Faces of Change in Tennessee: Results from an Intensive Service Program

1. Thomas E. Lengyel Jamie Harris Laura Pinsoneault Alliance for Children & Families Milwaukee, Wisconsin Kerry Mullins Paul Lefkowitz Department of Human Services Nashville, Tennessee Sissie Hadjiharalambous Debbie Perkins Chris Pelton Social Work Office of Research & Public Service University of Tennessee-Knoxville Knoxville, Tennessee Faces of Change in Tennessee:Results from an Intensive Service Program

2. Theoretical Foundation:The Actor’s Perspective • Personal action occurs in response to experience as understood by the actor • Understood experience is accessible through narratives • Narratives reveal values and personal decision-making-in-context • Narratives provide causal understanding of individual response to social policy

3. Research Strategy:The Specific Value of Narratives • Categories of experience are “native” • Vs. imposed categories created by researchers • Values and priorities of the actor emerge • Vs. priorities assumed by researchers/legislators • Personal impact of the experience is plain • Vs. impact submerged in standardized categories

4. Research Strategy:The Value of Narratives • Decision pathways and cause are accessible • Vs. decisions and cause inferred from correlations • Stories provide “voice” and enhance civic participation • Vs. no voice or civic participation

5. Household support Basic Needs Housing Child Well-being Emotional Well-being Job quality Family Service Counseling (FSC) Faces of Change:Phase II - Family “Self-Sufficiency”

6. The Family Services Counseling Program • Started in April 2000 • Staffed by 100 masters level counselors • Designed to serve those who seemed to be struggling or having difficulty progressing down the road to self-sufficiency • FSC was designed to address five barrier areas (Mental health, Learning disabilities, Domestic Violence, Children’s problems, Substance Abuse)

7. Early Assessment of FSC • Difficulty in determining what constitutes a successful outcome • Employment as an eventual, but not necessarily proximate goal • Difficulty creating categories of program completion for outcome comparison • Need to have better understanding of client experience

8. Methodology • Use network of social work agencies to gain access to individuals affected by welfare reform • Seek national, random sample of welfare-affected families • Elicit semi-structured narratives centered on the status of families and children (self-sufficiency) • Code narratives using open coding • Analyze narratives in their own terms • Publish narratives verbatim • Methods & instruments: www.Alliance1.org/Research/facesphase2.htm

9. The FSC Sample • Collected a random sample of 93 semi-structured personal narratives from participants in FSC, through FSC service providers • Collected additional stories in Tennessee through other service providers (Alliance members) • Collected a random sample of stories in 12 other states as part of national sample • Coding dictionary constructed based on open coding -- 232 codes • 46 FSC stories coded and analyzed thus far

10. Basic NeedsFSC Findings • Median household cash income from all sources is about 50% of the Federal Poverty Level • FSC households use food stamps as the primary means to feed their families • Expenditures requiring cash outlays are a critical weakness of these households (i.e., other than food & health care) • Children’s needs come first

11. Basic Needs I have developed, uh, the needed skills to be able to shop with that $256 in a way that is going to give us balanced nutrition for the month. I would say it’s maybe, it’s that last, uh, three or four days, you know. I never run out of food, you know, but there’s a difference between eating the Ramen noodles because, mmmm, I’d like to have some Ramen noodles and oooh, the Ramen noodles, the only thing in the cabinet to eat. [Laughs] -- A 40-year-old mother with a ten-year-old son, attending Eastern Tennessee State University and surviving on student loans and her Pell grant

12. EmploymentFSC Findings • Household earnings for working FSC families are significantly lower than the working families in the national sample • Median earnings of $500 vs. $609 for household head • Median earnings of $500 vs. $1,125 for spouse/partner • Almost all FSC households with earnings had only a single worker

13. EmploymentFSC Findings • Most workers reported no opportunities for advancement (n=19; 63%) • Those who had opportunities did not view them as viable paths for advancement

14. EmploymentFSC Findings • A clear majority of FSC workers (n=28; 63%) had jobs with no benefits • For those workers whose jobs offered benefits (n=9; 37%), some benefits were limited, some benefits were delayed, and some benefits had high associated costs.

