Teaming up: collaboration between welfare and child welfare agencies since welfare reform

Poverty and child abuse or neglect often co-occur. As a result, welfare and child welfare agencies have a large set of clients in common. Collaborative programs may ease the burden faced by families involved in both systems as they struggle to meet two case plans, or may prevent some welfare families from becoming involved with child welfare at all. Using data from a survey of state welfare directors and in-depth case studies in 12 states, this article finds that 1996 welfare reforms provided a fertile environment to improve collaborative efforts between welfare and child welfare agencies. These efforts generally focused on six target populations: families receiving welfare and involved with child welfare, sanctioned families or families nearing time limits, relative caregivers receiving child-only payments, welfare clients who experience domestic violence, teens that cannot live with parents due to abuse or neglect, and clients with complex service needs. This article discusses state policies and programmatic efforts to assist these groups and provides examples from various localities. The article concludes with a discussion of the elements necessary to ensure current programs continue and new efforts are undertaken: strategic planning, sufficient funding, training for caseworkers, and mechanisms for communication between agencies. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.