys and
data sets, survey data on the impacts of State waiver programs,
and administrative data such as food stamp, Social Security,
and Internal Revenue Service records. The study should measure
outcomes in both low and high economic growth areas of the
country. The conferees urged DHHS to submit its research plan
to the National Academy of Sciences to provide guidance on
research design and recommend further research. DHHS is
expected to provide an interim report to the Appropriations
Committees by May 13, 1998 (within 6 months of the bill being
signed into law).
In addition to these efforts, researchers will be
monitoring, reviewing, and assessing the evaluations. Some
groups are forming to set up information clearinghouses
relating to welfare reform. Others are setting up review panels
to assess the various research and evaluation efforts that are
being undertaken. Some groups are attempting to synthesize the
research and evaluations with the purpose of identifying ``best
practice'' models of welfare programs; i.e., State or local
programs whose design, administration, or implementation are
promising or judged to be effective and which other
jurisdictions may wish to adapt.
The following summary provides an indication of the types
of research activities that are now being planned and
undertaken. Our intent is not to be exhaustive but to provide
summary information about several of the major studies.
National Surveys
Survey of Program Dynamics (SPD)
The welfare reform law of 1996 provides the Census Bureau
with $10 million annually, from fiscal year 1996 to fiscal year
2002, to continue to collect data on families in the 1992 and
1993 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation
(SIPP). Called the Survey of Program Dynamics (SPD), the Census
Bureau continuation of SIPP will provide a nationally
representative sample of the population to evaluate the impact
of TANF. The 1992 and 1993 SIPP panels provide 3 years of
longitudinal data which can serve as a baseline for examining
TANF impacts. The Census Bureau interviewed members of these
panels again in the spring of 1997 and will collect annual
information from this sample on household characteristics,
income, and program participation. The legislation also
requires Census to obtain additional information on the status
of children.
Assessing the New Federalism--National Survey of America's Families
Assessing the New Federalism, being conducted by the Urban
Institute in Washington, DC, is a major foundation-funded,
multiyear comprehensive assessment of how State's income
support systems change as a result of the New Federalism. The
project includes a National Survey of America's Families which
surveys nearly 50,000 people to provide comprehensive
information on the well-being of adults and children as welfare
reform is being implemented in the various States. About half
the households in the sample have incomes below 200 percent of
the poverty line. The survey collects information on:
employment, economic hardship and income; child care and child
support; health insurance coverage, access to care, and use of
care; and the behavior and emotional well-being of children,
families, and individuals. The survey is designed to allow
State-specific estimates in the 13 States (Alabama, California,
Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota,
Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Washington, and
Wisconsin) selected for intensive study, as well as to allow
national estimates. Two waves of interviews are being
conducted, one in 1997 and the other in 1999.
Child Welfare Longitudinal Study
The welfare reform law required DHHS to conduct a
longitudinal study to describe the outcomes for children and
families who come in contact with the child protection system.
The study, which is being conducted under contract by the
Research Triangle Institute in North Carolina, will examine
system-level and service factors, as well as child and family
characteristics, that contribute to child and family outcomes.
The study will select a nationally representative sample of
6,000 children upon entry into the child protection system. One
hundred agencies will be included in the sample. Information
will be collected at baseline and at three annual followup
interviews from the children and their care givers,
caseworkers, and other agency personnel and service providers.
The contract will cover a 6-year period, with field work
expected to begin in the spring of 1999.
State Policy Monitoring
Monitoring State welfare reform
The General Accounting Office is conducting a multiyear
study that monitors and reports on the progress States are
making in achieving the stated objectives of TANF as they
reform their public assistance programs for needy families. The
study's major questions are: (1) How are States using the
design and funding flexibility provided by the law to
restructure their assistance programs for needy families?; (2)
What approaches are States taking in promoting work
opportunities to reduce welfare dependence and what are the
major challenges they are encountering?; (3) What approaches
and polices are States using to promote personal responsibility
to reduce out-of-wedlock pregnancies and births, encourage
formation and maintenance of two-parent families, and promote
marriage? The study will include site visits to seven States.
Information for all 50 States will be drawn from State welfare
plans and compilations of State programs from other sources.
Survey on status of States' implementation of welfare reform
The American Public Welfare Association is conducting a
comprehensive baseline survey on the implementation of welfare
reform in the States in 14 topical areas relating to welfare
reform. Future surveys will focus on specific welfare reform
issues such as management, service delivery, and policy
decisions; eligibility, work, and benefits; children's issues;
and food stamps.
Database on State legislative activity
The National Council of State Legislatures is developing a
database on welfare legislation enacted in each State. Topics
to be covered include: time limits, eligibility, impacts on
immigrants, benefit levels, responsibility contracts, grant
diversion, minor parent provisions, school attendance
requirements, work and participation requirements, job creation
strategies, transitional services, and administration and
oversight.
State Policy Documentation Project
This project, which is being run by the Center for Law and
Social Policy and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in
Washington, DC, monitors and reports on program changes
(administration, eligibility, services/benefits provided) that
States legislate and implement. The project covers changes in
food stamps, general assistance, TANF, and Medicaid Programs.
State child care policies
The Urban Institute of Washington, DC, is conducting a
project that will summarize the key features of State child
care assistance programs for low-income families, including
detailed descriptions of reimbursement rates, eligibility
rules, and benefit levels, in all 50 States. State policies in
effect in 1997 will be compared to those in effect prior to the
new child care and Federal welfare reform legislation.
