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Results in Brief
Impairments were relatively common among TANF recipients, with 44 percent reporting having at least one impairment, caring for a child with at least one impairment, or both, compared with only 15 percent of the non-TANF population. The term impairments encompasses both mental and physical conditions. For instance, impairments could be physical conditions that hinder movement or require a cane or other mobility device, cognitive impairments, or mental conditions such as chronic depression. Adult recipients who had impairments were more likely to be over age 35 and white than adult recipients without impairments.

Recipients with impairments were less likely to exit TANF than recipients without impairments. Specifically, controlling for certain demographic characteristics, such as age, race, and marital status, adult recipients with impairments were half as likely to exit TANF as were adult recipients without impairments. Likewise, recipients caring for children with impairments were less than half as likely to exit TANF as all other recipients. Although impairments affect exits, other factors, such as family support, personal motivation, and local TANF policies, may also affect whether recipients exit TANF. For example, in a previous study, we found that local TANF agencies sometimes exempted recipients with impairments from requirements to participate in work or work-related activities. While in some cases this may be appropriate because of the level of severity of an impairment, in other cases it may mean that recipients may not get the encouragement or opportunity to acquire work skills that could help them exit TANF.

After leaving TANF, people with impairments were less likely to be employed and more likely to receive federal supports than were people without impairments. Controlling for demographic characteristics and other factors, we found that leavers with impairments were one-third as likely to be employed as leavers without impairments. Although they were less likely to be employed, many leavers with impairments (40 percent) received income support from Supplemental Security Income (SSI), a federal program providing cash assistance to low-income individuals who are aged, blind, or disabled. Among those who did have earnings from employment or other sources, the amount of these earnings was similar for leavers with and without impairments and averaged around $1,000 per month. Leavers with impairments were more likely than leavers without impairments to report having no income-from personal earnings, household earnings, or SSI benefits-in their first month after exiting TANF. Specifically, 36 percent of leavers with impairments reported having no income from these sources compared with 23 percent of leavers without impairments. However, leavers with impairments also were more likely to receive non-cash supports from Food Stamps (77 percent versus 62 percent) and Medicaid (89 percent versus 71 percent) than their counterparts without impairments.

In commenting on a draft of this report, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) noted our analysis, while possibly the best available approach, does not provide information on the extent to which outcomes differ for recipients with different types or severity of impairments, nor does it provide information on how local employment services may affect these outcomes. We acknowledge that while our analysis provides important descriptive information on outcomes for TANF recipients with impairments as a whole, much remains unknown about how best to help people with different types of impairments to become self-sufficient.

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