WSIPP - January 1993

By looking at the changing economic circumstances of Washington families over a four-year period, we found changes in annual family income to be common. Such changes in income are called "income mobility." Over the period we studied, increases in family incomes were more common than decreases; national studies have reported similar findings. Our state's longitudinal study, the Family Income Study, allows us to see income mobility over four years (1988-1991) among low-income families in Washington State.

WSIPP - November 1992

This information on public assistance households is from the Family Income Study, a five-year longitudinal survey of persons receiving, or at risk of receiving, public assistance. The study was requested by the 1987 Legislature.

WSIPP - August 1992

This paper uses Family Income Study data to examine child care use among public assistance households and a comparison group of households at risk of receiving assistance in 1988. To illustrate more current child care patterns, we describe child care use of those households from the original 1988 public assistance sample that also received public assistance in 1991.

WSIPP - January 1992

Policymakers in some states are considering limiting public assistance grants for applicants who have recently migrated from states that offer lower monthly grants. This policy change reflects the belief that states offering higher monthly grants attract welfare recipients. In January 1992, Washington’s maximum AFDC benefit for a family of three ranked 10th highest out of the 50 states. When compared with neighboring states, Washington has a higher public assistance grant amount than Oregon, Idaho, and Montana, and a lower grant amount than California. Apart from California, eight additional states pay higher grants than Washington. We get migrants from these states as well.

WSIPP - January 1992

Most states increase the monthly public assistance grant when a new baby is born into the household. Recently, policymakers in some states have either eliminated, or proposed to eliminate, the grant increase. These changes in public assistance policy are based on the belief that the structure of grant payments may provide an economic incentive for women on public assistance to have more children.

Edie Harding - December 1991

Washington State Senate Bill 5474 created an interagency task force to examine data collection efforts related to the education and well-being of children. Task force members represented legislative staff; key state agencies involved with data collection and with children's programs; and the associations of school directors, school administrators, cities, and counties. The Washington State Institute for Public Policy provided the staff support for the task force. The task force's primary purpose was to determine ways to provide aggregated program data on children, using school district boundaries as the mechanism for sorting the information.

Cheryl Milloy, Wendy Rowe, Donna Schram - September 1991

Presented in this report are the results of a follow-up study of 197 male juvenile sex offenders who participated in offense-specific treatment at any of ten project sites in 1984, and who were subjects in a previous study of short-term treatment outcomes. Extensive case-level data were collected on each offender during the previous study. These data provided a rich base of descriptive information on the characteristics of juvenile sex offenders, their offenses, their victims, their involvement in treatment, their prognosis, and their juvenile reoffense behavior during a short follow-up period.

Lucy Berliner, Lisa Miller, Donna Schram, Cheryl Milloy - June 1991

This study identified demographic, offense, and criminal justice system factors that contribute to the decision to grant Washington State's Special Sex Offender Sentencing Alternative (SSOSA) to certain eligible sex offenders and not to others who are eligible. Comparative rates of recidivism (rearrest and reconviction) for those who did and did not receive this sentence option were also analyzed.

Greg Weeks - April 1991

Many factors contribute to the processes by which women in Washington State leave public assistance. Longitudinal data from the Family Income Study provide information on the patterns of public assistance use and the reasons why women leave public assistance.