State Medicaid Eligibility Decisions and Practices Report
The American Public Welfare Association is monitoring
State's choices in establishing Medicaid eligibility. The
welfare reform law changed State options about Medicaid
eligibility. TANF recipients are not automatically eligible for
Medicaid as they were under AFDC. Rather, Medicaid eligibility
now incorporates the States' standards used for determining
AFDC eligibility which were in effect on July 16, 1996. States
may also decline Medicaid services for most populations of
resident aliens. This study will examine States' choices in
these areas.
Development of Program and Social Indicators
Urban Institute's State database
The Urban Institute is developing a State database as part
of its ``Assessing the New Federalism'' project. The database
will incorporate State-specific data in several broad areas,
including: income security, health, well-being, State fiscal
and political conditions, demographic characteristics, and
social services. The database will contain aggregate measures
of budget growth or decline, tradeoffs among major spending
categories, discretionary tax increases and decreases, and
certain indicators of how programs are changing (e.g., welfare
programs' benefit levels, eligibility rules, time limits, and
behavioral incentives).
Welfare Reform Information and Support Project
The Census Bureau has funded a project, being carried out
by the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of
Wisconsin, that will devise a framework for classifying welfare
reform programs along important program dimensions. The
classification scheme will then be applied to welfare reform
programs in counties that constitute the primary sampling units
(PSUs) in the Census Bureau's Survey of Program Dynamics (SPD)
described above. The project will allow linkage of county
program parameters with the SPD data.
Supporting State efforts to link administrative data systems
These DHHS grants fund State efforts to link
administrative program data from a variety of low-income
assistance programs in order to analyze the collateral impacts
welfare reform has on recipients and on other State and Federal
assistance programs. While States may pursue any type of data
linkages which examine potential impacts of welfare reform on
other programs, DHHS has identified several topical areas of
interest, including: foster care/kinship care, child abuse and
neglect, mental health and substance abuse, teen pregnancy,
out-of-wedlock childbearing, domestic violence, and work and
work-related support services. South Carolina, Maryland,
Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and Mecklenburg County, North
Carolina, have received funding for this project.
Implementation Studies
Assessing the New Federalism--case studies
This project is part of the Urban Institute's
comprehensive assessment of how State's income support systems
change as a result of welfare reform (see above). In addition
to TANF, the project will track general assistance,
unemployment insurance, employment and training programs, child
support policies, child care subsidies, and State tax policies.
Case studies will be conducted in 13 States selected for
intensive study; the case studies focus on the development and
implementation of reform policies. The 13 States are: Alabama,
California, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan,
Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Texas,
Washington, and Wisconsin. The first round of intensive case
studies started in late 1996 and were completed in early 1997.
A second round in the same locations is planned for 1999.
Study of State capacity
Being conducted by the Rockefeller School of Government at
the State University of New York in Albany, this 4-year study
focuses on State governments' capacity to implement social
programs, including family and children's services, welfare,
work force development programs, and Medicaid. The study
focuses on such issues as: planning and management; information
systems; integration and coordination of services and
facilitation of access and ease of use; and interaction between
welfare agencies and other entities including local
governments, nonprofits, businesses, and service providers. The
study will conduct indepth case studies of up to 18 States.
Particular management topics will be addressed in all 50
States. A small number of States that appear to be innovative,
or whose implementation appears to be especially interesting,
will be chosen, along with the case study States, for analysis
of particular topics in greater detail. DHHS has funded a
topical study that will examine culture change at the frontline
worker level in local offices.
Topical Studies
States' early experiences with benefit termination
The General Accounting Office (GAO) is examining the early
experiences of three States in benefit termination (mostly as a
result of work requirement sanctions). The study examines
implementation problems and effects on families that were
terminated.
An examination of State diversion programs and impacts on Medicaid
This DHHS-funded study being conducted by George
Washington University in Washington, DC, will focus on State
welfare diversion programs and their effects on Medicaid
enrollment. The link between AFDC and Medicaid that existed
before welfare reform was one of the primary means of entry
into Medicaid for poor families. Formal and informal diversion
programs, because they limit the contact that poor families
have with welfare offices, may potentially limit their access
to Medicaid coverage if steps are not taken to formally assess
them for Medicaid eligibility. This study proposes four broad
areas of inquiry: (1) How are State diversion programs being
conceived and structured?; (2) How are these diversion programs
actually being implemented and what are the effects on
participants, particularly with respect to Medicaid
enrollment?; (3) How might local communities and institutions
be affected by diversion programs, in particular by changes in
Medicaid enrollment rates?; (4) Can potential strategies for
monitoring changes in Medicaid enrollment rates and the effects
of such changes over time be developed based on existing
databases? The project is expected to be completed by November
1998.
A study of diverted welfare applicants in Milwaukee
Mathematica Policy Research of Princeton, New Jersey and
the Hudson Institute of Indianapolis are conducting a study of
applicants who are diverted from receiving welfare. About 250
Wisconsin families in each of 3 sample groups will be
interviewed: families that left Wisconsin's welfare rolls
during the sample interview; families that began but did not
complete the application process (diverted applicants); and
families that began and completed the application process. The
study seeks to determine what precipitated the applicants'
decision to apply for welfare, what was their experience during
the application process, when and why they decided to stop the
application process, and how they are doing relative to when
they decided to apply for assistance.
Wisconsin administrative data project on former AFDC recipients
This DHHS-funded study by the Institute for Research on
Poverty is intended to get early results on the economic and
employment outcomes of women who left the AFDC rolls in
Wisconsin--a State that has experienced a rapid decline in
caseloads over the past 10 years. The study will use linked
administrative data, including: (1) AFDC and food stamps data;
(2) earnings data from unemployment insurance records; and (3)
income and family status data from State tax records. This
project will not explain caseload decline; rather it will
describe the characteristics and outcomes of two groups of
women who have left the AFDC Program in Wisconsin: one group of
recipients in January 1995, and another group of recipients in
January 1990, who left AFDC over the course of the year.