15. Employment The last job I had was as a dietary aid in a kitchen of a nursing home, where I would stand on my feet all day and I would add the desserts and drinks to the trays as they came down to me. Interviewer: What were the wages and benefits like working there? Author: From what I was told that they wouldn’t discuss like family insurance or any insurance with me until my 90 day probationary period. From other employees I heard they were terribly expensive and not good at all. The wage was 6.00 per hour which for the family of five is not much at all. -- A 22-year-old mother with five daughters, currently unemployed and living with her husband in Greeneville, TN

16. HousingFSC Findings • Very few FSC households are able to afford their housing on their own income • The majority currently identify some support in making rent or house payments: public assistance or support from family • Neighborhood safety is a significant concern of parents that emerges in their discussion of housing • Safety is characterized primarily in terms of social relations with neighbors rather than in terms of enforcement or police presence

17. HousingFSC Findings (continued) • Many householders experienced problems getting appropriate housing • Limitations on obtaining public assistance for housing • Cost of housing • Availability

18. Housing Right now I am trying to get into an apartment. I am having a hard time getting the money up to get the lights and utility turned on. But I’m staying with my sister right now, you know, she provides basically everything.I don’t get stamps no more, because I moved from Henderson County down here. I’m going to wait until I get me an apartment, so, you know, to sign up for it. But they cut my AFDC down to [from] $142 to $16, and that kind of hurt me a lot, you know, because I was depending on it to get Kyra’s school clothes and stuff. -- A 23 year-old mother working full-time and living with her sister and daughter in Savannah, while preparing to move into her own apartment

19. Child Well-Being:FSC Findings • Many FSC households include children with special needs, particularly ADD/ADHD • Many FSC parents feel comfortable with their children’s personal safety, but only due to their own vigilance, rules, and precautions • Negative influence of non-resident parents is a concern • Comments on child behavior were almost evenly divided between positive and negative • Positive comments on children’s academics were twice as common as negative ones.

20. Child Well-Being:FSC Findings • To meet their child care needs, FSC households rely on: • Licensed providers, utilizing subsidies • Informal care through friends, relatives, and neighbors • Specific problems reported include locating child care for special needs children, multiple children, or in non-traditional hours • This finding is wholly consistent with Phase I of the Faces of Change project • Several authors noted concern for the quality of available child care

21. Child Well-Being He used to be really bad, very hyperactive, very just - into things that are bad … now he helps out a lot with the, with the younger siblings a lot. Very good in school, behavior and grades. Um, he don’t read so well, so his reading needs to be worked on. Um, we’re working on it though. I work with him a lot on his reading. -- A 22-year-old mother living with four children, her boyfriend and brother and working part-time as a waitress in Sevierville, TN

22. Emotional Well-BeingFSC Findings • Clients face multiple barriers with their own and their family’s physical and mental health • For problems of family members childrens’ emotional and physical problems are most prominent, followed by those of partner/spouse • Frequent reports of being “overwhelmed” describe the pressures of dealing with multiple problems under conditions of extreme poverty • 18 authors spontaneously described this experience

23. Emotional Well-BeingFSC Findings • Parents are highly concerned with the effects of their own problems on their children and try to develop a range of coping strategies • Separation • Non-disclosure of personal issues • Open communication, usually with older children • Failure to develop coping strategies leads to sense of failure as a parent

24. Emotional Well-Being But now I, you know, I, I keep them feelings to my[self] — just about most of the time. And I, I can tell that he’s, he’s got some depression movin’ in on him … And I would think it was probably, probably might be the same thing I got … But uh, I hope it ain’t. I hope and pray it ain’t. 'Cause that’s the awfullest feelin’ I’ve ever had in my life. -- A 36-year-old unemployed father of three living with his wife, children, and father-in-law and struggling to manage his recovery from drug and alcohol abuse

