Receipt Of Cash Assistance Research Articles

Development of prediction models of COVID-19 vaccine uptake among Lebanese and Syrians in a district of Beirut, Lebanon: a population-based study

IntroductionVaccines are essential to prevent infection and reduce the morbidity of infectious diseases. Previous evidence has shown that migrants and refugees are particularly vulnerable to exclusion and discrimination, and low...

Financial support and financial well-being for vocational school students in China

To address persistent and widespread poverty across China, particularly in rural areas, the Chinese government initiated the Targeted Poverty Alleviation Policy. As a result, several programs have been established to provide financial support to students from low-income families. This study used a primary dataset that came from senior students at a vocational school in Sichuan province to examine the relationship between financial support programs and the financial well-being of vocational school students. The results indicate that the receipt of cash assistance for education and the amount received were both associated with financial well-being of the students. In addition, the effects of the policy on students’ financial well-being differed by their poverty status – students who were previously in poverty but were no longer living in poverty reported greater financial well-being than those who were still living in poverty at the time of data collection. Policy implications are discussed.

Using the Family Self‐Sufficiency Program to Help Families with Housing Assistance Improve Earnings, Credit Score, and Debt Levels: A Quasi‐Experimental Analysis

HUD's Family Self‐Sufficiency (FSS) program aims to help housing assistance recipients increase their earnings and build savings to make progress toward economic security. This study examines an asset‐building nonprofit's innovative financial coaching‐based approach to FSS that adds an additional focus on helping clients build assets and financial capability. We use a quasi‐experimental approach to estimate the program's impact on earnings and cash assistance receipt and analyze credit and debt outcomes against a benchmark group. The findings show substantial, significant gains in households' earnings and significant decreases in receipt of some cash benefits. Participants also saw increases in credit score, and success in paying down credit card and derogatory debt. Our results indicate that FSS can be an effective platform for helping participants in subsidized housing make real progress toward economic security and financial health.

Maternal and child patterns of Medicaid retention: a prospective cohort study

BackgroundWe sought to determine whether maternal Medicaid retention influences child Medicaid retention because caregivers play a critical role in assuring children’s health access.MethodsWe conducted a longitudinal prospective cohort study of a convenience sample of 604 Medicaid-eligible mother-child dyads followed from the infant’s birth through 24 months of age with parent surveys. Individual enrollment status was abstracted from administrative Medicaid eligibility files. Generalized estimating equations quantified the effect of maternal Medicaid enrollment status on child Medicaid retention, adjusting for relevant covariates. Because varying lengths of gaps may have different effects on child health outcomes, Medicaid enrollment status was further categorized by length of gap: any gap, > 14-days, and > 60-days.ResultsThis cohort consists primarily of African-American (94%), unmarried mothers (88%), with a mean age of 23.2 years. In multivariable analysis, children whose mothers experienced any gaps in coverage had 12.6 times greater odds of experiencing gaps when compared to children whose mothers were continuously enrolled. Use of varying thresholds to define coverage gaps resulted in similar odds ratios (> 14-day gap = 11.8, > 60-day gap = 16.8). Cash assistance receipt and maternal knowledge of differences between Temporary Assistance to Needy Families and Medicaid eligibility criteria demonstrated strong protective effects against child Medicaid disenrollment.ConclusionsMedicaid disenrollment remains a significant policy problem and maternal Medicaid retention patterns show strong effects on child Medicaid retention. Policymakers need to invest in effective outreach strategies, including family-friendly application processes, to reduce enrollment barriers so that all eligible families can take advantage of these coverage opportunities.

