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Understanding Vouchers as a Tool to Expand Client Choice in HHS Programs

Many social service programs are focusing on ways to expand clients’ choice of service provider, to include the choice of faith-based providers. This study is examining and documenting how vouchers are used in select U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) programs and the degree to which this indirect funding mechanism supports the goals of maximizing client choice and expanding the service delivery network to include faith-based organizations (FBOs) among an array of providers. The study will provide critical information necessary to understand voucher use in a few key programs—Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), and possibly the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT) block grant—and to identify the issues surrounding voucher use to deliver social services more broadly that will be useful to policymakers and program administrators.

The study includes three main research tasks: (1) an overview paper on voucher use in the delivery of social services, (2) telephone interviews with up to nine select state and/or local program administrators of both the TANF and CCDF programs, and (3) four site visits to localities that make use of vouchers in delivering TANF services and/or that employ specific strategies to broaden the number and type of child care providers under CCDF or to improve the information provided to parents to assist them in making an informed choice of child care provider. The study will address the following key research questions:

1. What are the goals and policy contexts that shape indirect funding strategies for delivering social services?

2. To what extent are indirect funding mechanisms currently used in select HHS programs and what factors have affected their use?

3. What are the policy, administrative, and procedural details that guide the implementation of indirect funding mechanisms in TANF and CCDF?

4. What lessons have been learned about how to expand service options and maximize client choice through the implementation of indirect funding mechanisms in the TANF and CCDF programs?

This study is being conducted by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. under contract to the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The study began in September 2006 and will culminate in a final report in August 2007. For further information, please contact either:

Gretchen Kirby, Senior Researcher, MPR or Alana Landey, ASPE project officer

(202) 484-3470 (202) 401-6636

gkirby@mathematica- Alana.landey@

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