The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 presents states with new opportunities and flexibility to design programs for teen parents. This report summarizes how welfare reform has changed the environment for teen parents dependent on welfare. The report presents research findings on the costs of supporting teen…

This paper is part of a broader study considering effects of welfare reform on households in rural areas. This report describes the findings of qualitative research, which examined welfare reform implementation and availability of services in 12 rural communities in Alabama, Arkansas, California, and Maine. The study sites were diverse in terms of…

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…

Florida's Family Transition Program (FTP) combines a welfare time limit of 24-36 months with services, requirements, and financial incentives designed to help welfare recipients find and hold jobs. Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) applicants who were not incapacitated, disabled, or otherwise exempt from the FTP program were randomly…

New York City's Transitional Child Care (TCC) program, for families exiting Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), has an application rate of 20 percent. This study sought to determine both the causes of the low rate and possible solutions. The situation was evaluated by means of surveys, interviews, analysis of data collected by the…

A June 1992 survey was conducted to determine the number of teenage mothers receiving Aid for Dependent Children (AFDC) who were participating in the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) program of the Family Support Act of 1988, and who were receiving education, job training, and child care. Some of the findings from the statistics gathered…

This report describes the study undertaken to implement a legislative resolution in Montana. Part 1 reports the subcommittee's decision to make an evaluation of the state's existing job training programs the primary object of its study. Public comment on the study's purpose, heard by the subcommittee at its first meeting, is summarized in this…

Information was collected on three issues related to the extent to which states use welfare dollars to provide work support and other services to welfare recipients and other low-income families. They were: extent of caseload decline since welfare reform was implemented and status of families who have left welfare; extent to which states spend…

The Senate Appropriations Committee recently approved a $1.1 billion reduction in the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG), a decrease of almost two-thirds of funding. This program has provided a flexible source of funding that enables states to meet the needs of their most vulnerable populations, low- and moderate-income children, and people who…

Data from the 1997 National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) are analyzed to estimate the number and composition of children lacking health insurance prior to the implementation of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The NSAF is a survey of children and adults under the age of 65 in more than 44,000 households, conducted as…

The General Accounting Office (GAO) reviewed reports published by seven states (Indiana, Maryland, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Washington, and Wisconsin) regarding the status of their families who have left welfare. The families discussed in the reports were estimated to account for approximately 8 percent of the number of families to…

Used survey (for 1,001 adults) and administrative data (for 137,330 first-exit cases) in structural equation modeling to examine psychological and social factors as determinants of welfare dependency and self-sufficiency. Findings show well-being to be a predictor of low recidivism and high employment. (SLD)

States where a large proportion of the poor are rural residents or racial/ethnic minorities provided less welfare support per poor child under Aid to Families with Dependent Children than did other states. No corresponding rural or racial/ethnic disadvantage was observed for the Food Stamp program, which has nationwide eligibility criteria and…

This paper presents an overall approach, statistical techniques, and a public-use database that can be used for understanding state welfare policies and measuring their relationship with key outcomes of interest, all while learning helpful statistical techniques. We use descriptive statistics and correlations to describe state policies. We find…

Research on the results of welfare-to-work programs is both encouraging and sobering. On the one hand, it provides evidence that states can effectively implement various work-oriented programs to encourage large percentages of the welfare caseload to prepare for and enter the labor market. These programs range from rather low-intensity programs…