FROM WELFARE TO A WORK‐BASED SAFETY NET: AN INCOMPLETE TRANSITION

The passage of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), which we label welfare reform, decisively “ended welfare as we knew it” by eliminating the federal entitlement to cash assistance that Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) had provided for 60 years. The new cash assistance program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), is a fixed federal block grant that allows states to spend federal and state funds flexibly on cash assistance or a range of other services provided to needy families with children. PRWORA requires only that states enforce participation in work or work-related activities and impose time limits on the receipt of cash assistance from federal funds. Because it is not an entitlement program, TANF does not require states to provide benefits to all eligible families, nor does it require them to assume responsibility for guaranteeing unemployed recipients who reach their time limit a job if they cannot find one. As a result, the transition to the new “work-based safety net” remains incomplete: neither thefederal government nor the statesreplaced theentitlement to cash assistance with an entitlement to participate in work or work-related activities. TANF includes incentives that encourage states to minimize their cash assistance caseloads, even when recessions increase the number of eligible families. First, the amount of block grant funds has not changed since the program was enacted. A state’s allocation is not responsive to population growth or increased economic hardship. Second, funds not used for cash assistance can be reallocated to other related purposes. Third, states can satisfy the work participation benchmarks either by getting more recipients into work-related activities or jobs (which can be expensive) or simply by keeping caseloads small. In contrast to this reduction in public responsibility, TANF requires more responsibility from recipients. Indeed, it achieved its goal of eliminating long-term dependence on cash assistance. A recipient can no longer reject a job offer and continue to receive cash assistance. If she does not cooperate with the welfare agency, she can be sanctioned and her family can be removed from the welfare rolls. She can also be removed when she reaches her time limit, even if she is actively seeking work and willing to work for her cash assistance.

Income Packaging and Economic Disconnection: Do Sources of Support Differ from Other Low-Income Women?

Income packaging, or piecing together cash and non-cash resources from a variety of sources, is a common financial survival strategy among low-income women. This strategy is particularly important for economically disconnected women, who lack both employment income and public cash assistance receipt. Using data from the confidential Census Bureau versions of the Survey of Income and Program Participation, this study compares the use of public and private supports between disconnected and connected low-income women, controlling for differences in state welfare rules and county unemployment rates. Findings from bivariate comparisons and multilevel logistic regressions indicate that disconnected women utilize public non-cash supports at similar rates to connected women, but rely more heavily on private sources. Conclusions focus on the policy implications for outreach and program development.

Income Packaging Strategies of Economically Disconnected Women and the Implications for Social Policy and Practice

Income packaging, or piecing together cash and non-cash resources from a variety of sources, is a common financial survival strategy among low-income women. This strategy is particularly important for economically disconnected women, who lack both employment income and public cash assistance receipt. Using data from the confidential Census Bureau versions of the Survey of Income and Program Participation, this study compares the use of public and private supports between disconnected and connected low-income women, controlling for differences in state welfare rules and county unemployment rates. Findings from bivariate comparisons and multilevel logistic regressions indicate that disconnected women utilize public non-cash supports at similar rates to connected women, but rely more heavily on private sources. Conclusions focus on the policy implications for outreach and program development.

Unemployment Insurance and Low-Educated, Single, Working Mothers before and after Welfare Reform

Using the Survey of Income and Program Participation, this study examines changing levels of Unemployment Insurance (UI) eligibility and benefits receipt among low-educated, single mothers who entered unemployment between 1990 and 2005. It also examines changing participation in cash welfare and the Food Stamp Program (FSP). Data from 1990–94 and 2001–5 show that low-educated, single mothers who enter unemployment experience an increase in UI eligibility but not an increase in UI benefits receipt, when compared to low-educated, single, childless women who enter unemployment. Because of declining cash assistance receipt during 2001–5, UI becomes a more common income support for this population than cash assistance. Further, the probability of accessing the FSP increases among low-educated, single mothers who enter unemployment in 2001–5. As a result, the proportion of this population accessing benefits from at least one of these programs remains similar across the study period.

Unemployment Insurance and Low-Educated Single Working Mothers Before and After Welfare Reform

Using the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), a nationally representative, longitudinal survey, this study examines changing levels of Unemployment Insurance (UI) eligibility and benefit receipt among working low-educated single mothers, 199'22005. It also examines changing participation in cash welfare and the Food Stamp Program (FSP). Relative to single childless women, there has been no increase in UI benefit receipt among single mothers entering a spell of unemployment in the post-reform period, even though single mothers have increased their relative rates of UI eligibility. Because of declining cash assistance receipt, UI became a more common income support than cash assistance for this population during the period 2001-2005. Furthermore, the probability of accessing FSP for low-educated single mothers entering a spell of unemployment increased in the years 2001-2005. As a result, the proportion of this population accessing benefits from one or more of these programs remained virtually unchanged across the study period.

