Research Reports

Transitioning recipients of TANF cash assistance from welfare-to-work has become the focus of state welfare programs. Successful transitional assistance programs incorporate pre-employment and post-employment services to increase job retention and advancement to avoid welfare returns. In the late fall of 2008, The Social Research Institute (SRI) was contracted by Utah’s Department of Workforce Services (DWS) to complete an evaluation of the Transitional Cash Assistance Program (TCA).

The vision of reformed welfare policy was always that of a one-way street. Participants were to move from welfare dependency to a level of self-sufficiency, thus making receipt of welfare benefits no longer necessary. Passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) addressed the fear that AFDC promoted long-term dependency by reducing the recipient’s ability to view themselves as self-sufficient.

In early 2004 the issue of a "pause the clock" proposal was gaining more attention from community advocates and being introduced to DWS management. The TANF review study research group from the Social Research Institute (SRI) was asked to begin gathering data regarding the need for such a provision.

The impact of PRWORA has not ended with time limits and work requirements. As part of the implementation of new policies under the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program, there has been a dramatic increase in the types of circumstances that can lead to reduction or termination of cash benefits (Mathematica, 2003). The concept of “carrot and stick” is often used to describe the current work-based welfare system

This report of the “Understanding Families with Multiple Barriers to Self Sufficiency” study presents data and findings from Phase III, conducted from June 2000 to July 2002. Phase III had three major components: a) longitudinal analysis of welfare leavers, especially those who were closed because they reached Utah’s 3 year lifetime limit for cash assistance; b) in-depth data collection for a subset of respondents who achieved success despite possessing multiple barriers to self-sufficiency; and c) a report problem areas and intervention strategies for leavers found to be in a situation which immediately threatened their ability to provide food, clothing, shelter or physical and emotional care for themselves or their families.