Parent Perceptions of Unconditional Cash Transfers In Child Welfare: A Qualitative Study

Background/Purpose: Poverty-related needs are associated with child welfare system (CWS) involvement. Unconditional cash transfers are one mechanism to address financial stress, reduce administrative burden, and give families the freedom to spend on their most pressing needs. However, few child welfare systems have examined their impacts for parents and families. We conducted a qualitative study within a larger randomized controlled trial to assess the perceptions of and perceived impact of a CWS-based unconditional cash transfer program.

Methods: Our study is a sub-strand of a larger study that randomized 410 parents with recently closed Family Assessment Response cases in New York state, 262 to the control and 148 to the treatment arm. Forty parents from the treatment arm were selected to participate in one semi-structured interview 9 months after baseline, primarily by phone or video conferencing. The intervention consisted of $500 monthly unconditional cash transfers for 1 year. Interviews probed parental experiences with CWS, experience in the cash transfer program, and perceived impact of the intervention. Applied thematic analysis was utilized to interpret interview data. We developed a codebook inductively. Several a priori codes were also included based on the theoretical frameworks, including biopsychosocial, and the unconditional cash literature. Codes were systematically applied at the semantic level across the data set and recursively refined with subcodes when necessary. We identified broad themes and then reviewed and refined themes against coded extracts to identify the final themes described in our the results section.

Results: Parents described the intervention as having universally positive impacts on their families, including improved ability to meet basic needs, investments in family health and child safety, and increased opportunities for parent-child bonding. One parent stated, “...it feels like [the additional income] lifted some – a sense of relief off me when – to know that like, dang, I really don't have to spend my whole paycheck on bills, or we've got some money that we can go and buy groceries...” Parents often reflected that earlier availability of these benefits could have ameliorated the circumstances that led to their CWS referrals that stemmed from a dearth of financial resources, including truancies and missed child medical appointments as a consequence of transportation issues, “I feel like, if I had a car, she would’ve been to school on time...” Some participants expressed deep initial skepticism about the program, feeling as if the system was biased based on their race and socioeconomic status; they articulated distrust of the CWS agency and fear of further family surveillance. Despite their reticence to engage with CWS, participants universally expressed a positive opinion of the program.

Conclusions/implication: These findings suggest that unconditional cash transfers may prevent CWS referrals by providing one of the only forms of child welfare support that parents described as meaningfully improving their livelihoods and enabling them to address safety concerns rooted in poverty-related needs. Unconditional cash transfers may be a promising intervention to reduce poverty-related CWS involvement while positively reshaping parents’ relationships with CWS agencies.