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Subgroups
At five sites, including three cities and two counties in Virginia, all individuals with an active AFDC case in July 1995 were assigned to the intervention or comparison groups. In addition, individuals who applied for AFDC benefits between July 1995 and September 1996 were randomly assigned to intervention or comparison groups as they were approved for AFDC or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits. Random assignment continued until August 1997, but individuals assigned after September 1996 were not included in the study sample. Assignment was based on a digit of an individual's AFDC case number, which was determined to be as good as random. Eligibility reforms were implemented in July 1995. This study review examines the impacts of VIP for AFDC applicants in the Portsmouth site. Other reviews examine impacts for AFDC recipients and impacts at the other four sites.
Individuals were randomly assigned from July 1995 to September 1996. Results are available for the full sample of study participants for four quarters after random assignment.
ACF, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Virginia Department of Social Services
The sample included approved AFDC applicants, who began receiving AFDC benefits between July 1995 and September 1996. Individuals were, on average, 28 years of age, and almost all (97 percent) were female. Most sample members were African American (83 percent), and less than 1 percent were Hispanic; the remainder identified as either White or of another racial or ethnic background. About half of the sample (54 percent) had a high school diploma or equivalent certification, including 7 percent who also had at least some college education. The average AFDC case included 2.4 individuals. Forty-one percent of the sample was part of an AFDC case in which at least one individual had worked in the two quarters before random assignment.
Virginia state AFDC/TANF
The program did not exist before the study started. Portsmouth, the site in this study, was one of five experimental sites in Virginia that tested the new eligibility requirements.
Individuals in the intervention group were subject to VIP eligibility requirements. VIP eligibility reforms for AFDC/TANF recipients were designed to encourage responsible parenting and economic self-sufficiency. The eligibility reforms for individuals with children included one-time payments to families with a temporary loss of income if they agreed to forgo AFDC/TANF receipt for 160 days; limits to benefits for children born more than 10 months after a family began to receive AFDC/TANF benefits; an allowance for the accumulation of savings of up to $5,000 to support education, entrepreneurship, or the purchase of a home; the use of one-parent eligibility criteria in determining benefits for two-parent families; and requirements for paternity establishment cooperation, child school attendance and immunization, and housing for minor parents. VIP eligibility reforms were implemented in July 1995.
Individuals in the comparison condition were eligible for public assistance and business-as-usual services under Virginia's AFDC program. From October 1997 to March 1998, comparison group members were transitioned to VIP eligibility reform policies.
As part of VIP, individuals in the intervention group were sanctioned monthly, per child, if they did not provide proof of immunization (a sanction of $50 for the first child and $25 for each additional child) or if their school-aged child did not attend school (full sanction of the child's portion of the benefit). A mother's portion of the family's public assistance benefit was also fully sanctioned if she did not establish paternity within six months. Finally, minor parents were required to live with a parent or other adult to be eligible for AFDC/TANF.
Random assignment occurred from July 1995 to September 1996. Individuals in the intervention group were subject to VIP eligibility reform policies starting in July 1995. From October 1997 to March 1998, comparison group members were transitioned to VIP eligibility reform policies. Therefore, the intervention and comparison groups received different services for between 12 and 33 months.
AFDC/TANF
Portsmouth, VA
The study also examines impacts on total income, which is the sum of earnings and benefits received.
See sample characteristics.