Child Day Care Recycling Fund Experiment

This report describes the context, design, and findings of an evaluation of a welfare reform initiative, the Recycling Fund Concept, in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. The proposed fund would allocate money to parents of preschool children who receive Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). The concept assumes that lack of child care is an obstacle to the employment of these parents. Money saved from reduced AFDC payments would be recycled into child care services. The experimental intervention compared the amount of welfare expenditure for an experimental group of 300 individuals who were offered subsidized, employment-dependent child care support, and for a control group of 302. Pre- and post-intervention surveys were conducted to ascertain attitudinal characteristics of the experimental group. Results from the evaluation indicated that the offer of subsidized child care support had no effect in promoting employment-related behaviors or outcomes, or in reducing welfare expenditures. However, results from the surveys indicated that lack of child care was mentioned most often as a barrier to employment. A reference list of 77 items is provided. Appendices include samples of pre- and post-intervention surveys, samples of letters to clients, and results of a times series study. (BC)