Massachusetts Domestic Violence and Welfare Reform: An Empirical Study

The Massachusetts Domestic Violence and Welfare Reform project involved a collaboration between the state public assistance agency, the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA), and the state child support agency, the Department of Revenue (DOR). The goals of the project were to:

• Introduce and evaluate three different methods of identifying domestic violence in public assistance agencies;
• Determine how to serve victims of domestic violence, connect them with community-based services, and assist them with relevant applications for waivers;
• Assess victim interest in waivers to the child support and public assistance requirements, and their experiences with making such applications.

The study relied on information gleaned from several sources:

• Records maintained by workers at DTA offices of 7,419 clients exposed to one of three different methods of identification: (1) universal notification, (2) universal notification and domestic violence specialists, and (3) universal notification with direct questioning about domestic violence and availability of specialists;
• In-person interviews by independent researchers with 641 clients after their meetings with DTA workers and their exposure to the three different methods of identification; and
• Records maintained by domestic violence specialists on interactions with 321 clients who disclosed abuse to their DTA worker;
• Telephone interviews by independent researchers with 29 clients who saw domestic violence specialists about the utility of these meetings;
• In-person interviews by independent researchers with 40 DTA caseworkers about specialists, methods of screening for domestic violence, and client interest in waivers;
• Reviews of DTA files for 501 clients of domestic violence to determine rates of application for waivers and the outcome of such applications.