Evaluation of community-based job retention programs
This DHHS-funded project, being carried out by the
Pittsburgh Foundation, includes two phases. In phase 1, the
project will provide a detailed implementation analysis and
short-term outcome analysis for participants receiving various
mixes of job retention and postemployment services. The
services will be provided to about 700 employed TANF recipients
through 5 community-based neighborhood service organizations in
Pittsburgh. A common set of services will be provided but
within the context of somewhat different existing service
delivery systems among the community-based neighborhood service
organizations. Phase 2, in project years 2 and 3, will include
State-funded job retention programs.
Assessing effective welfare-to-work strategies for domestic violence
victims and survivors in the Options/Opciones Project
This DHHS-funded research project by the Taylor Institute
of Chicago, Illinois will study effective strategies for
addressing the needs of abused women as they try to enter the
labor force. This project will document the needs of battered
girls and women on welfare and will identify successful
strategies employed to eliminate violence and exit welfare. The
research will focus on services provided through Options/
Opciones in partnership with the Illinois Department of Public
Aid in one major welfare department office on the west side of
Chicago. Options/Opciones will provide the following services:
case management; preemployment training groups; and weekly peer
support groups for those who have completed the preemployment
training.
Child care under welfare reform
The General Accounting Office is undertaking a study that
will focus on several areas relating to child care and welfare
reform. Among other issues, the study examines how States are
allocating resources to provide child care to welfare families,
to families transitioning off welfare, and to working poor
families. The study also examines State efforts to increase the
supply of child care given the growing demand for child care
under welfare reform and whether States are changing standards
for child care providers in response to welfare reform. The
study will rely on site visits, telephone interviews, State
plans filed with DHHS, and results from other research.
Child care research partnerships
DHHS has awarded five Child Care Research Partnership
projects (California Child Care Resource and Referral Network,
Columbia University, Harvard University, Linn Benton College,
and Wellesley College) to examine three broad questions: (1)
How do child care policies and market dynamics influence child
care demand, supply, and outcomes for low-income families,
particularly welfare clients, those moving from welfare to
work, and the working poor?; (2) How do child care
opportunities and constraints affect the lives of low-income
families and children?; and (3) What factors affect the cost,
quality, and delivery of subsidized child care services?
Collectively, these partnerships involve many local, State and
national partners, including university research teams;
agencies which administer child care, welfare, education, and
employment programs; major corporations; national research and
professional organizations; many community agencies and
organizations; child care providers; and families from a wide
spectrum of American society. Participating States include:
Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland,
Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Oregon.
National study of low-income child care
This DHHS-funded project being carried out by Abt
Associates of Cambridge, Massachusetts will study the low-
income child care market in 25 communities in several States. A
substudy will examine the license-exempt family care market in
neighborhoods drawn from these communities. The studies will
examine how significant shifts in welfare policy and programs
affect the child care market for welfare recipients and the
working poor at the community level. They will examine the
impact that subsidies have on the types, amounts and quality of
child care available, on children's child care placements, and
on family decisionmaking. Additionally, the studies will report
on the largely unknown license-exempt family care market for
both preschool and afterschool cohorts.
Improving the States' capability to evaluate child care policy options
as a component of their welfare-to-work strategies
The Urban Institute and Mathematica Policy Research are
conducting a DHHS-funded project to develop an expanded
simulation model that would enable State welfare administrators
to consider the interactions between child care assistance and
welfare reform policies. Currently, Mathematica Policy Research
is nearing completion in the development of a model to assess
alternative welfare reform policies--STEWARD II. This project
would add a component to STEWARD II that allows States to
assess child care funding policies as they intersect with
welfare reform.
The role of child care in low-income families' labor force
participation
The Urban Institute and Mathematica Policy Research are
also conducting a DHHS-funded project that will develop
research designs to address the relationship between child care
and labor force attachment. The major work under this contract
will consist of a series of working papers that critically
evaluate research related to child care and labor force
attachment, and that develop the rationale for the factors
included in possible research designs.
The devolution of welfare: assessing the effects on communities,
families and young children
The University of California-Berkeley and Yale University
Child Study Center are collaborating on a study that will focus
on the effects of welfare reform on early child development,
child care, and early education in eight sites in four States.
In years 1 and 3 of the study, investigators will inventory
local welfare agencies at each site to determine changes in
Federal and State welfare polices and services. A sample of 60
low-income families with a birth in the last year will be drawn
from each community and interviewed annually. Data will include
economic and demographic information as well as information on
child care (including quality of care). The study will use
various tests to assess the physical, social, and mental
development of children in the sample families.
Study of the effect of family violence on the need for public
assistance
Legislation passed in 1997 (Public Law 105-33) requires
the General Accounting Office to conduct a study on the effect
of family violence on the use of public assistance programs,
particularly on how family violence prolongs the use of or
increases the need for assistance.
