The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Administration for Children and Families, and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), in conjunction with the National Organization of Black County Officials (NOBCO) convened a two day workshop in Jackson, Mississippi, to disseminate information to county officials in a seven state area about the advantages of participating in the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) program.

Since the establishment of TANF, welfare cases declined by 52 percent nationally. However, child-only cases declined by only 25 percent. Half of the child-only are currently residing with a relative. There is little information on these children and if they are receiving benefits. This publication explores this population and gives information on the well-being of these children and their needs.

In July 2005, Louisiana Department of Social Services held a planning meeting to build on the success of the EITC campaign to prepare for the 2005 tax year. However, with the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, the target population for EITC/CTC outreach relocated outside of the State. Due to the change in target population, this Roundtable was convened to update and amend program strategies in response to Katrina, to assess the capacity of community organizations to provide free tax assistance services, and to determine how to provide critical outreach to displaced families in the 2006 tax season.

This is a November 2003 Newsletter generated by the Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network on how TANF and Child Support Enforcement can partner to better serve families.

Authored by Lynne Fender and Jen Bernstein. This Urban Institute report was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. This study describes policies and practices in Connecticut, Minnesota, and Texas designed to coordinate the child support enforcement program, Medicaid, and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to secure and sustain appropriate health care coverage for child support-eligible children. Based on site visits to the 3 States, the report documents both successes in cross-program coordination as well as challenges to effective coordination.

From the Rockefeller Institute on Government, this report provides information on a policy forum held on performance management in New York State. The forum included presentations on Federal, State, and local performance management strategies. Specifically, the New York City Human Resources Administration highlighted the JobStat system, which is used to monitor 26 job centers in New York City for welfare and human services.

Authored by Kristin S. Seefeldt and Sean M. Orzol. In 1996, welfare reform legislation imposed a 60-month lifetime limit on TANF benefits. The authors use four waves of data from the Women's Employment Study to determine which personal characteristics are associated with accumulating months on TANF at low (less than 20 months of receipt), medium (20 to 39 months), and high (40 to 60 months) levels. They find that many of the same factors are associated with being in both the medium and high accumulation groups, relative to the low group. However, demographic variables, such as the presence of a partner, race, and the number of children seem to matter more in determining whether someone will accumulate a low as opposed to a medium amount of time on TANF. The presence of human capital problems, as well as persistent personal and family challenges--such as children with health problems, domestic violence, and drug use--all greatly increase the likelihood of accumulating many months toward the 60-month time limit.

Authored by Lashawn Richburg-Hayes and Stephen Freedman. This MDRC report analyzes the experiences of welfare "cyclers" using five MDRC studies of welfare reform initiatives during the mid- to late-1990s. Overall, cyclers constituted a relatively small portion of the welfare caseload (9 percent).

Since the inception of PRWORA in 1996, welfare clients were given a 60-month time limit for the amount of time on case assistance. The first time that clients reached their time limits in California was January of 2003. This report outlines how time limits were implemented in California and the effects that the time limit has on low-income families.

From the Welfare Policy Research Project, this research article reviews a study in California on the effects of the 60-month TANF time limit. As a result of 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, all adults receiving welfare are subject to a five year lifetime limit for cash benefits. Authors discuss how these time limits have affected families enrolled in the CalWORKS TANF program.