1. to assess the needs of new and transitioning welfare recipients;
2. to identify the constellation of personal, community, and programmatic barriers to self sufficiency and to successful departure from CalWORKs,;
3. to determine what outcomes result for this population.

The criteria for individuals to be included in the study is:

1. age 18-59;
2. speak English, Spanish, or Vietnamese as their primary language;
3. be a parent or a caregiver in a 1- or 2- parent household;
4. not be a non-needy caregiver;
5. not have a permanent disability;
6. not be exempt from CalWORKs work requirements.

Post Program Activities:
Support services used following leaving welfare.

Social/Support Services:
Assessment of utilization of mental/health, substance abuse, transportation, legal, financial, job retention and child care services.

To examine with multivariate methods the effects of barriers and supports on welfare and work outcomes.
To add to the literature an understanding of factors resulting in part-time vs. full-time work, work with and without welfare, and neither source of support, compared to reliance on welfare alone.

Each recipient was also questioned about one randomly selected child in his or her family for this interview.

At each follow-up, statistical tests were conducted to insure that the representativeness of the original baseline sample had been maintained. The only measured departure from sample comparability across waves was the disproportionate loss of Vietnamese-speaking respondents at Wave 3.

• 67.2% of the study participants plan to participate in CalWORKs while 29.1% plan to collect only for their children
• The most common reason for applying for TANF was expecting to have or having a newborn baby.
• Only 57.4% of the sample graduated from H.S. or received a GED.
• 30.9% of the study participants have not worked 26 or more hours a week for at least 2 consecutive weeks within/I the last 4 years
• One-third of the sample was assessed as having no potential health barrier, one third with one potential health related barrier and the last third with two or more potential health barriers to obtaining work.
• Specific barriers include physical health problems, serious mental health problems, alcohol and drug use problems, family violence, and learning problems.

• When interviewed, 72% of study participants were not currently involved in any activities preparing them for work
• Only 17% had signed their welfare to work plan
• Thirteen potential barriers to working were identified; six were health related.
• Depending on the definition used, between 81% and 96% of study participants were experiencing one or more potential barriers.
• Compared to respondents working at least 26 hours per week, respondents working fewer hours were more likely to be experiencing the following two barriers: lack of job skills or inadequate work history, or problems with child care.
• Using broad definitions of potential barriers, having two or fewer barriers was not very likely to prevent people from working, while having five or more was very likely to interfere with working.
• English-speaking Latinos experienced more health related barriers to working.
• Circumstances of daily living (housing, utilities, lack of food) were challenging, due to incomes that averaged 112 percent of poverty.
• Spanish speaking Latino and white respondents reported the largest household incomes
• Study respondents were similar to other TANF groups and different from other US adults on five key demographic characteristics and 3 of 5 potential barriers to working.
• One child in each family was studied in more detail.
• In response to open ended questions about the CalWORKs program and what the gov’t could do to assist families, respondents stressed: help find jobs, more job training, money for childcare, cheaper housing, more education, and flexible administration of CalWORKs.

• Several factors such as childcare and transportation barriers, few work skills, a history of involvement in criminal justice system, heavy drinking or having a child within a year, made it difficult for people to find and keep work; people with these factors were less likely to be working.
• Those with a criminal history were ¼ as likely to have a job as other welfare recipients.
• Vouchers appear to address transportation problems in only a small sector of the population.
• Several family-related factors appear to be related to the odds of working. Those with a preschooler and a teenager were more likely to be working.
• None of the demographic characteristics tested were predictors of employment status, including race/ethnicity, sex, age, having a partner or spouse, or first language.
• Hardships whose roots are lack of income appear to be widespread among this population.
• No evidence was found that mental health symptoms, physical health problems, use of illegal drugs, family violence, or childhood abuse serve as barriers to work at an early phase of welfare reform in Alameda County.

• At Wave 2, 61 percent of study participant households were receiving CalWORKs cash assistance, and 42 percent were working at least the 32 hours per week required of California welfare recipients.
• The Wave 2 sample did not differ in most respects from the baseline. No significant differences were found in terms of the eleven potential barriers to employment at baseline. No significant differences were shown in demographic variables.
• Interviewed respondents in Wave 2 were more likely to have more minor children than those not interviewed.
• The number of recipients who have reached various CalWORKs milestones has doubled since baseline.
• Most respondents were either satisfied or very satisfied with their welfare to work programs.
• Although household incomes had increased nine percent since baseline, four-fifths of the non-welfare working households did not have the income necessary to support a two-parent, two-child family in the Bay Area.
• The prevalence of potential barriers to employment and successful welfare departure decreased only slightly from baseline to Wave 2, suggesting that the delivery of services, treatment, and other supports remained important in the year 2000.
• While the overall prevalence of individual potential barriers to employment changed little across waves, the identities of the people experiencing them did change.
• Particularly strong associations were found between alcohol dependence and childcare problems, on the one hand, and lack of full-time work, on the other.
• Although the researchers found increases in the provision of services for people who needed them from baseline to Wave 2, they also found that not all are getting the services they may need.