Devolution and urban change
The Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation is
conducting a foundation-funded, 5-year study of the impact of
welfare reform on urban areas. Four urban areas are included in
the study: Los Angeles, Miami, Cleveland, and Philadelphia. The
study will focus on three broad questions: (1) How are new
State policies implemented by the local welfare office, and how
do they affect the structure of the safety net and the mission,
message, benefits, eligibility, and service mix offered by
public agencies?; (2) How do the new policies affect the role
and activities of community organizations?; and (3) How do the
new policies affect the dynamics of program participation,
employment, and the overall well-being of low-income families
with children? The study will rely primarily on administrative
data from TANF, unemployment insurance, and food stamps, going
back over time as well as current data. Surveys will be
administered to at least two cohorts of people who received
food stamps in 1995 and 1997. Between 750 and 1,000 people per
cohort per city will be selected for the survey. The project
will include four additional separate studies in each of the
areas: an implementation study of how the mission, message,
benefits and service mix offered by welfare agencies change; a
study of neighborhood indicators; an ethnographic study of
approximately 30-50 families in each city; and an indepth study
of nonprofit organizations and community institutions (e.g.,
churches, schools) and their responses to welfare reform.
Information for action: understanding the challenges of welfare reform
from a neighborhood perspective
The Urban Institute's National Neighborhood Indicators
Project will collect neighborhood-level data about
characteristics of welfare recipients, the jobs that are
potentially available to them, and the impact of welfare reform
in six cities (Atlanta, Boston, Cleveland, Denver, Providence,
and Washington). The data will be incorporated into geographic
information systems, which can be searched by zip code or
census tract, for use by communities and local decisionmakers.
The database will help researchers address such questions as:
Where do the people live who are at greatest risk of becoming
welfare recipients?; How does welfare reform affect people and
neighborhoods over time?; Are recipients able to get and keep
jobs, obtain health coverage, and improve their overall family
well-being?
Multicity study of the effects of welfare reform on children
A consortium of universities including Johns Hopkins,
Harvard, Pennsylvania State, and Chicago are conducting an
interdisciplinary study of the effects of welfare reform on
children and youth living in three cities (San Antonio, Boston,
and Chicago). The study will collect information on child and
youth well-being which includes measures on health and
disability, cognitive development, emotional development,
school achievement, and fertility in order to address such
issues as: the effects on children of being in a family that is
receiving welfare; the effects on children of living in a
single-parent working family; the implications of welfare
reform for persons with disabilities; the effects of poverty on
children; the importance of income per se; and factors that
mitigate or exacerbate the impacts of having low income.
Interviews, direct assessments of the well-being of children,
and administrative records provide the data on which the study
is based. The study will follow families over time, and new
families may be added. Detailed information on the rules of the
local welfare system in the three sites will be collected to
help determine whether and how impacts relate to welfare
policies.
Neighbors, service providers, and welfare reform in Los Angeles County
This Rand project will examine neighborhood variation in
the availability of public and private social services
throughout Los Angeles County early in the implementation of
welfare reform. The study will also investigate how agencies
are adapting to the current and anticipated changes in demand
for their services as a result of welfare reform. The focus of
the inquiry will be on services directed toward children and
families.
Welfare reform studies and analyses (rural TANF)
The purpose of this DHHS-funded project by Eastern
Washington University in Cheney, Washington, is to conduct an
indepth process evaluation of family response to the
implementation of welfare reform in three remote rural counties
of northeastern Washington State: Stevens, Ferry and Pend
Oreille. The study will examine family strategies to attain
economic self-sufficiency, family support from social networks,
and assistance provided by community agencies, including
transportation and child care.
Restricting welfare eligibility for legal immigrants
The General Accounting Office is preparing a report that
will describe the impact of changes in the welfare law on
immigrants, particularly on their use of the Supplemental
Security Income, Medicaid, TANF and Food Stamp Programs. GAO
will examine: (1) how many and what types of legal immigrant
households have their Federal welfare benefits terminated; (2)
how States implement the limits on legal immigrants'
eligibility for Federal welfare benefits (both optional and
mandatory); (3) what plans States have to provide assistance to
legal immigrants; and (4) what major implementation issues and
challenges Federal agencies and States face in administering
the provisions restricting welfare assistance to legal
immigrants.
Study on the economic and health status of immigrants, their
communities, and the organizations which serve them
The Urban Institute in collaboration with the University
of California at Los Angeles is conducting a study, funded by
DHHS, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, which profiles the status of
immigrants in Los Angeles and New York City with regard to
health, employment, and participation in programs administered
by public and private agencies. The study will pay special
attention to distinguishing different categories of immigrants
and drawing comparisons between them and the native population.
To the extent possible, the project will explore the impacts of
welfare reform on immigrants, communities, and the
organizations which serve them, with attention to both
individual and institutional adaptations. The impact of the
loss of food stamps among current legal immigrants will be a
particular focus of the study.
Welfare to work: monitoring the impact of welfare reform on American-
Indian families with children
This DHHS-funded project at the Washington University
School of Social Work in St. Louis is addressed primarily to
monitoring the implementation and assessing the impact of
welfare reform on Indian reservations. The study will examine
the prospects for economic independence of parents currently on
welfare and the potential changes in the service structure and
socioeconomic conditions on reservations brought about by State
and tribal responses to TANF. Descriptive information on TANF
Program implementation and, if available, evaluative data on
short-term program impacts will also be generated by the study.
Arizona was chosen as the study site because it has the largest
reservation-based American Indian population, with 21
reservations of varying characteristics.
Partner and father involvement in the lives of low-income first-time
mothers and their children
This DHHS-funded project at Children's Hospital in Denver
will investigate the role that fathers play in improving the
material, emotional, and developmental well-being of low-income
women and children. The project consists of a set of intensive
secondary analyses using data from three longitudinal
randomized experiments of a program of prenatal and infancy
home visitation serving first time mothers from various ethnic
and racial groups. All three experiments used home visitation
by nurses or health paraprofessionals to assist the first time
mothers; the projects were conducted in Elmira, New York;
Memphis, Tennessee; and Denver, Colorado. Most of the mothers
were low income, and previous findings from this evaluation
demonstrate many positive impacts of the program on women's
maternal life course, caregiving, and child outcomes. Data has
been collected by these studies on the role of fathers and
their possible relation to program effects. This project is
designed to analyze those data.
