Employment-Related Issues

"Paths to Work in Rural Places: Key Findings and Lessons from the Impact Evaluation of the Future Steps Rural Welfare-to-Work Program." Alicia Meckstroth, Andrew Burwick, Michael Ponza, Shawn Marsh, Tim Novak, Shannon Phillips, Nuria Diaz-Tena, and Judy Ng, 2006. Helping low-income families in rural areas find gainful employment and achieve economic self-sufficiency is an ongoing policy concern. The Rural Welfare-to-Work Strategies demonstration is using rigorous experimental designs to build knowledge about how to help low-income families in rural areas strive toward sustained employment and self-sufficiency. This report examines an employment-focused case management initiative deployed in southern Illinois. Despite a lack of impacts on employment, earnings, and self-sufficiency, the findings imply a need for stronger interventions in rural areas and demonstrate the challenges inherent in designing, implementing, and evaluating programs in these types of settings.

"Moving Clients into Self-Sufficiency: Summary of Findings from the Work First New Jersey Evaluation." Anu Rangarajan, Joshua Haimson, Linda C. Rosenberg, Debra A. Strong, Robert G. Wood, and Allison Zippay, 2005. In 1998, Mathematica began a five-year comprehensive evaluation of WFNJ to determine how clients were faring under the new reforms, how reform was implemented, and how communities responded to welfare reform and local challenges and opportunities. This report provides a brief summary of key findings related to the evaluation’s major components—client, child-only, unemployment insurance, program, and community studies.

"Universal Engagement in Practice: Lessons from the Implementation of the Pathways Case Management System. Lessons from the Field." LaDonna Pavetti, Michelle Derr, Jacqueline Kauff, and Gretchen Kirby, 2005. Pathways is a set of protocols and other tools to help welfare office staff support their clients in the transition to employment. It was launched in 1995 by Project Match and is based on the philosophy of "universal engagement" central to most TANF reauthorization proposals. This brief reviews implementation of Pathways in two counties in New York and one in California, offering insight into what might be required to achieve universal engagement as well as how systems like Pathways might become more effective tools for achieving higher work participation rates.

"The Challenge of Achieving High Work Participation Rates in Welfare Programs." LaDonna Pavetti, 2004. Efforts to reform the welfare system over the last two decades have largely focused on reducing welfare dependency by getting welfare recipients to work. By the time the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program was created by the welfare reform law of 1996, there was widespread agreement in the states that welfare recipients should be required to look for work and to do so shortly after (or even before) they began receiving cash assistance. Once TANF was implemented, work became a central focus of local welfare offices. However, as shown by the recent debates on the reauthorization, consensus on work requirements remains elusive and information on how to achieve high participation rates is limited. This brief looks at policy changes and service strategies that states and local welfare agencies might consider to help achieve higher work participation rates.

"The National Evaluation of the Welfare-to-Work Grants Program." Thomas M. Fraker, Dan M. Levy, Irma Perez-Johnson, Alan M. Hershey, Demetra S. Nightingale, Robert B. Olsen, and Rita A. Stapulonis, 2004. This final report presents descriptive findings from Mathematica's study of enrollees during the two years after they entered a welfare-to-work program. Most were TANF recipients with significant barriers to employment; although most were employed at some time during the study, many faced employment problems at the end of that period, and the jobs they held often left them in poverty. Whether a more comprehensive approach would produce better results is unclear, but the report presents design and implementation factors for programs to consider.

Hard to Employ

"Targeted Help for the Hard-To-Employ: Outcomes of Two Philadelphia Welfare-to-Work Programs." Michelle VanNoy and Irma Perez-Johnson, 2004. Programs to help hard-to-employ Americans move into jobs and become self-sufficient have grown increasingly important in recent years. This report examines the Regional Service Centers and Transitional Work Corporation programs, two different components of the welfare-to-work strategy in Philadelphia. It describes participants' outcomes after program entry and compares outcomes for different groups served with different approaches.

