2002 NLPES-Fall Training Conference Notes
Evolving Social Welfare Policy
Moderator: Kathy Snider, Audit Manager, South Carolina Legislative
Audit Council
Speaker: Joshua Smith, Senior Legislative Auditor, State of Wisconsin,
Legislative Audit Bureau
Mr. Smith discussed Wisconsin's welfare reform program entitled Wisconsin
Works (W-2) and the audits that the Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau
(LAB) has conducted on these programs. The W-2 programs are administered
at the local level by agencies selected through a competitive bid process.
The Wisconsin LAB has conducted 6 audits since 1999 of the W-2 program
and two related programs:
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Wisconsin Works Expenditures (1999)
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Food Stamp Program (2000)
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Administration of W-2 by Maximus (2000) - note: Maximus is one
of the contracted service vendors for the W-2 program.
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Administration of W-2 by Employment Solutions (2001) - note: Employment
Solutions is one of the contracted service vendors for the W-2 program.
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Wisconsin Shares Child Care Subsidy Program (2001)
-
Wisconsin Works Program (2001)
Some challenges identified that were common to all of the audits include
focusing on participant outcomes and agency compliance, using appropriate
criteria to evaluate agency and program performance, determining responsibility
for outcomes, evaluating "success", and separating program effects from
non-program effects.
Speaker: John Patterson, Senior Program Evaluator
Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor
Mr. Patterson reported the highlights of a recent audit of the Minnesota
Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) on Minnesota's welfare reform program.
The audit was titled the Economic Status of Welfare Recipients (2002)
and examined the effect of cash and non-cash benefits on welfare recipients.
The OLA counted both cash and non-cash resources as income, with the exception
of medical benefits and child care subsidies. In all the OLA was able to
identify a total of 17 sources of cash income and 11 sources of non-cash
income that is available to eligible recipients. It is important to note
that not all participants in Minnesota's welfare reform programs received
benefits from all sources.
The major conclusion of the report was that non-cash benefits represented
a significant source of economic support and can influence a welfare recipient's
incentive to work and leave welfare. The report also identified several
methodological issues in conducting an audit of this nature. These issues
centered on the difficulty of determining the values of non-cash benefits
as well as obtaining federal income data.
Speaker: Drucilla Carpenter, Legislative Analyst
Florida OPPAGA
Ms. Carpenter spoke on Florida's child welfare system. Florida's child
welfare system faced numerous problems related to poor child outcomes,
increased public scrutiny, and major litigation. The response of the Legislature
was to create the Community Based Care (CBC) initiative. The initiative
created a system of localized lead agencies designated to carry out all
child welfare services except investigations.
Florida OPPAGA conducted an audit of the CBC system and developed several
significant findings. Among the findings was that start-up funds and planning
were crucial to success, CBC agencies experienced recruitment and retention
problems, and there was tension between the state and the CBC's on matters
of policy and procedures. Also among the findings was the fact that the
CBC's performed at least as well as non-CBC systems, and that they were
effective without incurring additional costs.
Some of the major evaluation issues encountered were the design of and
evaluation for a system in transition, the difficulty of designing an evaluation
for multiple service models, the existing financial and client information
systems did not support evaluation, and outcome measures were insufficient
to relate the whole story.
 2002
Fall Training Conference Notes
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