State Welfare Demonstration Programs
The following 20 projects are being funded by DHHS as
components of the State Welfare Reform Evaluation Project,
under which States continue, possibly with modifications, the
evaluations of their section 1115 AFDC waiver demonstrations.
Arizona's EMPOWER Program
Abt Associates is evaluating Arizona's EMPOWER (Employing
and Moving People Off Welfare and Encouraging Responsibility)
Program, a continuation of the State's waiver demonstration
program. EMPOWER's main provisions are: (1) time-limiting cash
assistance for adult recipients; (2) withholding cash
assistance for additional children born while the family
receives assistance; (3) extending transitional medical and
child care benefits from 12 to 24 months; (4) eliminating the
100 hour per month work restriction for two-parent family
eligibility; (5) allowing individual development (savings)
accounts; (6) requiring unwed minor parents to live with a
responsible adult; (7) requiring 13- to 16-year-old parents
(including pregnant girls) to participate in JOBS/TANF; (8)
imposing automatic sanctions for initial noncompliance with
JOBS/TANF Program requirements; and (9) implementing a limited
subsidized employment pilot called JOBSTART.
The study randomly assigned 5,829 applicants and recipients
to control and experimental groups. The evaluation will study a
variety of impacts, including: income and employment; program
participation; program duration; family structure (including
fertility) and stability; child well-being; and employer health
benefit provision. The study will also include process studies
on how the demonstration was implemented and a cost-benefit
analysis. The evaluation is scheduled to be completed by June
2002.
Connecticut's Jobs First Program
The Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation is
evaluating Connecticut's Jobs First Program, a continuation of
the State's waiver demonstration program. Jobs First includes:
(1) a 21-month time limit for nonexempt recipients; (2) 24
months of transitional Medicaid; (3) liberalized earnings and
asset disregards; (4) limited eligibility for children born
while the family receives assistance; (5) a strong emphasis on
job search as a labor market screen and use of employability
assessment only if a job has not resulted from extensive
search; and, (6) progressive sanctions for noncompliance. Jobs
First was one of the first programs to impose a time limit in a
major urban area (New Haven and Hartford).
The study randomly assigned 6,000 recipients to Jobs First
or traditional AFDC. The study examines implementation and
staff and recipient attitudes toward the changes in the welfare
system under welfare reform. It will examine the impacts of
Jobs First on: work, earnings and poverty status; welfare
receipt and costs; job-retention and recidivism; family
composition and stability; the well-being of children; child
support and other sources of income; the use and perceived
quality of program services and child care; attitudes toward
work, welfare, and Jobs First; and, material hardship
especially as hardship may be affected by time limit policies.
The evaluation's scheduled completion date is April 2002.
Florida's Family Transition Program
The Manpower Development Research Corporation is
evaluating Florida's Family Transition Program (FTP) in
Escambia County, a continuation of the State's waiver
demonstration program. Provisions of the FTP demonstration
include: a 24-month time limit on assistance (with some
exceptions); increased earned income disregards; requiring
parents of children age 6 months or older to participate in
employment and training programs; a higher motor vehicle asset
limit; increased eligibility for two-parent families; and
school attendance requirements for teenagers.
A total of 5,430 AFDC applicants who met FTP eligibility
criteria were randomly assigned to either a control group or
experimental group. The study examines such questions as: Is
the FTP Program being implemented as intended?; How do program
staff across all components of FTP attempt to achieve the
multiple goals implicit in the program model?; How do welfare
recipients respond to the new package of rules and services?;
Who reaches the time limits?; What happens prior to and at the
point when time limits are reached, and after benefits are
terminated?; Does FTP increase the rate at which welfare
recipients participate in and complete various education and
employment activities?; Does FTP lead to increases in
employment and earnings?; Does FTP reduce welfare receipt?; Is
FTP cost effective? The FTP evaluation, which began in 1994, is
scheduled to be completed by April 2000.
Illinois' Youth Employment and Training Initiative
Illinois State University is completing an evaluation of
the State's Youth Employment and Training Initiative (YETI)
operated as a welfare reform demonstration from November 1993
until July 1997 when TANF was implemented in the State. YETI
focused on inner-city youth in welfare families and provided
counseling and classes designed to: help participants stay in
high school and graduate; increase life skills and self-esteem
and reduce the incidence of pregnancies and substance abuse;
increase job-readiness and vocational skills; and facilitate
the transition from school to work. The overall objective was
to reduce the likelihood of welfare dependency among inner-city
youth.
The evaluation is a random assignment experiment in which
1,000 students in 3 high schools who volunteer to participate
were randomly assigned to an experimental or control group. The
major impact questions center on whether the interventions will
help participants complete high school, obtain and hold regular
jobs, avoid the pitfalls of substance abuse or early
parenthood, and achieve economic self-sufficiency. The process
study centers on whether the program can be effectively
implemented and operated in inner-city schools. The cost/
benefit analysis determines the cost effectiveness of the
program for government, participants and the general public.
The evaluation is expected to be completed by July 2000.
Indiana's IMPACT Program
Abt Associates is evaluating Indiana's IMPACT (Indiana
Manpower Placement and Comprehensive Training) Program, a
continuation of the State's waiver demonstration program.
