Cash Transfers to Address Child Welfare Involvement

NCT ID: NCT05857553

Last Updated: 2025-01-28

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

450 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2023-06-01

Study Completion Date

2024-12-15

Brief Summary

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In partnership with New York Office of Child and Family Services (OCFS), investigators will execute a randomized controlled trial to determine the impacts of unconditional cash transfers of $500 per month for 12 months. Investigators will measure the impacts of the unconditional cash transfers on parental physical and mental health, child health and healthcare utilization, financial stability, and interactions with the child welfare system.

Detailed Description

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Poverty has been identified as a powerful predictor of child maltreatment and child welfare involvement. Recent research shows that even modest economic and concrete supports are associated with reduced child maltreatment and involvement with child welfare. Toward that end, the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS), in partnership with the Office of Temporary Disability Assistance (OTDA) and the Center for Guaranteed Income Research (CGIR), University of Pennsylvania is conducting on randomized controlled trial of unconditional cash transfers among families with prior child welfare referrals in three New York counties in 2023.

The project will enroll approximately 150 households in Monroe, Onondaga, and Westchester counties to receive $500 per month, unconditionally, over a one-year period, totaling $6,000 per family. Another 300 will be assigned to the control group and will not receive the unconditional cash transfers but will be eligible to participate in research activities. Families will be eligible if they were served through differential response, called Family Assessment Response (FAR) in New York State. FAR is used for CPS reports that have been accepted by the New York State Central Register for Child Abuse and Maltreatment (SCR) where there is no safety concern that rises to the level of immediate or impending danger for the child and/or family. Often, families served in the FAR track have been referred for poverty-related social needs.

Randomized Controlled Trial Design: Households referred and determined eligible for Family Assessment Response (FAR) will be invited to participate in a randomized controlled trial of unconditional cash transfers. Approximately 150 individuals will be randomly assigned to the treatment group and will receive the $500 unconditional cash transfers for one year. Another 300 will be assigned to the control group and will not receive the unconditional cash transfers but will be eligible to participate in research activities. Youth Research Inc. (YRI), an agency contracted by the New York Office of Child and Family Services (OCFS), will disburse funds on a debit card. me but will be invited to participate in compensated research activities. Longitudinal repeated measures will be utilized through surveys conducted at baseline, 6 months, 12 months, and 18 months. Future involvement with child welfare will be measured using linked administrative data from OCFS.

Conditions

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Child Poverty

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

OTHER

Blinding Strategy

NONE

Study Groups

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Treatment Group

Participants in the treatment group will receive $500 per month for 12 months

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Unconditional Cash Transfer

Intervention Type OTHER

Unconditional monthly transfer of $500 to household

Control Group

Participants in the control group will not receive monthly cash benefits.

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

No Direct Cash Transfer

Intervention Type OTHER

No intervention

Interventions

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Unconditional Cash Transfer

Unconditional monthly transfer of $500 to household

Intervention Type OTHER

No Direct Cash Transfer

No intervention

Intervention Type OTHER

Other Intervention Names

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Direct Cash Transfer Guaranteed Income

Eligibility Criteria

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Exclusion Criteria

● Self-reported enrollment in another cash transfer study
Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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Redlich Horwitz Foundation

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role collaborator

Rutgers University

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

University of Pennsylvania

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Stacia West

Associate Professor & Co-Founding Director of the Center for Guaranteed Income Research

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

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Stacia West, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Pennsylvania/University of Tennessee

Locations

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University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Site Status

Countries

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United States

Provided Documents

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Document Type: Study Protocol and Statistical Analysis Plan

View Document

Other Identifiers

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OCFS DCT Pilot

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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