Pregnancy-Related Discontinuation of Antidepressants and Depression Care Visits Among Medicaid Recipients

This study examined whether pregnancy is associated with discontinuation of care for depression among low-income women. Medicaid claims data from all 50 states were used in a matched cohort study design. The study included 3,237 women who gave birth between 1999 and 2000 and received depression treatment (antidepressant medications or a depression care visit) before initiating prenatal care. A control cohort of nonpregnant women receiving gynecologic care in the same period was matched by demographic and depression treatment characteristics. Prepregnancy, the antidepressant use rate was 66%. During pregnancy, antidepressant use dropped to 27% in the pregnant cohort compared with 62% in the control group (rate ratio [RR] =.44, 95% confidence interval [CI]=.41-.46) and remained low postpartum compared with the control group (35% versus 48%, RR=.74, CI=.70-.78). Similarly, depression care visits during the pregnancy period were reduced to 31% among the pregnant cohort compared with 49% for the control group (RR=.65, CI=.61-.69) and remained lower postpartum relative to the control group (24% versus 31%, RR=.78, CI=.73-.85). Interactions with pregnancy status were found for race-ethnicity and receipt of cash assistance from Medicaid. White women in the pregnancy cohort had a greater reduction in depression care visits than nonwhite women during the pregnancy period but less reduction in antidepressant use postpartum relative to the control group. Cash assistance was associated with less discontinuation in depression care visits postpartum compared with the control group (p<.05). Pregnancy was associated with discontinuation of any depression care among women receiving Medicaid; care did not resume postpartum. Race-ethnicity and Medicaid cash benefit status moderated this finding. Efforts are needed to mitigate these reductions.

African Americans and Welfare Time Limits

This study examines state lifetime limit policies for the receipt of cash assistance under the 1996 welfare reform law. It performs cross-tabulation and correlational analysis to determine whether a relationship exists between the racial composition of African Americans in a state and lifetime limit policies under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity and Reconciliation Act. Findings indicate a relationship and show that a majority of the states with a large population of African Americans have adopted some of the harshest lifetime limit policies for receipt of cash assistance.

The take-up of cash assistance among private kinship care families

Many children in private kinship care arrangements live in families that endure financial hardships. Even though these families are eligible for TANF child-only grants, only one in five receives cash assistance. The purpose of this study is to better understand the take-up of cash assistance for this group. Using national level data, we explore the relationships among child and caregiver characteristics and the receipt of cash assistance. We provide evidence that disadvantaged families are more likely to receive cash assistance than less disadvantaged families. For example, older caregivers and those with less education have higher take-up rates than their counterparts. Similarly, being poor and having received welfare in the past increase the likelihood that assistance is received. Nonetheless, it is important to note that take-up rates are low compared to other social programs. Our results suggest some possible reasons for this. For instance, our findings point to the possibility that many private kinship care families do not take-up cash assistance because they do not know that they are eligible for it through the TANF program. This suggests that outreach may improve participation. It also raises the issue of whether the receipt of cash assistance could be improved if benefits were provided through a program other than TANF.

Teenage Mothers in Parenting Programs: Exploring Welfare Outcomes during Early Transition to Parenthood

This article compares welfare participation and economic well-being among 849 teenage mothers who received case management services from the Adolescent Parenting Program (APP) with a comparison group of 700 teenage mothers. A higher proportion of APP participants received welfare either as a child or after giving birth to their first baby. However, the findings do not reveal any significant associations with APP participation and the likelihood of longer welfare cash assistance receipt. Programs for adolescent mothers may be helpful in connecting them with welfare assistance when they are at most in need of such services, in keeping with the intended short-term use of the welfare program. Implications for practice with adolescent mothers and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Family coverage expansions: Impact on insurance coverage and health care utilization of parents

With the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), Medicaid eligibility ceased to be tied to receipt of cash assistance. Since then, states have had a growing number of opportunities to expand health coverage to low-income working families beyond previous AFDC limits. As of 2001, 20 states have raised income eligibility limits for parents to or beyond 100% of the Federal Poverty Level. First, we use the Current Population Survey to study the effect of states’ expansions on the insurance rates of adults and to estimate the crowd-out of private insurance. We find that eligible adults living in a state that expanded coverage are more likely to be insured. We find a take-up rate of 14.8%. Our results suggest that 24% of this increase is due to a reduction in private coverage. Next, we use the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to examine changes in health care utilization. We find that these expansions increased cancer-screening rates. Of previously uninsured mothers not receiving cancer screening, 29% now receive these screens. Finally, our results indicate the expansions decreased the likelihood that a parent needed to see a doctor but did not because of cost.

