Our Approach

Since 1997, the Finding Common Ground project has focused on assessing whether federal and state welfare reform policies have had an impact on the health and well-being of poor women and children. In particular, we have paid attention to the state policy choices related to reproductive and maternal behaviors, such as requiring childhood immunizations, pediatric medical visits, family planning counseling, and family caps. Toward this end, we have taken a multipronged research approach, including assembling a multidisciplinary Advisory Committee; conducting two national surveys of state agencies Child Protective Services (CPS) and Maternal and Child Health (MCH) that interact with TANF and are important players in the health arena for women and children; delineating reproductive and infant health indicators that might be sensitive to welfare policies, and potential data sources to assess this impact; analyzing the relation between changes in cash assistance, Medicaid and uninsurance; and conducting in-depth state case studies to further examine the impact of states' welfare policy choices on health, and to establish collaborative arrangements for data collection and analysis at the state level. The timing of this undertaking is critical with the welfare reform law due for reauthorization in 2002.