Recent Changes in Minnesota Welfare and Work, Child Care, and Child Welfare Systems

Assessing the New Federalism State Update No. 3

The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.

Note: This report is available in its entirety in the Portable Document Format (PDF).

About the Series

This state update is a product of Assessing the New Federalism, a multiyear project to monitor and assess the devolution of social programs from the federal to the state and local levels. Alan Weil is the project director. The project analyzes changes in income support, social services, and health programs. In collaboration with Child Trends, the project studies child and family well-being.

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.

Introduction

Minnesota is a state with a reputation for progressive policies and generous social programs. Throughout the 1990s, Minnesota made a commitment to providing basic support for families to move toward self-sufficiency, including the development of a statewide health insurance plan for low-income uninsured families (MinnesotaCare), child care assistance for low-income working families (Basic Sliding Fee Child Care Program), and the Working Family Credit (the state's Earned Income Tax Credit). When the state began its pilot welfare program in 1994, the Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP) was intended not only to move recipients off welfare but to move them out of poverty as well. Indeed, Minnesota was one of the first states to implement a welfare program that combined generous income disregards with mandated employment services. In recent years, the focus in Minnesota has shifted noticeably to include a stronger "work first" orientation, and more intense services directed toward welfare recipients with barriers to employment. In addition, the development of new policies and programs for low-income families has become increasingly complicated by changes in the political affiliation of the governor and the legislature.

This report is a summary of information obtained during visits to Hennepin County (the state's largest urban county, which includes the city of Minneapolis) in 1999 and 2000 to document changes and progress since 1997. The report updates Income Support and Social Services for Low-Income People in Minnesota, an overview of benefits and services in the state in 1997 and a description of the economic and political context shaping Minnesota's agenda for serving low-income families.

The current report begins with a brief profile of the population, economic conditions, and political landscape in Minnesota at the time of our second visit, followed by a description of Minnesota's social safety net for low income families. Next, the report provides an overview of the service delivery structure in Minnesota, focusing in particular on organizational and policy changes, budgets, and overall philosophy of support for low-income families. Descriptions of three key services in the state—income support and workforce development, child care assistance, and child welfare programs—follow this discussion. The report concludes with a brief integrative summary of policies and services for families in Minnesota.

Researchers visited Minnesota three times during 1999 and 2000: June, 1999 (child care team); September, 1999 (child welfare team); and April, 2000 (TANF and workforce development team). The research teams collected the information compiled in this report through telephone¹ and in-person interviews with front-line program staff, state-level officials, local program administrators, and key informants from Hennepin County and state-level advocacy and social service organizations. To learn more about families' experiences receiving child care assistance, focus groups were conducted with a sample of families. Telephone interviews were conducted with child welfare administrators in 12 other counties.² Interview and focus group information presented here is supplemented by reports and data from other research organizations and Minnesota state agencies.

Notes from this section of the report

1. Researchers conducted telephone interviews before and after the site visits.

2. The counties surveyed included Carlton, Clay, Houston, Lyon, Martin, Mower, Polk, Saint Louis, Stearns, Traverse, Waseca, and Wright.

Note: This report is available in its entirety in the Portable Document Format (PDF).

The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.

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