IMPACT includes the following major policy provisions: grant
diversion; a 24 month benefit time limit for adults determined
to be JOBS eligible; a family benefit cap; child immunization
and school attendance requirements; and a higher resource limit
for AFDC eligibility. Under TANF, effective April 1997, two
major policy changes were added under IMPACT: the 24 month
welfare benefit time limit was expanded to apply to all
mandatory employment or training cases, and adults with
children over the age of 12 weeks and under the age of 3 years
are no longer exempt from participating in employment or
training activities.
Applicants and recipients were randomly assigned to
control and experimental groups. Central research questions to
be explored include: Were the reforms successfully
implemented?; What organizational characteristics, service
features, and aspects of the demonstration environment
determine its impacts?; How do these reforms affect benefit
payments, income, self-sufficiency, children's well-being, and
family stability?; What are the consequences of the changes on
welfare entry and the size and composition of the welfare
caseload under TANF?; What trends should the State expect in
levels of benefit payments and services needed?; What happens
to individuals after they leave welfare, especially as a result
of reaching the time limit? The evaluation is scheduled to be
completed by April 2002.
Iowa's Family Investment Program
Mathematica Policy Research is evaluating Iowa's Family
Investment Program (FIP), a continuation of the State's welfare
waiver demonstration. The FIP combines program changes designed
to ease a family's transition from welfare to work with strict
requirements that recipients participate in the development and
execution of a social contract, the family investment agreement
(FIA). The FIA details the steps a family will take to become
self-sufficient and establishes a timeframe for doing so.
Families which opt not to develop an FIA or fail to follow
through with the self-sufficiency plan outlined in the
agreement are placed on a 6-month limited benefit plan (LBP)
which leads to the complete loss of cash assistance for a
following 6-month period.
Applicants and recipients were randomly assigned to
control and experimental groups. The study seeks to determine
the long-term impacts of the FIP initiatives on: cash
assistance, food stamp and Medicaid recipiency and benefit
amounts; participation in employment and training activities;
employment, earnings and total family income (including the FIP
cash grant, food stamps, earnings, and child support); the
incidence of poverty; and the number and duration of welfare
spells, frequency of recidivism, and the number and duration of
employment spells. In addition to an impact analysis, the study
will also include process studies on how the demonstration was
implemented and a cost-benefit analysis. The scheduled
completion date is April 2000.
Iowa's limited benefit plan
Mathematica Policy Research is conducting a study, using
funds from DHHS and foundations, that is one of two add-on
studies to Iowa's AFDC waiver evaluation. This study will
examine families, sanctioned under Iowa's Family Investment
Program, that are placed in the limited benefit plan (LBP),
which leads to complete loss of cash assistance for a following
6-month period. The study will describe the experiences and
outcomes of welfare cases that have been assigned to the LBP
more than once.
The study will be based on administrative and survey data.
Major research questions for the study of repeat LBP
assignments are: To what extent do recipients assigned to the
LBP for a second time understand the family investment
agreement, a social contract required under Iowa's regular TANF
Program?; After experience with LBP, what efforts do clients
make to meet program requirements?; What events, barriers and
circumstances contribute to their failure to meet these
requirements following their first LBP?; What are the nature of
changes in family income, employment, housing and stability
following benefit termination under a second LBP?; What are the
demographic characteristics of cases assigned to the LBP for a
second time? The study is scheduled to be completed by
September 2000.
Iowa study of postemployment services
Mathematica Policy Research is also conducting the other
add-on study to Iowa's AFDC waiver evaluation. This study
examines postemployment services by describing and comparing
standard and enhanced postemployment services and assessing
their contribution to clients' progress toward self-
sufficiency. The study, which will be based on administrative
and survey data, scheduled for completion by September 2000,
documents the processes for developing, implementing, and
delivering postemployment services.
Maryland's Family Investment Program
The University of Maryland School of Social Work is
conducting a statewide process study to examine and document
frontline assessment and allocation practices under TANF. The
objective of this analysis is to help clarify the relationship
between agency factors and county-level characteristics by
describing county-level variation in frontline procedures. The
evaluation is scheduled to be completed by September 2000.
Minnesota's Family Investment Program
The Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation is
evaluating Minnesota's Family Investment Program (MFIP). Major
features of MFIP include: making work pay for public assistance
families, primarily by using increased disregards to decrease
grant reduction for earned income until an income threshold is
achieved; requiring long-term public assistance recipients to
participate in intensive employment/training services,
including mandatory case management; and consolidating benefits
and simplifying rules and procedures for TANF, general
assistance and food stamps. Impact analyses will be based on
random assignment methodology comparing experiences of control
and experimental group members with respect to service
participation, welfare receipt, employment, earnings, and
income and poverty. The evaluation is scheduled to be completed
by December 2000.
Minnesota's WorkFIRST Program
Maximus, Inc. of McLean, Virginia, is evaluating
Minnesota's WorkFIRST and the State's TANF Program. The TANF
Program is a continuation of the Minnesota Family Investment
Program (MFIP) welfare reform demonstration. WorkFIRST uses a
mandatory labor force attachment strategy which includes
providing benefits through vendor payments. MFIP represents
what might be characterized as a progressive labor force
attachment model in which work is rewarded through a more
liberalized structure of income disregards for TANF recipients.
The study will consist of both a process and impact
evaluation, the latter employing a quasi-experimental, pretest/
posttest comparison group design. The major research questions
for the study are: Will the WorkFIRST Program have a greater
impact on moving first-time applicants into employment and
promoting long-term self sufficiency, or will MFIP's ``make
work pay'' strategy prove more effective in moving people off
welfare?; Is WorkFIRST more effective in preventing first-time
applicants from becoming dependent on public assistance?; and
Do tough sanctions reinforce the WorkFIRST message of personal
responsibility? The evaluation is scheduled to be completed by
September 2002.