25. Family Services Counseling Program • Authors often describe ways the counselor has assisted them to change negative or self-defeating behavior • The wide mix of barriers encountered by authors means counselors provide a range of services - from clinical work to locating housing • Authors perceive their counselors as advocates in negotiating a complex welfare system

26. Family Services Counseling Program • Authors generally spoke warmly about their counselors and had developed personal bonds • The few negative comments referred to having to change counselors due to turnover in the staff

27. Family Services Counseling Program They helped me to learn how to deal with my feelings and work on my feelings. It taught me to be a more relaxed person, a better parent as far as having a more understanding attitude. I am the only person that gets left out. It helps me with being able to get myself shoes, clothes, and also introduces me to other opportunities like people who can help with referrals. --A single mother of two young children working on weekends and living in Memphis, TN

28. Household SupportFSC Findings • FSC households fall into two camps • Some use a diverse array of resource streams whereas others rely exclusively on public benefits • FSC households receive less cash support from friends and relatives than families in the national sample (not including child support) • $110/month FSC vs. $375/month nationally

29. Household SupportFSC Findings • Household economic strategies are largely guided by the structure of public benefits and economic conditions above the household level • Households are cash poor but service rich • Most households rely on support from their personal networks to close budget shortfalls • Implications for housing policy: Different locations are not equivalent

30. Household SupportFSC Findings • 67% rely on personal networks in significant ways. Relatives and friends: • Buy diapers, clothes, musical instruments for children, food, gasoline, medicine • Pay rent, utilities, phone, repairs, and other bills • Donate housing, cars, furniture, food, money • Provide services such as child care, car repairs, counsel, respite, emotional support, Christmas celebration for family, cooking, transportation to work

31. Household Support Well, I got my food stamps to put my food on the table. But sometimes it’s not enough food. I’ve got two boys to feed. And then WIC vouchers, that helps out some. That gives me milk, and cheese, and cereal, and juice. But my basic needs is like -- I need diapers, and their clothes. Because that money I get every month [TANF] is nothing. That gets me three packs of diapers and that’s it. And then I have to wait till the next month to get something else. … Well, I have to ask my grandparents for help. -- A 32-year-old mother with two sons, living in her father’s house in Dusan, attending college, and trying to make due with $185 in TANF and financial aid

32. Preliminary Conclusions • Despite multiple barriers that interfere with functioning, householders are actively engaged in a struggle for resources to support the family • The protection, sustenance, and development of children provide the main focus for these efforts

33. Preliminary Conclusions • Results confirm that FSC participants face multiple barriers to work and daily functioning • In addition to targeted barriers, families face structural barriers such as employment, housing, transportation and child care availability. • Credit and legal problems also have direct consequences on self sufficiency efforts • Issues of household members affect the functioning of the household head in complex and interacting ways

34. Preliminary Conclusions • Preliminary analysis raises questions about whether exclusive reliance on individual and family based interventions will be sufficient to address all the issues faced by these families • In particular, such interventions will not address context, including structural barriers to success • Analysis raises questions about whether the majority of FSC clients can eventually become self-supporting

35. Next Steps • Develop natural classes of experience to facilitate comparison across stories, e.g.: • Households that combine diverse resource streams vs. those that do not • Distinct coping strategies for parenting • Incorporate administrative data • Examine food stamp allotments • Patterns of welfare receipt (length, reentry, etc.) • Plan a longitudinal component to more specifically address outcomes • Proposal advanced, awaits response

36. Acknowledgements Contact Information: Thomas E. Lengyel tlengyel@Alliance1.org Kerry Mullins kerry.mullins@state.tn.us Thanks to: • The Kellogg Foundation • Tennessee Department of Human Services • University of Tennessee-Knoxville (SWORPS) • The George Gund Foundation