AFDC Quality Control Study: Research Findings. Analysis of Payment Error in Aid to Families with Dependent Children

摘要

The study attempts to identify the socioeconomic influences, case characteristics, administrative practices, and State program policies that can significantly affect the accuracy of payment in the AFDC program. Less than 10 percent of the variation in combined payment error was explained by these factors; consequently, the findings should be interpreted with caution. Given the above limitation, several administrative procedures effectively reduced incorrect payments. Particularly effective were procedures that record interim changes in client circumstances such as mailed change forms, mandatory monthly reporting, face-to-face interviews, employer verification for current earnings, and several computer applications, such as file matches with other agency files, checks for consistent data, and tickler files to identify cases likely to experience changes in circumstances. Although the data on which the report are based are somewhat out-of-date (1978), the study identified a variety of strategies that some States have perfected, and that others could use, to reduce error rates.