Strengthening Families

"Healthy Marriage Programs: Learning What Works." Robin Dion, The Future of Children: Marriage and Child Wellbeing, vol. 15, no. 2, fall 2005. Public and private interest in programs to strengthen the institution of marriage and reduce the number of children growing up without both their parents is growing. The central policy question is whether it is possible to effectively implement programs that can increase the number of children who are raised by both parents in healthy and stable marriages, especially within disadvantaged populations known to be at higher risk for family instability. The author describes such marriage programs; discusses the main challenges and opportunities in implementing them in low-income populations; and explains how researchers, policymakers, and practitioners are beginning to learn whether they work.

"What We Know About Unmarried Parents: Implications for Building Strong Families Programs. Building Strong Families in Brief #3." Marcia Carlson, Sara McLanahan, Paula England, and Barbara Devaney, 2005. This brief, the third in a series from our Building Strong Families (BSF) project, draws on our survey for the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study on the characteristics and relationship patterns of unwed parents. The findings can help state and local agencies and other groups designing BSF programs gain a better understanding of their target population and develop interventions that respond to their needs and circumstances.

“Maternal Mental Health, Substance Abuse, and Domestic Violence in the Year after Delivery and Subsequent Behavior Problems in Children at Age 3 Years.” Robert C. Whitaker, Sean M. Orzol, and Robert S. Kahn, Archives of General Psychiatry, May 2006. By 3 years of age, children are at significantly higher risk for behavior problems if their mothers experience mental health problems, substance use, or domestic violence in the year after delivery. These maternal conditions often occur together, and as the number of maternal conditions increases, so does the risk of children’s behavior problems. This article takes the first-ever look at the cumulative effects of these maternal conditions on behavior problems in young children.

Fatherhood

"How Mothers See Fathers." Allison Zippay and Anu Rangarajan, Good Parents or Good Workers? How Policy Shapes Families' Daily Lives, 2005. Eager to promote the involvement of absent fathers in the lives of their children, the architects of welfare reform strengthened paternity establishment and child support enforcement, in addition to increasing benefits for two-parent families. In response, policymakers are spearheading initiatives aimed at promoting healthy marriages and enhancing unmarried fathers' capacity for supporting their children emotionally and financially. Underlying the enthusiasm for these programs is the assumption that a stronger father presence is beneficial to families, even though the women who have been involved with these men are largely absent from the lobby for father-oriented initiatives. This chapter focuses on the role of fathers in low-income families' lives, describing how the mothers feel about the prospect of increased father involvement and how they view fathers' role in their children's lives.

"The Meaning of 'Good Fatherhood': Low-Income Fathers' Social Constructions of Their Roles." Jean Ann Summers, Kimberly Boller, Rachel F. Schiffman, and Helen H. Raikes, Parenting: Science and Practice, 2006. To gain a better understanding of how low-income fathers of young children think about their role, researchers asked fathers of 24-month-old children what "good fatherhood" means to them. Fathers identified four broad responsibilities: (1) providing a stable environment, (2) teaching their children, (3) fostering physical interaction, and (4) giving emotional support. Overall, fathers articulated a strong sense of commitment and intentionality in their plans for interactions with their children. The findings provide opportunities for service providers and policymakers to develop strategies to support fathers' abilities to carry out their intentions.

"Relation Between Father Connectedness and Child Outcomes." Cheri A. Vogel, Robert H. Bradley, Helen Raikes, Kimberly Boller, and Jeffrey Shears, Parenting: Science and Practice, 2006. This article examines the relation between low-income fathers' presence in their children's lives and children's early developmental outcomes. Children with resident or involved nonresident biological fathers showed higher levels of self-regulation and lower levels of aggression than children with unstable father connections. Children with involved nonresident biological fathers were better off than children who had transient relationships with their fathers. However, relations appear to differ by race and ethnicity, with the most straightforward relations for European Americans and Latin Americans.

