Citation URL: http://www.urban.org/JodiSandfort

For low-income parents, getting and keeping child care subsidies can sometimes be so challenging that it undermines a key goal of the system, to work and stay off welfare. Families must do far more to get and keep their subsidies than has generally been recognized. They must apply for subsidies, periodically recertify their eligibility and report any changes in, for instance, job, income, child care provider, residence, or marital status. Most sites required parents to come into the office at least once, though some sites required them to come in repeatedly. Subsidy policies and how they were implemented in practice also did not always match. For instance, even in locations that required recertification every six months, caseworkers could require parents to recertify more often, particularly if the family experienced frequent job related changes. The research is based on interviews with state and local administrators, other experts, and focus groups with child care caseworkers, parents receiving subsidies, and child care providers in 12 states. A more in-depth look at these findings can be found in Getting and Retaining Child Care Assistance: How Policy and Practice Influence Parents' Experiences; Gina Adams, Kathleen Snyder, Jodi R. Sandfort; OP 55; March 2002.

For low-income parents, getting and keeping child care subsidies can sometimes be so challenging that it undermines a key goal of the system, to work and stay off welfare. Families must do far more to get and keep their subsidies than has generally been recognized. They must apply for subsidies, periodically recertify their eligibility and report any changes in, for instance, job, income, child care provider, residence, or marital status. Most sites required parents to come into the office at least once, though some sites required them to come in repeatedly. Subsidy policies and how they were implemented in practice also did not always match. For instance, even in locations that required recertification every six months, caseworkers could require parents to recertify more often, particularly if the family experienced frequent job related changes. The research is based on interviews with state and local administrators and other experts, and focus groups with child care caseworkers, parents receiving subsidies, and child care providers in 12 states.

In 1996 and 1997, the Urban Institute conducted case studies in 13 states that provided a baseline for understanding changes emerging from welfare reform. This set of state updates describes changes occurring between 1996-97 and 1999-2000 based on a second set of case studies completed in 1999 and 2000. Programs covered include income support through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, employment and training supports for low-income welfare and non-welfare families, child care, and child welfare. It also looks at interactions among these programs.

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