Welfare Reform in Minnesota: A Look at Families Nearing the Time Limit

Concern for families reaching the time limits imposed under welfare reform has led states to develop strategies for addressing the needs of this hard-to-employ population. Shortly before its first TANF families were expected to reach the 60-month lifetime limit on benefits, Ramsey County, in the St. Paul area of Minnesota, implemented the Intensive Integrated Intervention project to reduce the number of families that would reach that limit without employment or other sources of economic support. The intervention's focus on assessment and intensive case management delved deeply into recipients' lives to learn not only what problems they faced, but also how these problems affected their ability to manage their households, participate in traditional welfare employment programs, and sustain full-time unsubsidized employment. An overview of the program was published in spring 2006.

The assessments revealed that many recipients demonstrated low cognitive functioning, along with serious physical and mental health problems. The combination of these problems often made it difficult for recipients to complete even the most basic activities of daily living and challenging for parents to rear their children effectively.

Despite the extreme difficulties program staff uncovered, they believed that, with the right services and supports, most recipients could eventually work. However, staff ended up granting numerous time-limit extensions and transferring many recipients to the Supplemental Security Income rolls because funding was insufficient to sustain the intensive interventions they believed necessary to help recipients make a lasting transition to unsubsidized employment. The circumstances uncovered through the assessments also convinced staff of the importance of taking a proactive approach to identify recipients whose personal and family circumstances contribute to their inability to participate and succeed in traditional welfare employment program activities.

The study suggests that as states and counties weigh alternative strategies for meeting higher TANF work participation rates, they will need to take into account the special circumstances of recipients who face serious personal and family challenges. Program administrators may want to consider the following strategies:

• Identify hard-to-employ recipients early on
• Develop and use program activities that accommodate recipients' limitations
• Create developmental work opportunities, such as transitional employment programs or highly structured work experience programs with extensive supervision
• Consider alternative income support programs when work is not feasible
• Build more effective partnerships with programs for individuals with disabilities

The study was funded by the Joyce Foundation.

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