This article examines the degree to which the expanded availability of publicly subsidized child
care in local communities may promote, through employment, the welfare independence of
recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) with preschool-aged children.
An experimental group of 300 AFDC recipients with preschool children were offered, by mail,
relatively immediate, guaranteed, subsidized child care for all their children under 12 should
the casehead secure full-time, unsubsidized employment. A control group of 302 was not made
such an offer; members of this group were subject to the normal conditions for obtaining sub
sidized, employment-contingent child care. Both aggregate AFDC, Medicaid, and Food Stamp
Program expenditures and AFDC participation were subsequently tracked for all participants
over a 12-month time frame. The results suggested that the special child care offer had no
statistically significant effects either an reducing aggregate welfare expenditures or in promoting
client independencefrom the welfare system. Implications for practice andfurther research are
suggested.
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