Welfare recipiency and savings outcomes in individual development accounts

The authors examined how welfare recipiency is associated with savings outcomes in individual development accounts (IDAs), a structured savings program for low-income people. They investigated whether welfare recipients can save if they are provided with incentives. Data for this study ore from the American Dream Demonstration (ADD), the first nationwide demonstration of IDAs. A Heckman two-step regression analysis suggests that, after controlling for a variety of program and participant characteristics, welfare recipiency, either before or at the time of enrollment in IDAs, is not correlated with program exits or savings outcomes. The findings suggest that welfare recipiency does not seem to affect savings performance in IDAs. Key words: individual development accounts (IDAs); savings; welfare recipients; welfare reform ********** Welfare recipients accumulate little wealth. or example, in 1994 more than 90% of welfare recipients reported less than $500 accumulated financial liquid assets Hurst & Ziliak, 2001). Welfare recipients may have little wealth because of limited ability to accumulate assets and structural barriers to wealth accumulation. One structural barrier may be their response to disincentives created by means-tested transfer programs such as Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)/Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Medicaid, and food stamps. To qualify for benefits, a household's income and assets must be sufficiently low. For example, benefits are cut off in some states if liquid assets in the form of cash and deposits in bank accounts exceed $1,000. Under these conditions, asset limits may limit savings. Also, many nonpoor households have incentives for asset accumulation in the form of home mortgage interest tax deductions, tax deferments on retirement savings, and other tax benefits (Howard, 1997; Seidman, 2001), but few low-income households benefit from these asset-building policies (Sherraden, 1991). We examined the relationship between welfare recipiency and savings outcomes in a matched savings program for low-income people--individual development accounts (IDAs). IDAs are saving programs that provide incentives and an institutional structure for savings for low-income people. Account holders receive matching funds when they purchase assets that promote long-term well-being and financial self-sufficiency such as a home, postsecondary education, or microenterprise. We investigated whether current and former welfare recipients have the ability and willingness to save and whether their savings patterns differ from people who have never received welfare. Our study draws on a general research report by Schreiner and colleagues (2001), with closer attention to welfare recipiency and savings in IDAs. This study may have policy implications for welfare reform. First, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 (P.L. 104-193) represents a fundamental change in the delivery of cash benefits to program participants (PRWORA, 1996). PRWORA replaced AFDC with TANF, a work-based program. Major changes under I'RWORA include time limits on receipt of cash assistance and greater control of program rules by states. The stated intent of the legislation was to end welfare dependency and promote self-sufficiency. Yet, very little programming has been developed to help welfare recipients become self-sufficient. Studies show that limited skills for self-sufficiency may prevent many welfare leavers from lifting themselves out of poverty, even if they work full-time (Edin & Lein, 1997; Loprest, 1999, 2001). Helping welfare recipients save and accumulate assets may increase their long-term well-being and self-sufficiency. In contrast to income, which refers to the flow of resources into a household, assets refer to the stock of resources in households. Assets include financial resources such as cash savings and stocks, capital such as homeownership, and business property. …

Poverty, Welfare, and the Livelihood Strategies of Nonmetropolitan Single Mothers*

Abstract Using the National Survey of Family Growth, we document nonmetropolitan and metropolitan single mothers' economic livelihood strategies. We have three objectives: (1) examine differences in employment, cohabitation, co‐residence with other adults, and welfare receipt; (2) evaluate how these livelihood strategies are associated with economic well‐being; and (3) identify key metro‐nonmetro differences in the effectiveness of these livelihood strategies in improving the economic well‐being of single mothers. We find surprisingly similar livelihood strategies in nonmetropolitan and metropolitan areas. Employment, cohabitation, and co‐residence are strongly associated with economic well‐being. However, nonmetro single mothers are less likely than metropolitan mothers to benefit economically from full‐time employment. Given our results, “work‐first” policies are likely to be less efficacious in nonmetropolitan areas. Indeed, nonmetropolitan single mothers are often “triply disadvantaged” compared to their metro counterparts; they experience higher rates of poverty, higher barriers to welfare receipt, and lower economic returns from other livelihood strategies.

