EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Introduction

This report is a comprehensive review of the Families First recipients as of October 1997. The 1997 Families First Case Characteristics Study is the third in a series. Reports were also prepared for AFDC recipients in 1993 and 1995.

In October 1997, Tennessee had 54,762¹ Families First cases, representing 142,674 people. The average Families First family had 2.6 members and was headed by a 34.2-year-old caretaker. While the average family size remained the same since the 1995 study, the average age of the caretaker rose 2.1 years. Nearly all caretakers (95.8 percent) are female. The families average less than two children each. The children’s ages are distributed somewhat evenly across all years, with a general tendency for children to be in the 1-to-7 year range. The average age increased from 5.1 years in 1995 to 7.6 years in 1997.

The average caretaker has received a total of 33 months of assistance during the last five years. Nearly one in three Families First children are second-generation recipients, and more than one in eight are third-generation recipients. The propensity to be a second- or third-generation recipient has risen (compared with the October 1995 Survey) as the number of cases has fallen. Nine in ten eligible adults (EAs) have some work history and nearly seven in ten have been employed at some time during the past year, and one third are currently employed. The percentage of caretakers employed has risen since 1995 when only one in five caretakers were employed and just over half had been employed at some time during the year. Only one caretaker in seven receives child support. The percentage of caretakers receiving child support is about the same as was found in the previous survey. However, average child support payments increased from $157 to $218. Most Families First groups live in rental property, with the renters being approximately equally split between those paying full market rent (36.9 percent) and those living in subsidized housing (39.2 percent).

Residence

The number of assistance groups (AGs) in Tennessee (54,762) is down 42.9 percent from the 95,909 AGs receiving AFDC benefits in October 1995. Movement from the AFDC program to Families First and continued improvement in the Tennessee economy are the primary reasons for the large decline in the number of cases.

More than three fifths ( 61.3 percent) of the members reside in Tennessee’s four largest counties, with 35.4 percent living in Shelby County alone. The share of AGs in the four largest counties has risen substantially since 1995. As used in the tables, the term urban refers to residence in the four largest counties (Davidson, Hamilton, Knox, Shelby), while the term rural refers to residence in one of Tennessee’s other 91 counties. Most caretakers consider themselves to be living in cities or towns, regardless of whether their residence is in the four largest counties. Only about 6 percent live in suburbs, while the other 10 percent live in rural areas.

Most AGs live in rented housing, with 36.9 percent in unsubsidized housing and 39.2 percent in subsidized housing. Another 8.0 percent live in rent-free housing. Almost one in six AGs own or are buying their home. Relatively more households in rural counties live in free housing or own their homes than in urban counties. More than nine tenths of AGs have access to a telephone, and over one third reside in a household with a car. However, only about one fourth of urban AGs are in a house with a car, versus three fifths of rural AGs.

Assistance Group Characteristics

Most AGs are composed of three or fewer people (78.9 percent), and most have two or fewer children (74.2 percent). All AGs have a caretaker who is the principle information provider to DHS. The caretaker is normally a parent. Over eight of ten (82.9%) of caretakers are the children’s mother. More than one caretaker in eight is a grandparent, 4.1 percent are either an aunt or uncle, and 3.1 percent are the father. Less than one percent of caretakers are under 18 years of age, and almost one fourth are over 40. The caretakers are 95.8 percent female, but caretakers in rural counties are somewhat more likely to be male. Slightly more than three fifths of caretakers are black, though nearly three fourths of rural caretakers are white. More than one half of caretakers have never been married, and about one seventh are currently married. Rural caretakers are much more likely to be married (26.9 percent of rural caretakers versus 7.4 percent of urban caretakers) and much less likely to have never been married. One third of parent caretakers were under 18 when their first child was born.

Children must have an absent, incapacitated, deceased, or unemployed parent to qualify for Families First. More than 95 percent of AGs receive assistance due to the absence of a parent. About four in ten eligible children are five years old or younger. Nearly one fourth of Families First children are aged 12 through 17 years. Only 3.8 percent of AGs with children aged 12 through 17 include a child who has dropped out of school. About nine tenths of school-aged children in AGs are in school.

The percentage of assistance groups with minor parents has declined from 1.8 percent in the 1995 study to 1.5 percent. About 9 in 10 minor parents have only one child. Nearly all minor parents (98.9%) are mothers with the vast majority (97.3%) being single and never married. Minor parents in rural areas are slightly more likely to be married or separated than those in urban areas and are slightly less likely to have more than one child. Nine in ten minor parents are attending school and those in rural areas are more likely to be attending school than those in urban areas. This represents an increase over the 1995 study where almost eight in ten minor parents were attending school. Only one in fifty minor parents are currently pregnant. Minor parents in rural areas are more likely to be pregnant (2.2%) than those in urban areas (1.8%). The percentage of minor parents residing with a parent or legal guardian has risen from 63.4% in 1995 to 96.2% in this study.

Education, Training, and Employment

More than one half of eligible adults (53.7 percent) have finished at least 12 years of school, but nearly one fifth of eligible adults (EAs) have an education of ninth grade or less. Education levels are slightly lower in rural areas. Approximately 24 percent of EAs who have taken the Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE) tested above the ninth-grade level. Another 16.3 percent of those who previously tested below ninth grade are now above that level for a total of 27.7 percent. Families First program trainees are most commonly certified in medical, secretarial and office occupations.