• At Wave 3, 65 percent of study participants reported receipt of cash welfare or other public assistance, and 47 percent were employed at least the 32 hours per week required of California welfare recipients.
• The data suggest that movement along the path towards self-sufficiency is slow and not universal among CalWORKs recipients.
• One-third of respondents working full-time at Wave 2 were no longer working that much at Wave 3.
• Essentially unchanged rates of employment between the second and third interviews, low uptake of child care and transportation benefits, respondent household incomes well below estimates of what it costs to make ends meet, and declining health insurance were found.
• The prevalence of health- and non-health-related potential barriers fell between Baseline and Wave 3. Nevertheless, the prevalence of many barriers remained substantial at Wave 3.
• Not all barriers associated with full-time work at Wave 2 retained that association at Wave 3.
• However, at both Wave 2 and Wave 3, lack of regular family child care, no car and/or no driver’s license, longer welfare history, and two or more functional limitations were all negatively associated with work status in multivariate analyses.
• The fact that Wave 3 respondents with the most barriers were almost twice as likely to be working full-time compared to their Wave 2 counterparts suggests that the motivation to work full-time may prove to be stronger than potential barriers to work, especially in the face of impending federal and state time limits.
• Despite an increase in the percentage of respondents living at or above 150% of the poverty line, an increase was also evident in the proportion living at or below 50% of poverty.

• Physical health problems are the most prevalent among present and former welfare recipients.
• Mental health problems were experienced by 33 to 42% of study respondents at any given time.
• The least prevalent of health-related problems were possible illegal drug and alcohol abuse and domestic violence problems.
• At Wave 3, significant associations with full time work status were found only for physical health, a few mental health barriers, and one domestic abuse barrier.
• When the effect of health related barriers on working full time is assessed while controlling for demographic, human capital, welfare history, family responsibility, and transportation variables, only a single health related barrier — two or more functional limitations -- is found significantly to predict lack of full time work at all three interview waves.
• While at Wave 2 one mental health and four physical health potential barriers predicted receipt of CalWORKs cash assistance, at Wave 3 only one marginally significant association was evident.
• The degree to which people who recognized a need for help actually received help varied as a function of the type of the potential barrier.
• Over the course of the study, access to services for those with a self-acknowledged need for help was lower at Wave 3 compared to Wave 1 for those assessed with a potential alcohol problem or a physical health problem.

• Support for child care & transportation must be retained, and accessibility and utility to respondents must be substantially improved.
• Low uptake of child care subsidies, regardless of the reasons, means that young children of CalWORKs recipients are missing the opportunity to benefit from formal, structured child care. Child care supports may not be used by respondents due to difficulties in navigating the child care system and a shortage of desirable, affordable providers.
• Given the primacy of family-based child care in these models, it seems important to encourage creative solutions for supporting and funding family-based child care arrangements. TANF funding might be permitted to be used to encourage worksite child care as well as other options for managing non-standard work hours. Beyond TANF, it will be important to maintain funding for child care assistance for the working poor, and to assist low-wage former welfare recipients in transitioning to alternative sources of child care funding.
• Low uptake of transportation subsidies may be an indication that there is no substitute for owning a car. It seems obvious that no one needs a car more than a working single parent. Transportation subsidies appear to be inadequate support for dealing with limitations in public transportation and the complexity of travel needs. We recommend creative programs that support purchase and maintenance of private vehicles.
• High drop-out rates from educational activities may limit respondents’ ability to attain self-sufficiency, and may indicate the need for additional supports, or more consistently provided supports, for respondents pursuing education.
• Further research is needed on barriers that may limit or constrain, rather then prevent, working, and policy supports may need to be maintained for persons with such constraints.
• Given that every additional barrier reduces the likelihood of working, screening programs to identify individuals with physical and behavioral health barriers to employment, as well as human capital deficits may be advisable.
• A substantial proportion of welfare recipients may not be able to leave welfare or remain employed, at least with current CalWORKs program levels of support. Early screening and assessment may also facilitate decisions in favor of more intensive case management, appropriate exemptions from work requirements, or timely assistance in pursuing disability claims.
• Even those without barriers to employment appear likely to have periods of unemployment, and need for public assistance in some form. Policy options for those in unstable labor markets could include extended unemployment benefits, quick access to emergency funds for living expenses, and continued health insurance for unemployed adults.