Does Subsidized Child-Care Availability Promote Welfare Independence of Mothers on AFDC

Abstract

This article examines the degree to which the expanded availability of publicly subsidized child care in local communities may promote, through employment, the welfare independence of recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) with preschool-aged children. An experimental group of 300 AFDC recipients with preschool children were offered, by mail, relatively immediate, guaranteed, subsidized child care for all their children under 12 should the casehead secure full-time, unsubsidized employment. A control group of 302 was not made such an offer; members of this group were subject to the normal conditions for obtaining sub sidized, employment-contingent child care. Both aggregate AFDC, Medicaid, and Food Stamp Program expenditures and AFDC participation were subsequently tracked for all participants over a 12-month time frame. The results suggested that the special child care offer had no statistically significant effects either an reducing aggregate welfare expenditures or in promoting client independencefrom the welfare system. Implications for practice andfurther research are suggested.