Synopsis
Contains field-tested techniques to enhance the effectiveness of your local social services!
Changing Welfare Services: Case Studies of Local Welfare Reform Programs describes promising programs and practices that have emerged in the United
States since the enactment of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. Using case studies, this reference
provides important lessons that will help social service directors and staff to develop strategies that will improve local welfare-to-work
services. This casebook focuses on the agencies rather than the welfare population, emphasizing the guiding values of these agencies and the
lessons they learned.
Changing Welfare Services explores new approaches to service delivery, with emphasis on removing barriers to work force participation and promoting
self-sufficiency through support services. The case studies involve programs focused on working with the community by developing partnerships
with local organizations to provide better services. This text emphasizes the organizational changes such as the development of new training
programs, merging employment and social service agencies, and restructuring agency programs to foster collaboration between child welfare services and
welfare-to-work programs that were successful strategies used to implement welfare reform.
In Changing Welfare Services, you will learn about:
the Connections Shuttle and the Guaranteed Ride Home Program transportation
services for welfare-to-work participants
the Exempt Provider Training Program trains Temporary Assistance to Needy
Families (TANF) participants and others to launch and improve their own
high-quality child care businesses
co-location of support services situating mental health and substance abuse
services near the social services agency so TANF participants can make a
single visit for all necessary services
the Family Loan Program helps low-income families deal with large or
unexpected one-time expenses
the JobKeeper Hotline provides round-the-clock counseling, crisis
intervention, and referral services to help participants stay employed
and much more!
Changing Welfare Services shows how these agencies discovered new ways to serve the needs of low-income residents and offers you a variety of
inventive techniques for improving your own agency s support for welfare recipients. Enhanced with tables, figures, and appendixes, this
practitioner-oriented casebook is a much-needed complement to the many quantitative studies of the welfare population. This book is a valuable
resource for state and local human service administrators and staff, policymakers, and university faculty and students of public policy.