"Creating Paths to Father Involvement: Lessons from Early Head Start. Trends in Family Programs and Policy, Issue Brief #1." Andrew Burwick and Jeanne Bellotti, 2005. A growing body of research shows that having an involved father enhances a child's well-being. This four-page issue brief, based on Mathematica's evaluation of the Early Head Start Fatherhood Demonstration, delineates lessons for policymakers and practitioners who are embarking on new efforts to increase fathers' involvement in Head Start and other programs and in their children's lives. Issues examined include designing, operating, and sustaining effective fatherhood initiatives.

Child Care

“Reaching Out to Kith and Kin Caregivers in Early Head Start.” Trends in Family Programs and Policy, Issue Brief #2. Diane Paulsell, Debra Mekos, Patricia Del Grosso, Patti Banghart, and Renée Nogales, 2006. Although children's care before they enter school influences readiness in important ways, quality of care can vary widely. Low-income families tend to rely on family, friends, and neighbors—“kith and kin caregivers”—especially for infants and toddlers. The Enhanced Home Visiting Pilot Project, funded by the Head Start Bureau in 2004, supports the quality of care that kith and kin caregivers provide to infants and toddlers enrolled in home-based Early Head Start programs. This four-page issue brief describes characteristics of enrolled children, families, and caregivers. It also details early implementation experiences of pilot programs based on site visits after one year of operation. Issue Brief. Full Report.

Housing, Sanctions, and Other Topics

"The Benefits of Housing Subsidies for TANF Recipients: Evidence from New Jersey. Trends in Welfare-to-Work, Issue Brief #7." Robert G. Wood and Anu Rangarajan, 2004. This four-page issue brief notes that government housing subsidies improve access to stable, affordable housing for low-income families. Current and former welfare families that receive these subsidies devote a smaller portion of their income to housing, face less housing instability, and live in housing that is less crowded than families that do not receive subsidies.

"The Use of TANF Work-Oriented Sanctions in Illinois, New Jersey, and South Carolina." LaDonna Pavetti, Michelle K. Derr, Gretchen Kirby, Robert G. Wood, and Melissa A. Clark, 2004. The implementation of more stringent sanctions as part of welfare reform has been accompanied by interest in how sanctions are used and their outcomes. This report analyzes how TANF sanctions have been implemented in Illinois, New Jersey, and South Carolina, based on six key tasks: informing clients about work requirements and sanctions, defining program expectations and requirements, monitoring participation in work activities, deciding whether to impose a sanction, imposing a sanction, and reengaging sanctioned recipients in program activities. It also examines how often sanctions are used, how the characteristics of sanctioned families compare to those of non-sanctioned families and how common it is for families to comply with work requirements or find employment after a sanction has been imposed. The results suggest that there is considerable variation in how often sanctions are imposed. When sanctions are used routinely, program participation is probably higher than it would be without the use of sanctions.

"Linking TANF Recipients with Paraprofessional Long-Term Care Jobs. Trends in Welfare-to-Work, Issue Brief #8."Jacqueline Kauff, Gretchen Kirby, and LaDonna Pavetti, 2005. Attracting and retaining aides to care for elderly, disabled, and chronically ill people is a major concern for the long-term care industry. At the same time, TANF recipients are searching for employment opportunities to move from welfare to work. Do these two needs create a match? This six-page issue brief summarizes findings from a data analysis of the characteristics of TANF recipients in select states and a qualitative study of five programs that train TANF recipients and other low-income individuals for long-term care jobs. The brief explores the possibilities of linking TANF recipients with paraprofessional long-term care jobs.

"Public Assistance Use Among Two-Parent Families: An Analysis of TANF and Food Stamp Program Eligibility and Participation." Anu Rangarajan, Laura Castner, and Melissa A. Clark, 2005. Using data from the year 2000, this study looked at married-parent families to determine their eligibility and participation rates in TANF and FSP. The study found that eligibility and participation rates in the two programs are considerably lower for married-parent families than for single-parent families. Rates for cohabiting families generally lie between those of single- and married-parent families. Demographic characteristics and financial circumstances explain much of the difference in eligibility rates between married- and single-parent families. However, demographic characteristics, financial circumstances, and state program rules explain little of the observed differences in participation rates across the two family types.

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