Key research questions include:
(1) What do CalWORKs recipients understand about the time limit?
(2) How are counties preparing for and implementing the time limit?
(3) What are the characteristics of families that reach the time limit and how do they compare with those who do not?
(4) How do family well-being and economic outcomes for families who exhaust their time on assistance compare to those who leave prior to reaching their time limit?
(5) How has imposing the time limit impacted the CalWORKs caseload? and
(6) Does the time limit impact child welfare indicators (e.g., child abuse or neglect, foster care?

(1) two waves of recipient surveys in six California counties;
(2) analysis of statewide administrative data;
(3) two rounds of in-depth field research conducted in six California counties; and
(4) two waves of an implementation surveys to all 58 California counties.