Although only one third of EAs are currently employed, nearly seven out of ten have held a job at some time during the past 12 months. The percent employed at some point appears to be higher than in the 1995 survey. About 9 percent of EAs say that they have never been employed. Thus, job holding is more frequent than is suggested by the percent employed at a particular point in time. The most frequently held positions are in factory and food service work.

More than three fifths of employed eligible adults work at least 26 hours per week. Four out of seven employed workers report average hourly earnings of at least minimum wage ($5.15 per hour). Rural workers tend to have lower hourly wages than urban workers.

Unemployed EAs give a variety of reasons for why they do not currently have a job. Health problems is the most frequently specified reason (21.7 percent). Another 11.2 percent are currently enrolled in education and training programs. Other frequently mentioned reasons for not having a job include no work available, no transportation, or children too young.

Rural and urban EAs report very different modes of transportation to work, school or training. Rural workers are much more likely to drive (55.9 percent) or ride with a friend (26.3 percent). Urban workers are more likely to take a bus (38.7 percent), with only about one quarter saying they drive themselves to work. Rural EAs are more likely to say that no transportation is available. DHS pays at least part of the transportation costs for more than half of EAs.

Approximately 25 percent of AGs do not require child care while the EAs work, go to school or go to training. The percent not requiring child care is much greater in rural areas. DHS pays at least part of the cost in more than three fourths of the cases where child care is obtained. The average AG adult using child care pays $33.17 per week. About 60 percent use child-care centers, particularly those in urban areas, while 4 percent use family day homes.

Financial Information

One tenth of AGs have income above the poverty threshold as compared to 0.4 percent in the 1995 study. The average Families First grant is down from $157 in 1995 to $148 in 1997. More than three fifths of AGs receive grants of $150 or less. Only 2.3 percent receive more than $300 per month in grants. Most AGs receive Food Stamps, and two thirds of AGs receive Food Stamp allotments greater than $200. More than one half of AGs who have earned income earn between $400 and $800 per month, and one out of eleven earn more than $1000 per month. More than one half of AGs have unearned income.

Only 13.7 percent of AGs receive cash support from an absent parent. The percentage receiving cash support from the absent parent is somewhat higher in rural places. Three in five AGs receive $200 or less in child support from the absent parent with more than one third receiving between $101 and $200.

While almost half of AGs (49.4 percent) indicate that they pay no rent, 19.3 percent pay more than $200 monthly. Rural AGs are more likely to say they pay no rent. Most AGs (57.3 percent) pay utilities. For those AGs that pay utilities, the average cost is $123 per month.

One half of Families First recipients have received their first grant since 1993. About one fourth received their first grant in 1996 or 1997, with a higher percentage of rural AGs receiving their first grant during these years. Nearly two fifths of recipients have received two years or less of assistance during the last five years, with the average being 33 months. Rural AGs have tended to receive assistance for shorter time periods.

All respondents were on Families First at the time of the survey. Since first becoming eligible for assistance, a total of 35.7 percent of AGs have been off benefits for at least one month during the last five years. The average number of months that benefits were received is lower in rural areas. The average AG has qualified for assistance 1.5 times during the past 5 years. One out of four AGs have received assistance in essentially all months during the past five years. More than half of those interrupting benefits were off Families First 3 or fewer months. Having earned income for a period of time is the most common reason for discontinuing benefits, representing nearly half of those who are able to stop benefits. One in five respondents are receiving Families First because of lost employment. One in four reentered Families First because a parent left home, and one in six reentered because of incapacity or disability. Dependency because of a parent leaving home is much more common in rural counties than in urban counties.

Nearly four in ten recipients were first granted Families First benefits because of pregnancy. Pregnancy is a much more common cause for urban than for rural recipients. About one in three caretakers were on assistance as children, with urban caretakers being more likely to have been on assistance as children. Nearly one caretaker in seven had parents who were AFDC children.

Data Sources

The 1997 Families First Case Characteristics Study was prepared using two sources of data. First, a data extract was drawn from the Department of Human Services (DHS) ACCENT® files and the DHS Data Warehouse files as of October 4, 1997. ACCENT® is the database that contains most of the DHS information on Families First applicants and recipients, and their eligibility. Second, a survey of 1,841 Families First recipients was conducted in the month of October using a randomly drawn sample from recipients who were scheduled to update their case information during October. The questionnaire was administered by DHS case workers when the recipients came in for regular appointments and produced 914 useable surveys.

Table Notes

The number of observations and an average are reported, when appropriate, below each table. All percentages were rounded to the nearest tenth of a percent. The surveys were weighted according to the population distribution of urban and rural cases. Consequently, some of the figures and tables may have a cumulative percent which does not sum to 100.0. "Missing observations" arise and refer to instances where the response was either miscoded or incorrectly left blank. When a blank was an appropriate response, it was not counted as a missing observation; e.g., if a question was skipped according to specific instructions on the survey, it was not counted as a missing observation.