Nebraska's Employment First Program
This project evaluates State welfare policies initiated
under a welfare reform demonstration begun on November 1, 1995
and now incorporated statewide under the Employment First
(TANF) Program. These policies include: intensive case
management based on assessment and a self-sufficiency contract/
employability plan; time-limiting cash assistance to 2 out of
every 4 years; strict full-family sanctions imposed only as a
last resort and after careful review and mediation; temporary
or permanent good cause exemptions from participation and time
limits; liberalized earnings and assets disregards; and 24-
month child care and Medicaid transitional benefits. The
evaluation will primarily focus on implementation and operation
of the program and will include a special study to assess
successful case management. A separate impact evaluation will
be carried out comparing an intensive up front job search
strategy with an up front assessment approach. The evaluation
is scheduled to be completed by September 2002.
New Hampshire's Employment and Training Program
An implementation study and a separate impact study will
be fielded to evaluate New Hampshire's employment focused
welfare program. New Hampshire's TANF Program includes up front
job search followed by a client assessment and placement into
one of two types of employment program groups if employment is
not found within 4 weeks of job search. The groups are divided
according to employability of clients, and services are
structured appropriately. Participants who do not find
employment after a 26-week job search component enter a work
benefits program, which includes activities such as on-the-job
training and subsidized employment. Special needs payments are
available to address employment obstacles, and individuals are
exempt from employment requirements if personally providing
care for a child under age 3.
The impact evaluation will rely on administrative data to
compare cohorts of persons who were on or entered AFDC between
January 1992 and December 1993 and would have been designated
State TANF-mandatory participants with cohorts of persons who
were in TANF or entered TANF between October 1997 and September
1999. The evaluation will seek to answer such questions as:
Does New Hampshire's welfare reform program impact State
welfare case dynamics, including exit rates, length of benefit
receipt and recidivism?; Does the program have an impact on
welfare caseloads compared to forecasted caseload values such
as new welfare case openings, case closings, denials and
withdrawals, ``child only'' cases, earned income cases, and
benefit payments?; and Does the program affect welfare-related
measures such as foster care placements, child abuse and
neglect, homelessness, paternity establishments, and child
support collections? The impact evaluation is scheduled to be
completed by September 2002.
North Carolina's Work First Program
Maximus will evaluate North Carolina's Work First Program
which requires TANF families to work to support themselves and
their families. Through Work First, parents can receive short-
term training and families can get child care and other
services to assist them in becoming self-sufficient. Work First
emphasizes three strategies: (1) diverting families from the
welfare system by helping them cope with unexpected
emergencies; (2) shortening the length of time that families
receive assistance by making work mandatory and time-limiting
assistance; and (3) helping families who leave TANF to stay off
by encouraging them to save and providing supportive services.
The evaluation is scheduled to be completed by September 2000.
North Dakota's Training, Education, Employment and Management Project
Berkeley Planning Associates will produce a process
evaluation of North Dakota's Training, Education, Employment,
and Management (TEEM) Project. TEEM is a welfare reform
demonstration initiated prior to implementation of the State's
TANF Program. The TEEM project consolidates TANF and home
energy assistance into a single cash assistance program. TEEM
includes the following major provisions: a social contract,
increased work incentives, sanctions, raised asset limits and
incentives for family stability and marriage. The process study
is scheduled to be completed by September 2000.
Achieving change for Texans
The University of Texas will continue the evaluation of
the State's original welfare reform demonstration. The
demonstration consists of three major components: (1) a number
of policies implemented statewide addressing such recipient
responsibilities as immunization for children, school
attendance and adhering to a personal responsibility agreement;
(2) a number of policies implemented in counties operating
JOBS, the primary feature of which is differential benefit time
limits based on consideration of work experience and need for
education; and (3) several policy options implemented in four
counties providing for individual development accounts and
fill-the-gap budgeting.
The evaluation will produce implementation and impact
studies. Major research questions include: How does the
differential time limit function taking into consideration work
experience and education for setting the duration of the
limit?; Will personal responsibility measures help TANF
recipients become self-sufficient faster?; and Can policies
designed to promote and reward work help the process of self-
sufficiency? For all policies tested there are three general
questions to be researched: Did welfare use decline?; Did
clients become self-sufficient?; and Did clients who went off
cash assistance stay off longer than clients subject to prior
law policies? The State will also conduct a survey of TANF
recipients who have left the rolls or been diverted at
application through the offering of a one-time payment of
$1,000 in lieu of regular TANF with no reapplication for
benefits for 1 year. The evaluation is scheduled to be
completed by March 2002.
Vermont's Welfare Restructuring Project
The Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation is
continuing the evaluation of Vermont's Welfare Restructuring
Project which was begun as a waiver demonstration project. One
of the key features of Vermont's welfare demonstration is a
time limit that requires some adult recipients to participate
in community work experience after 15 (two-parent families) or
30 months (single-parent families) receiving cash assistance.
Other policies of the program include asset and disregard
changes, requiring that minor parents live at home or in a
supervised living situation, and a requirement that parents
with temporary disabilities participate in rehabilitation and
training programs.
