V. Working with Participants:

Advice on Case Management

Case managers are the front-line staff who translate program policy into practice. Work first case managers must balance two roles: they are responsible for enforcing program mandates and completing administrative tasks, and they act as guides and advisors as participants move through the program. Case managers are responsible for helping participants chart their path off welfare, motivating participants to work toward employment, monitoring participants' progress in program activities, and helping participants overcome barriers-both real and perceived-to successful employment. Part V of this guide (sections 32-36) can help programs create environments that support case managers as they take on these challenging roles, and can provide case managers with some tools to succeed.

32. Developing Employment Plans

Many programs use employment plans to formalize the "contract" between the program and participants and to map out the journey from welfare to work. If job search is an automatic first activity, the employment plan may serve mostly the former purpose. Because participants will soon be asked to look for a job that they can get right now, less time may be spent up front exploring participants' employment goals and creating a long-term road map toward attaining those goals. However, case managers can still use the employment plan as a tool to get to know participants and to help them begin thinking about their job search. In addition, the same employment plan can become a longer-term planning tool for those participants who do not find employment through the initial job search.

Employment plans generally contain the following elements:

General Guidelines for Developing Employment Plans

Working with Participants Who Have Little or No Work History

Developing an employment plan may be more difficult for those participants who have little or no work history. Case managers may need to spend extra time discussing these participants' skills and abilities-focusing on what they can rather than cannot do. For example, you can identify the skills used in managing a home and raising children. Also, explore any informal work experience that participants might have, including volunteer work, hobbies, and caring for children other than their own. Help participants identify jobs they can get now, which will be a steppingstone to their longer-term employment goals. Incorporate into employment plans activities that will help build a set of skills and knowledge about the labor market-activities such as networking, mentoring, volunteering, internships, and on-the-job training. Case managers can also work with job club facilitators or job developers to give special attention to participants whose work experience is limited.

33. Maximizing Participation

Staff must bring participants into the program before they can work with them toward employment. Maximizing participation is a key challenge of welfare-to-work programs, and the challenge becomes even greater in light of the high participation rates required under TANF (see Appendix A). In the JOBS Evaluation, 63 percent of those who were required to participate in a typical month had attended orientation, 42 percent were involved in JOBS, and 9 percent met the federal definition of JOBS participation. Below are eight suggestions for maximizing program participation. Implementing these suggestions assumes that adequate staff are available to work with participants and that resources are available to fund sufficient activities-such as job clubs-and support services-in particular, child care-for all those who participate. (See also section 8, on participation requirements, and section 15, on caseload size.)

34. Motivating Participants

One of the functions of case managers in a work first program is to market the goal of employment and to help motivate participants in their job search. Participants will likely enter the program with a wide range of expectations and with their own personal and employment goals. If participation is mandatory, then many of those who come into the program may not share the work first philosophy or may not be interested in pursuing employment at that time. Many may also have low self-esteem. Often, participants have tried and failed to find jobs on their own, or have worked but have not been able to remain self-sufficient.

It is important to realize that one individual cannot directly motivate another. Case managers can, however, tap into existing motivation in participants by helping them to define their own goals and showing them how the program can help them achieve those goals. The following specific techniques can help case managers appeal to participants' internal motivation:

35. Facilitating Child Care and Transportation

For a work first program to succeed, participants must be able to attend program activities and look for work. In the JOBS Evaluation, between 77 and 84 percent of new JOBS enrollees in four sites reported facing at least one of seven listed barriers to participation. The most common barrier cited-by between 58 and 72 percent of enrollees-was the inability to afford child care. Between 30 and 40 percent of enrollees reported facing transportation problems. Work first programs generally provide supports for child care and transportation needs. Section 7 discussed policy issues related to child care and transportation. This section offers advice for facilitating the provision of these support services, thereby increasing participation and helping participants succeed in obtaining employment.

Child Care

Transportation

36. Dealing with Personal and Other Issues

Work first programs (and case managers within programs) vary in the extent to which they help participants cope with personal and family problems that may interfere with their ability to find and keep a job. Most programs take a narrow view, preferring that case managers address only those issues which are immediate barriers to participation. In addition, participants may not initially disclose personal issues to case managers; problems are more likely to become evident in the course of the program. However, when issues do arise that threaten successful employment, case managers should be able to work with participants to address them.

For many issues, case managers may be able to identify resources that participants can utilize on their own. Work first offices should develop local resource lists that can guide case managers and participants in choosing appropriate options. This can also be an opportunity to teach participants problem-solving skills that can improve their self-confidence and help them when they are off welfare and working. Even when they have referred participants elsewhere, however, case managers may find that they need to follow up, encouraging participants to utilize the services or acting as advocates on participants' behalf. It can be helpful for programs to develop formal or informal relationships with community agencies that can provide services to participants. Programs should also make arrangements to monitor participants' progress in these services, without compromising confidentiality. If needed services are not available in the community, programs might try to provide the services themselves (for example, by setting up a clothing bank on site) or find other ways to meet those needs (for example, by contracting with a local provider to start offering the service).

Programmatic Responses

In Florida and Utah, program staff have found that these issues become more prominent as a work first program matures and more participants find jobs. Those who remain may be more likely to face significant personal issues that have kept them from finding employment. Case managers in those states felt frustrated in working with these hard-to-serve participants and felt unqualified to identify or address many of the barriers they faced. Administrators in both Florida and Utah have responded by hiring specialized staff-often professional social workers with master's degrees-to help case managers deal with these issues. The specialized staff may assist case managers in several ways: training them to identify issues, providing advice for working with participants, offering short-term counseling to participants, or acting as a resource for appropriate referrals to outside providers.

Some participants may have serious problems that may warrant deferral from participation in other program activities. If so, the participant's progress in addressing the problems should be closely monitored, and employment activities should begin as soon as the participant is able. Many issues, however, can be addressed either quickly or simultaneously with participation in job search, other activities, or employment-and staff and participants should recognize that the same issues confront many working people as well. The goal of staff is generally to get participants to the point where they are able to work. Participants can then continue to address the issues while they are working.

Additional Suggestions for Dealing with Personal Issues

Case managers in the Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP)-who have been operating an employment-focused program for long-term welfare recipients for more than two years-have identified some common issues that arise when working with participants, and they and others have proposed strategies for addressing them. The discussion that follows is less about dealing with hard-core problems than about addressing smaller ones that may arise along the way as participants move through the program. In addition, many of these strategies involve referring participants to specialized service providers; the ability of case managers to assist participants with these issues may depend largely on the presence of such providers in the community.