Michigan is a leader in state efforts to gain more autonomy over social service programs. Many changes, including those made to the child care and child welfare systems, were part of the governor's blueprint for reform, To Strengthen Michigan Families. This report begins with a profile of Michigan's demographic, economic, and political conditions,…

Wisconsin's new welfare program was a dramatic departure from the old income maintenance system of welfare and moved beyond other states' work-based welfare reform programs. This report describes Wisconsin's approach to welfare reform, using data collected in 1999 and 2000 from state and local administrators, direct service providers, and, in some…

Colorado's welfare reform legislation significantly departs from the state's traditional emphasis on education and training while further embracing a decentralized administrative structure. The state's welfare system has shifted from an education and training model to a work-first model. This report presents findings from data collected in 1999…

Provides important information to better prepare advocates participating in the welfare reform debate. Presents excerpts from reports by the General Accounting Office and the Advisory Committee of the Department of Health and Human Services. Suggests that virtually all of the reform proposals require much more stringent work participation by…

Highlights issues in funding, service availability, child care services, and mandated participation in the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) training program. Suggests full implementation of the Family Support Act of 1988 and the expansion of other income supports for low-income families rather than further development of welfare benefits…

This report describes the context, design, and findings of an evaluation of a welfare reform initiative, the Recycling Fund Concept, in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. The proposed fund would allocate money to parents of preschool children who receive Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). The concept assumes that lack of child care…

New Jersey has a history of successfully providing a strong safety net to support low-income families on welfare and the working poor. Despite its emphasis on work and responsibility, it has maintained a high level of support for many public assistance programs. The governor changed the emphasis of New Jersey's welfare program from education and…

Alabama has a long history of providing a modest safety net for low-income families and children. This report examines Alabama's cash assistance, workforce development, child care, and child welfare systems for low-income families with children. Information comes from interviews with managers and front-line workers, focus groups with parents and…

This paper details the structure and eligibility criteria for the two largest public child care subsidy programs in Minnesota, the Minnesota Family Investment Program Statewide (MFIP-S) and the Basic Sliding Fee Program (BSF). These programs assist low-income families to pay for child care in order for parents to work, search for a job or…

Welfare reform efforts have been based on crucial assumption: single mothers moving off of AFDC and into the work force will be able to find affordable child care. Two parallel studies of child care supply and its distribution across rich and poor communities inform the debate over child-care availability. In the first study, data from 100…

This study was designed to indicate the level of expressed demand for day care among low income women heading one-parent families in Cleveland and to determine the extent to which this demand is being satisfactorily fulfilled. A total of 123 low income single mothers with children under 14 years of age were contacted by telephone and interviewed…

This brief summarizes the report, "Getting and Retaining Child Care Assistance: How Policy and Practice Influence Families' Experiences," examining subsidy policies and practices that affect subsidy utilization, including those that affect every interaction the parent has with the subsidy agency and those that affect the ease of applying…

This 2000 study re-evaluated the type of child care information given to parents on public assistance by caseworkers. It assessed whether laws protecting low-income parents' rights were being followed and whether people on public assistance were receiving appropriate information about child care. The study was a follow up to a 1999 study.…

This publication answers questions related to the provisions of child care funding and provision for welfare recipients under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. The article addresses specific concerns regarding the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), a federal program that guarantees block grants to…

To learn more about families and children who have been served by the Texas Child Care Management Services (CCMS) system, this study investigated four primary questions: (1) What are the demographic characteristics of Texas families and children who have received subsidized child care services? (2) What are the subsidized child care utilization…