The effects of a time-limited welfare program on children: the moderating role of parents' risk of welfare dependency.

This study examined the effect of a time-limited welfare program on school-age children using data on almost 3,000 children (ages 5-17 at the four year follow up-point) from the random assignment evaluation of Florida's Family Transition Program (FTP). FTP was one of the first welfare reform initiatives to impose a time limit on the receipt of cash assistance, and it combined the time limit with a rich array of mandatory services. The effects of FTP on children were moderated by families' risk of long-term welfare dependency. Contrary to predictions laid out at the outset, there were few effects of FTP on middle childhood and adolescent children for children of parents most likely to be long-term welfare dependent (those most likely to hit the time limit). However, consistent negative effects on this same age group of children were found for children of parents least likely to be long-term welfare dependent--parents who had the largest employment gains--and effects of FTP were most strongly negative for the oldest adolescent children. The findings suggest a different theoretical model for movements into employment than the one suggested in the previous literature for job loss. The findings are discussed in terms of their contribution to research and policy.

Returns to Welfare Under Welfare Reform

The federally-imposed lifetime limit on cash assistance receipt compels program administrators to examine returns to welfare after an exit. We explore recidivism among a random sample of 2,665 Maryland families who left welfare between October 1996 and December 1997. Using administrative data, we compare the demographic characteristics, welfare histories, and work histories of recidivists and non-recidivists. Results indicate that most families do not return to welfare within a year. However, almost one-third do return, often within the first 30 days. This rarely investigated “administrative churning” phenomenon is important because of the federal time limit, the valuable agency resources which are consumed in handling churning cases and the possible negative consequences of churning on family well-being.

Welfare Reform under PRWORA: Aid to Children with Working Families?

We assess some of the major themes and impacts of welfare reform that have emerged for states and families during the three years since the passage of the 1996 welfare reform bill, PRWORA. The major themes for states include: (1) a work-first approach to cash assistance, (2) large increases in federal funding for child care, (3) increasing diversity in state and local cash assistance and child-care programs, (4) the beginning stages of the integration of diverse child-care programs, and (5) the severing of the link between child-care assistance and cash assistance in some states. Changes for families include (1) increases in financial incentives to work; (2) mandatory work-related activity requirements, sanctions if requirements are not met, and time limits on cash-assistance receipt; (3) increased availability of child-care subsides; and (4) a different environment and culture at welfare offices--stressing work and personal responsibility. Assessment of impacts on state and local government and low-income families with children are at an early stage. The clearest impact is the marked decline in the number of individuals receiving cash assistance and the equally marked increase in the number of children being cared for in nonfamilial settings. A markedly increased proportion of cash-assistance recipients are working or in other approved activities. Increased child-care subsidies appear to have increased the earnings of both current and former welfare recipients and other low-income families. Preliminary results suggest that work requirements and time limits have succeeded in moving low-income women with children into jobs, but have decreased the wages they are able to obtain compared to women who are not subject to time limits.

Welfare Reform and Inequality: The TANF and UI Programs

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 significantly changed the nature of income support for poor families in the United States with the elimination of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) the cash public assistance designed to serve (primarily) poor, single-mother families-by replacing it with the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program. This legislation introduced variety of changes in both the administration and financing of income support for poor families, as well as changes in eligibility and benefits. The law shifted public assistance to poor families from federal entitlement program to of fixed block grants administered by the states, it required that percentage of TANF recipients in each state meet certain work participation requirements after two years, and it established cumulative five year time limit on the receipt of cash assistance (with exemptions possible for up to 20 percent of families). States may choose to implement shorter time limit, and 20 states have done so [Blau, Ferber, and Winkler 1998, 302; Hobbie et al. 1999 21; Gornick 1999, 49]. These policy changes, in conjunction with strong economy, have led to substantial decline in the number of families receiving cash public assistance, and declining caseloads have led politicians at all levels of government to declare welfare reform a success. In April 1999, President Clinton hailed the continuing decline in the number of welfare recipients, which had reached its lowest level in 30 years [Kamen 1999]. He continued on with his praise to note that 'April 15th may not be the most favorite day for Americans, but for these people' some of them paying taxes for 'the very first time in their lives,' the income tax