Research by Author & Topic

Publications by Robin Koralek on TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families)

This report examines the early implementation of the Minnesota Integrated Services Project (ISP), initiated by the Minnesota Department of Human Services and operating in eight sites across the state. Minnesota ISP focuses on improving economic and family-related outcomes for long-term welfare recipients by increasing access to comprehensive services that address multiple needs and coordinating services provided by multiple service systems. This report discusses the progress made and challenges faced in developing coordinated services provided by multiple systems during the early stages of implementation and provides recommendations for improving these service integration efforts.

This report examines policy issues around subsidy use among parents who leave TANF. It includes data on what parents have to do to keep subsidies as they leave TANF in 11 sites/11 states in 2001, examines existing research on welfare leavers and subsidy patterns, and reviews state policies regarding child care subsidies for welfare leavers for a range of states. It provides an overview of key policy issues and discusses the implications of these findings for efforts to help families move towards self-sufficiency.

This report provides a synthesis of three reports from a multi-phased examination of the connections between the child care and welfare systems for TANF families. It contains 12 overarching findings that emerged from the overall study about the complex interaction between the two systems and discusses the implications of these findings for agencies, TANF clients, and policymakers. It highlights different cross-system approaches, identifies strategies that can minimize administrative duplication and client burden, and sets a framework to help policymakers, administrators, and others interested in designing more effective service delivery systems to help families with child care needs move from welfare to work.

This reports highlights parents' experiences with accessing and retaining subsidies as they move through and off the welfare system. It is based on focus groups that were conducted in 4 sites with parents receiving TANF and child care subsidies, as well as parents who had recently left TANF and were still receiving child care subsidies. It provides information on parents' experiences with key aspects of the TANF/child care subsidy process -- including applying for subsidies, finding a provider, ongoing subsidy requirements, and the transition off welfare -- and discusses the implications for policy and practice.

This report examines the intersection of the welfare-to-work and child care systems in 11 local sites/11 states in 2001. It documents how these systems were set up and connected, the factors that aided or impeded coordination between the systems, and the process TANF clients needed to complete as they moved through the welfare-to-work and child care subsidy systems while on welfare. It highlights the range of approaches taken by states, and discusses the implications for parents as well as for both child care and welfare-to-work agencies.

This report explores the application and eligibility determination process for immigrants and limited-English speakers for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), food stamps, Medicaid, and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) in six localities across the country. In general, the application process is easiest for Medicaid and SCHIP. There are more points of access for these programs, and outreach for them is more widespread and effective. The complexity of the application process, however, varies greatly across states and within states by locality. Social service agencies use a combination of strategies to provide interpretation for limited English speakers, including: bilingual staff, contracted interpreters, telephone language lines, and reliance on applicants' friends and family members.

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.

New Jersey has streamlined many aspects of its social services and income support programs and successfully implemented Work First New Jersey (WFNJ), changing the emphasis of cash assistance from education and training to immediate employment and personal responsibility. The state continues to maintain a commitment to its low-income population through a relatively generous safety net for poor families including low-income singles and families without children. New Jersey continues to operate two separate child care systems for welfare and non-welfare families. New Jersey also retained the concept of transitional child care for families exiting welfare, and recently extended the transitional period from two to three years. While resources were unavailable in New Jersey to fund all non-welfare families who applied for child care in the years after welfare reform, in July of 1999 New Jersey transferred TANF funds to eliminate existing waiting lists for non-welfare families seeking child care subsidies.

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.

The policy context for both welfare programs and employment and training programs operated by the workforce development system has changed dramatically in the past few years. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 requires welfare agencies to focus more than in the past on moving welfare recipients into employment. PRWORA provides funding to welfare agencies in the form of a block grant, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), to support efforts to achieve this objective. The need to move more TANF clients into work activities and jobs means that TANF agencies need to expand or develop structural and organizational arrangements that make this possible, including coordinating with the workforce development system.