April 2000
US Department of Health and Human Services
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services contracted with The Lewin Group and Johns Hopkins University to synthesize the literature on child support cost avoidance and to identify areas where additional research is required. The major components of this report are a synthesis of the literature on cost avoidance and an annotated bibliography of cost avoidance studies and related studies that contribute to the methodology of measuring cost avoidance -- e.g., studies on compliance, child support review and adjustment efforts, the behavioral implications of child support policies, microsimulation models and their current and future capacity to estimate cost avoidance, and the use of administrative data to measure cost avoidance. The report also contains a summary of additional research that is needed and recommendations about the most promising strategies for expanding our knowledge about cost avoidance.
Client Area: Federal Government
Expertise Area: Income Security
February 2000
DHHS, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE)
The Lewin Group recently completed a report for HHS, ASPE to document the composition and trends of TANF child-only cases, focusing on three areas: Alameda County, (Oakland) California; Duval County, (Jacksonville) Florida; and Jackson County, (Kansas City) Missouri. The Lewin Group documented the policies and practices in place in the three states, collected data from the state administrative systems, and conducted a case file review in the three counties. Major findings include:
The proportion of TANF cases that are child-only has been increasing since 1988 (to 68 percent in Duval County) primarily because non-child only cases are declining dramatically.
State policies and county demographics directly affect the composition of child-only caseloads -- about two-thirds of the child-only cases in Jackson and Duval counties are relative caretaker cases; Alameda cases are divided more evenly into sanctioned, SSI, alien, and relative cases.
Relative caretakers are more likely to be grandparents who are caring for a child due to desertion, substance abuse, incarceration, child abuse, or neglect by the parent.
States are recognizing the importance of assisting cases where relatives are taking care of the children by creating alternative programs that provide services and increased financial assistance without the licensing requirements of foster care.
Client Area: Federal Government
Expertise Area: Income Security
September 1999
DHHS, Office of the Assistant Secretaryfor Planning and Evaluation (ASPE)
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the federal Child Support Enforcement program financing structure and the resources allocated to the CSE program. The study addresses the following main topics: What are the various sources of funding for the State and local share of IV-D expenditures? What share of the expenditures does each source represent? How is the State share of retained TANF collections allocated at the State and local level? How are Federal incentive payments allocated at the State and local level?
Client Area: Federal Government
Expertise Area: Income Security
April 1999
Social Security Administration
How will welfare reform affect disability programs? Lewin evaluated the effects of recent welfare reform legislation on the Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) Program and the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Program. Some of the reforms affect SSA programs directly ("SSA reforms"), while others have an indirect effect through program interactions ("non-SSA reforms"). Evaluation options are developed to estimate the impact of the non-SSA reforms alone, and to estimate the total effect of all recent SSA and non-SSA reforms. To develop these options, we conducted several activities to collect supportive information, including: a major literature review; a review of ongoing and proposed state and other welfare reform evaluation efforts; five state site visits; and an analysis of SSA administrative data, both by itself, and matched to data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation. We present four options that can be implemented independently or in a complementary manner.
Client Area: Federal Government
Expertise Area: Income Security
May 1998
DHHS, Office of the Assistant Secretaryfor Planning and Evaluation (ASPE)
Lewin contact: Lisa Alecxih
This report assesses the statistical issues involved in the production of state-level estimates related to health and welfare issues from three national surveys: the Current Population Survey (CPS), the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), and the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). With the devolution of many welfare programs from the Federal Government to the states, there is a strong interest in being able to track the health and welfare of the population in each state. This would allow for examination of the effect of various state welfare initiatives.
Client Area: Federal Government
Expertise Area: Income Security
October 1997
DHHS, Office of the Assistant Secretaryfor Planning and Evaluation (ASPE)
Summary: Health insurance access is an important factor in decisions to work or participate in public programs for single mothers, older workers and the elderly. Many DI and SSI beneficiaries say they are deterred from working for fear of losing their benefits. Recent legislative proposals are designed to address these issues through expanded eligibility for government provided health insurance programs.
Client Area: Federal Government
Expertise Area: Health Reform, Income Security
July 1997
DHHS, Office of the Assistant Secretaryfor Planning and Evaluation (ASPE)
This paper is the culmination of research on participation and expenditures in state AFDC programs. The project entailed the construction of separate pooled time-series econometric models for both the Basic and Unemployed Parent (UP) programs as well as a model for the average monthly benefit for the combined programs. These models utilize quarterly state-level data for all 50 states and the District of Columbia from 1979 to 1994. They relate within-state changes in demographics, the economy, and programs to changes in caseloads, participants, child participants, and expenditures per case. In addition to presenting the results of these models at the national level, this paper includes an in-depth discussion of participation patterns in four states: California, Florida, Maryland, and Wisconsin.
Client Area: Federal Government
Expertise Area: Income Security
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