The evaluation will include an implementation/process
study, an impact study, and a cost-benefit study. Applicants
and recipients were randomly assigned to experimental or
control groups for the impact study. Major questions to be
addressed by the impact study include: To what extent does the
interaction of financial incentives with time limits for work
and related activities increase unsubsidized employment and
earnings, increase job retention, and affect the types of jobs
and wage levels?; What are the effects attributable to changing
financial incentives for AFDC single parents and two-parent
cases?; To what extent does the program reduce or increase
welfare benefits?; and What is the impact of WRP on various
subgroups of applicants and recipients? The evaluation is
scheduled to be completed by April 2002.
Virginia's Independence Program (VIP)
The Virginia Polytechnic Institute will examine the
State's TANF implementation which continues policies begun
under the State's welfare reform demonstration. Among the
policies to be studied under the State's VIP Program are:
diversionary assistance, a family cap, time-limited assistance,
personal responsibility agreements, expanded earned income
disregards, school attendance requirements, paternity
establishment rules, requiring minor parents to live in adult
settings, child immunization requirements, incentives promoting
individual savings accounts, and transitional Medicaid and
child care benefits.
The evaluation will include a description of cases
reaching the time limit, and an assessment of the early impacts
based on information from a discontinued random assignment
experiment. Major questions to be addressed include: What
happens to families after they reach the time limit?; What are
the effects of post employment and job retention services
offered by the State?; What are the implications of the growing
number of child-only cases the State is finding on its rolls?;
What are the issues specific to localities where unique
innovations have been introduced in the State?; How does
diversionary assistance work in a limited number of
localities?; and What are the dynamics of the Virginia caseload
over time under the TANF regime? The evaluation is scheduled to
be completed by September 2002.
Wisconsin's Pay for Performance/Self-Sufficiency First
Maximus is evaluating the Pay for Performance/Self-
Sufficiency First Programs in Wisconsin. Under the Self-
Sufficiency First Program, all nonexempt welfare recipients
must complete 60 hours of work and training during a 30-day
application period or face denial of benefits. Under the Pay
for Performance Program, individuals not exempt from work and
training requirements and who are not working 30 hours or more
per week must participate in up to 40 hours of employment and
training activities per week. Cash benefits are reduced for
each hour of nonparticipation in employment and training
without good cause by the Federal minimum hourly wage with no
corresponding adjustment in the food stamp allotment. In any
month when the hours of participation in employment and
training activities fall below 25 percent of assigned hours,
the assistance grant is reduced to $0 and the food stamp
allotment to $10.
Applicants and recipients were randomly assigned to
control and experimental groups. Major questions to be
addressed by the evaluation include: Do the program policies
improve employment rates, length of employment, amount of
earned income, hours worked per month, child support
collections, total family income, and accumulated savings?; Do
these policies affect public assistance participation and
program costs?; Does the program affect participation in
employment and training activities?; Do these program rules and
policies affect marriage and separation rates and use of foster
care?; and Does the demonstration affect the incidence of
reported child abuse and neglect and health insurance status of
children? The evaluation is scheduled to be completed by April
1999.
Federal studies of impact of welfare reform on children
DHHS is funding child impact studies that will augment the
welfare reform demonstration evaluations in five States
(Connecticut, Iowa, Minnesota, Indiana, and Florida). The
studies will assess the effects of different welfare reform
approaches on child well-being. The ongoing demonstration
evaluations focus primarily on adult behaviors and outcomes,
such as changes in earnings and welfare dependency. This
project adds detailed data on children to these evaluations.
Impacts on children will be measured through random
assignment of families in each site. Treatment groups subject
to welfare reform policies will be compared with control groups
subject to former AFDC policies. Child outcomes data, focusing
on children ages 5-12, will be collected through surveys and
administrative records. Major research questions addressed by
the studies include: What are the effects of alternative
approaches to welfare reform on child well-being, including
school achievement, behavioral problems, and health status?
What intervening mechanisms, such as the quality and regularity
of the home environment, child care arrangements, and parental
employment and income, affect these outcomes? The project
periods vary from 2 to 4 years.
Other Evaluations
National evaluation of welfare-to-work strategies (formerly the JOBS
evaluation) and child outcomes substudy
The Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation and Child
Trends of Washington, DC, continue to conduct this major study,
funded by DHHS and foundations (with support from the
Department of Education). Under the JOBS Program, random
assignment of recipients to experimental and control groups
began in March 1991 and ended in December 1994. Approximately
55,000 sample members are being followed for 5 years from the
time they entered the study using administrative records
(unemployment insurance earnings and AFDC payment data). A
subsample of about 10,000 individuals from all research groups
in all sites was interviewed 2 years after they entered the
study; some of these individuals will be reinterviewed after 5
years. In three sites, Child Trends, Inc. will be measuring
outcomes for children who were between the ages of 3 and 5 when
their mothers entered the study. Major questions the study is
designed to answer include: How much can welfare-to-work
programs contribute to reducing welfare dependency and
increasing employment? Do certain approaches work better than
others--for example, human capital development (i.e., education
and training) versus labor force attachment (e.g., job search
and other employment-focused activities)?; How do the children
of welfare recipients fare under welfare-to-work programs?; and
What do welfare-to-work programs cost?
Bridges to work
Public/Private Ventures of Philadelphia has undertaken a
$17 million demonstration program and evaluation of a
transportation-based antipoverty strategy. The project is
funded primarily by the Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD) and major foundations. The demonstration
includes three program elements: a metropolitan placement
mechanism that gives participants information about the
suburban labor market and links them to existing private sector
jobs; a targeted commute component that connects inner-city
workers to previously inaccessible job destinations through
increased public transportation and/or van pooling; and support
services to mitigate demands created or exacerbated by the long
commute. A random assignment evaluation and implementation
study will be conducted. The demonstration is being conducted
in five sites: Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Milwaukee, and St.
Louis.