It will put in place the most extensive national welfare reporting system ever required of the states. Many other groups are actively tracking welfare results as well Many organizations outside the state and federal governments are engaged in the evaluation process. Further, states have contracted with many universities and other private organizations, such as Abt Associates, to complete their evaluations. The amendment would have mandated the tracking of welfare leavers for two years after their TANF ends, in an attempt to determine what is happening to this group and how they are faring. Clearly, the proposed tracking of all leaver families for two years would constitute an excessive duplication of existing state efforts as well as an unfunded mandate on states.
Many serious obstacles exist.
Tracking cases after they leave assistance, even for a short while, has proven unusually challenging. Although many states are collecting good information from a valid sample of leavers, states uniformly discover that it is quite difficult to find this sufficient number of leaver families. One problem is that so many families move, and move frequently. Another obstacle is that many former recipients do not wish to have further contact with the state, and in particular do not wish to share personal information. The intensity of these tasks requires a large investment of staff resources.