A University of Kansas study linked tighter welfare rules to a growing foster care load.
The state agency overseeing those programs backed those same new rules. Now, its hired a research team to question the findings of the KU study.
A team headed by University of Maryland professor Douglas Besharov who once worked for a conservative think tank and whos written in support of welfare reform has been reviewing KUs research.
But he said his goal is to see if the KU researchers conclusions hold up to scrutiny, and that hes in the mainstream of data-driven opinions on welfare.
I share the consensus view that some form of work-related activity is very good for welfare programs and welfare recipients, he said.
Besharov is working with Neil Gilbert, a professor at the University of California Berkeley, to review KUs findings. The two have written on welfares impact on marriage together for R Street, a conservative and libertarian think tank. Theyve also written for the Weekly Standard, a conservative opinion magazine.
Department for Children and Families spokeswoman Taylor Forrest said Besharov was suggested to the agency as a leading expert in child welfare and welfare programs.
She said the department approached Besharov to review the KU researchers work and, by extension, DCFs policies. Forrest said DCF isnt required to post an open call to researchers for consulting purposes.
Under then-Gov. Sam Brownback, Kansas added a requirement that able-bodied cash welfare recipients work 20 hours per week or take job training. Cash assistance benefits were also capped at 24 months over a recipients lifetime.
Annie McKay, head of the child advocacy group Kansas Action for Children, said the hiring of academics to challenge an ongoing study looks like an effort to shop for research backing up its policies rather than testing them.
(DCF) wants to go poking holes in something rather than buckling down and owning the crisis at hand, she said. We have an administration that wants to continue to protect an ideology that is costing Kansas kids.
Since DCF hired Besharov and his team to review KUs findings, he and the KU researchers have clashed over sharing data.
Besharov emailed KU economist Donna Ginther and Ohio State social work professor Michelle Johnson-Motoyama on Oct. 5 to let the two know he was asked to evaluate their work. He asked about some of their methods and asked the researchers to share their state-level data.
Johnson-Motoyama replied a week later saying that their research is still a draft, not yet ready to be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal.
We view the peer review process as the most objective and independent approach to refereeing original research, she said in the email. Johnson-Motoyama added that theyd be happy to share the study with Besharov once its published.
