Integrated Case Management

Integrated Case Management participants worked with a single case manager to improve their educational and vocational skills and determine their welfare eligibility and payment issuance. Participants who did not have a high school diploma or general education diploma were assigned to basic education classes; participants with basic education credentials were assigned to vocational training, postsecondary education, or work experience. Case managers provided job search assistance after they determined that participants were employable. Supportive services offered included  child care, transportation, and other incidental work costs, and the program had an on-site child care center. Case managers closely monitored and enforced program participation and imposed sanctions on participants who did not meet the program participation requirements by reducing their monthly welfare payments. Services ended when clients exited AFDC. Participants in Integrated Case Management were single-parent AFDC applicants and recipients whose youngest child was at least 3 years old. The intervention was implemented in Columbus, OH, and was mandatory for all participants as part of the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training welfare-to-work program, unless they met one of several exclusion criteria. 

The demonstration also included a Traditional Case Management program and a comparison of the Traditional and Integrated Case Management programs. While participants in Integrated Case Management worked with a single case manager to improve their educational and vocational skills and determine their welfare eligibility and payment issuance, participants in Traditional Case Management worked with separate case managers for these services. Integrated Case Management case managers also worked with fewer cases than case managers in the Traditional Case Management program did and were therefore able to provide more personalized attention and careful monitoring. Case managers in the Traditional Case Management program had larger caseloads and did not monitor participation as closely.