Welfare reform at the local level

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Implementing Welfare Reform: Changing Strategies for Managing Substance Abuse at the Local Level

RWJ 047653: PROJECT SUMMARY

The principle objectives of this project are to study the implementation of welfare reform guidelines that impact substance abuse at the local level and to document the intended and unintended consequences that have arisen out of this implementation process. We do so through a case study of a large California county. We use archival analysis of documents on the policy development process, key informant interviews of policymakers, and ethnographic observation of day-to-day life in welfare offices. The project focuses on the local level because, under federalism and welfare reform’s devolution of federal authority, this is largely where the policymaking and implementation process unfolds.

Welfare providers have historically offered very few services for alcohol and drug problems, seldom viewing substance abusers as a particularly important or deserving clientele. But in 1996, welfare reform empowered state and local aid programs to address addiction as a key policy problem. Post-reform, local providers are encouraged to implement a variety of policies that impact substance-abusing clients. These policies include: (1) restricting drug felons from receiving federal aid under the federal “Gramm Amendment;” (2) routinely screening and referring welfare clients to compulsory and voluntary substance abuse treatment; (3) economic sanctions that partially or completely withhold aid from clients who fail to comply with program requirements; and (4) time limits on receiving aid, which may disproportionately affect substance-abusing clients who have difficulty moving from welfare to work.

This project addresses the development and implementation of these four policy measures using two approaches. In the first component of the study, we use archival analysis and key informant interviews to trace the development of policies that impact substance abuse in the federal and California state welfare reform debates since the mid-1990s. Our objectives here are to examine the arguments and justifications for targeting substance abuse problems in the welfare population, the public image of substance abusers in the debate, and the similarities and differences between welfare policies in California and those in other areas of the US. The second component of the study uses ethnographic methods, including in-depth interviews with welfare workers and participant observation in county welfare offices. Our objectives here are to examine how welfare reform policies that impact substance-abusing clients are actually being implemented on a day-to-day basis, to describe welfare workers’ attitudes towards and strategies for managing substance abuse problems in their clientele, and to analyze how workers interact with clients whom they conclude have substance abuse problems. This will help shed light on how official policies and procedures are being worked out at the local level, the scope and role of worker discretion, and the intended and unintended consequences of reform as implemented in the welfare system.

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Last updating of page: February 2, 2004