Caseworker-recipient interaction: welfare office differences, economic trajectories, and child outcomes

TitleCaseworker-recipient interaction: welfare office differences, economic trajectories, and child outcomes
Publication TypeJournal Article
AuthorsGodfrey, E. B., and H. Yoshikawa
Drawing on developmental and policy research, this study examined whether 3 dimensions of caseworker-recipient interaction in welfare offices functioned as critical ecological contexts for recipient families. The sample consisted of 1,098 families from 10 welfare offices in National Evaluation of Welfare to Work Strategies (NEWWS). In multilevel analyses, caseworker support, caseload size, and emphasis on employment predicted 5-year quarterly trajectories of earnings, income, and welfare receipt. Recipients in offices characterized by high support had steeper increases in earnings and income; those in offices with high caseload size had steeper decreases in income and welfare receipt; and those in offices with high emphasis on employment had steeper decreases in welfare receipt. These economic trajectories were associated with children's reading and math achievement and internalizing behavior at ages 8-10.
Title Caseworker-recipient interaction: welfare office differences, economic trajectories, and child outcomes
Publication Title Child Dev
Publication Type Journal Article
Published Year 2012
Authors E.B. Godfrey; H. Yoshikawa
Accession Number 22181014
Number 1
ISBN Number 1467-8624 (Electronic)<br/>0009-3920 (Linking)
Grant List
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