The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunities Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) fundamentally changed the American welfare system, replacing the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program with the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. PRWORA deliberately and decisively shifted the authority to shape welfare programs from the federal government to the individual states. California's response to PRWORA was the California Work and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program-a "work-first" program that provides support services to help recipients move from welfare to work and toward self-sufficiency. To encourage prompt transitions to work and self-sufficiency, CalWORKs, like PRWORA, also imposes life-time limits on the receipt of aid by adults. Finally, CalWORKs devolves much of the responsibility and authority for implementation to California's 58 counties, increasing counties' flexibility and financial accountability in designing their welfare programs. The California Department of Social Services (CDSS)-the state agency responsible for welfare-contracted with RAND for an independent evaluation of CalWORKs to assess both the process and the impact of the legislation, at both the state and county levels.

This report describes the implementation of California's Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program in its first two years. According to the CalWORKs welfare-to-work model, immediately following the approval of the aid application, nearly all recipients search for jobs in the context of Job Clubs. For those who do not find employment through job search, an intensive assessment and a sequence of activities follow, to identify and overcome barriers to employment. Implementation in most counties is proceeding more slowly than some observers had hoped, but about as fast as could realistically be expected. County welfare districts (CWDs) face the dual challenge of expanding their capacity to deal with the new, higher, steady-state workload that CalWORKs entails and handling the much larger one-time surge of old cases as they move through the system. Providing mandated support services--child care and transportation; education and training; and treatment for alcohol and substance abuse, mental health, and domestic abuse--has been a challenge for most CWDs. To cope with this expanded workload, they have made different capacity-building decisions. The slow pace of movement through the system is worrisome, however, given the five-year lifetime limit that aid recipients face. Finally, those who have found jobs often do not earn enough to move them completely off aid and toward self-sufficiency. Additional post-employment services appear to be needed.. (MP)

Examines the first year of the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids program.

An executive summary of RAND MR-1358-CDSS, Welfare Reform in California: Early Results from the Impact Analysis. The study examines the effects of the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program on work activity participation rates of welfare recipients, welfare caseloads, and outcomes for welfare leavers. It describes outcomes under CalWORKs through approximately the summer of 2000 and begins the process of explaining the observed variation in outcomes through time, between California and other states, and among California's counties. Analyses of national data (administrative data on caseloads and national survey data on household income) and statewide data (on caseloads, employment, and earnings) show almost uniform improvement in outcomes in California since the implementation of CalWORKs. While the CalWORKs reforms appear to have been responsible for some of that improvement, the robust economy and other policy changes were probably also important. The rest of the nation has experienced similar improvements in outcomes.

Examines the effects of the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program on work activity participation rates of welfare recipients, welfare caseloads, and outcomes for welfare leavers. While the CalWORKs reforms appear to have been responsible for some of the uniform improvement in outcomes shown by the analysis, the robust economy and other policy changes were probably also important.

SUMMARYINTRODUCTIONThis report describes results from the 2000 CalWORKs Program Staff Survey (CPSS). This survey of front line county welfare department (CWD) staff--caseworkers--is a part of the process analysis component of the RAND Statewide CalWORKs Evaluation. The Statewide Evaluation includes the survey because caseworkers hold a unique position as part of the last stage of implementing the new program from legislation to clients. While the legislature writes legislation and state and county senior management design policies, the core of welfare-to-work programs is the one-on-one interaction between welfare recipients and caseworkers. This document reports the results of a second wave survey of those caseworkers.CalWORKs was a major reform of California's welfare programs. It provided considerable additional funding. Extending earlier, but only partially implemented reforms, CalWORKs also moved towards a more work first model. Rather than providing education and training as had been true under previous federal and state programs, the CalWORKs program model called for assigning most welfare recipients to job search; thus the label "work first". While the CalWORKs program is "work first", it is not "work only". The program model and program funding include the possibilty of education and training for those who do not find a job during initial job search, for skill upgrading of those who do find a job, and for some people in place of initial job search. The extent to which counties implemented a work first program (vs. a work only program or an education and training focused program) is a major focus of the broader process evaluation.

The California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program is California's response to the welfare reforms Congress set in motion in 1996. In late 1998, RAND conducted the first of three statewide surveys on CalWORKs implementation. Survey responses indicate that the counties have made significant administrative changes in welfare operations, in the structure and organization of their welfare departments and other agencies, in staffing, and in information systems. Many counties have completed planning activities and have fully operational program components. Most counties report no major implementation problems to date but anticipate problems in the future with cumulative lifetime limits and work requirements. A majority of counties agreed that environmental characteristics such as the job market, housing, and transportation have hindered implementation; interagency relationships, planning, and experience with welfare reform have facilitated it. Nearly all agree that special-needs child care and transportation are inadequate. Complete survey responses from the 58 counties are contained in a companion volume.