Quality Control and Error Reduction in the AFDC Program: A Review and Synthesis of State Strategies

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Elizabeth W. Lindsey, Professor Emeritus (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/

Abstract: In the early 1970s, because of rising costs for the AFDC program, increasing caseloads, and public demands for eliminating welfare fraud, the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare (now the Department of Health and Human Services) began scrutinizing payment procedures more closely and introduced the quality control program. More recent federal efforts at cost control in the AFDC program have led to an increased emphasis on quality control. While all states have instituted certain types of quality control programs, efforts have varied from state to state. During a similar time period, attitudes toward welfare and its recipients changed. For example, a poll taken in 1961 indicated the majority of Americans felt that too little money was being spent on welfare. In contrast, 85 percent of those polled in 1976 said that too much was being spent and, furthermore, that there were a substan-tial number of cheaters. The Department of Health, Education and Welfare estimated in 1978 that 5.5 to 6.5 billion dollars were lost to fraud and reports in 1980 that 376 million to 3.3 billion dollars in Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) were paid out to ineligible clients raised the ire of politicians and taxpayers (Joe & Rogers, 1985).

Additional Information

Publication
Administration in Social Work
Language: English
Date: 1989
Keywords
Social Work, AFDC Program

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