Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 9, 1992 TAG: 9202100184
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN W. HOLDREN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
HOW TO FIX WELFARE WOES
THIS YEAR, for the first time in 20 years, Doris got a paycheck instead of a welfare check. She traded two decades of welfare dependency for a job at a hotel, a paycheck, and a newly found sense of pride. Social workers in one of Virginia's local Social Services departments offered her inspiration, counseling, support, and access to job training, child care, Medicaid and transportation resources.The social workers "helped me set goals," said Doris. "It wasn't just paperwork. They let me know they could help me if I wanted to do something with my life." Doris' journey toward self-sufficiency is not yet complete. She still receives a small amount of food stamps, Medicaid, and child-care assistance to support her transition to an independent living. "But I was really proud of my first paycheck." For the first time in her life, she was able to pay her monthly bills.
Many needy Virginians may be unable to receive the helping hand extended to Doris. A gradual erosion of funding resources during the past decade, combined with skyrocketing caseloads due to the state's economic conditions, has placed Virginia's fragile social services system in a crises unlike the state has ever known.
Due to severe staff shortages, local agencies cannot get public assistance benefits processed in a timely manner, nor find the time to meet the pressing needs of children or the elderly.
Foster-care caseloads and costs swell due to the lack of family-intervention services necessary to protect children from abuse while preserving families. Elderly citizens go cold and lack health care as funds for home-based care disappear.
While the needs of its citizens crush the capabilities of communities, Virginia lacks a plan of action.
Last year, 65,000 Virginians were in emergency shelters for the homeless; 9,000 children were abused; 20,000 youth dropped out of school; and 6,300 children were in foster care. In the last two years, Virginia's Medicaid and food-stamp caseloads have risen by more than 33 percent.
Virginia's local social-service system may be broken, but there are specific ways to fix it:
Control escalating costs of the foster-care program by implementing a comprehensive plan for preventative and early intervention services for families and children at risk of entering foster care.
This will enable agencies to remain in compliance with Public Law 96-272, which mandates that all "reasonable efforts" must be made to keep families together and avoid out-of-home placement. Prevention and early-intervention services can strengthen Virginia's families with children by reducing the use and cost of foster care.
Increase rates paid to foster care providers to meet the 1988 standard for costs of rearing a child.
A portion of the children who enter the foster care system do so because of the severity of their problems. It is critical that foster parents be well-trained and adequately compensated for the cost incurred to care for foster children if they are to remain as long term foster parents.
Increase the availability of home based care services to the elderly and upgrade its quality.
Virginia's Department on Aging estimates that for the coming year, Virginia's elderly will be lacking 645,000 hours of in home assistance. Funding will help to fill this gap and enable additional elderly and disabled Virginians to receive the support necessary to remain in their homes and communities. Guaranteeing the minimum wage for all service providers will enhance the quality of care.
Expand the Aid to Dependent Children-Unemployed Parent program benefits to 12 months.
This measure will allow recently unemployed parents a more reasonable time frame to obtain education, training, or employment. It will enable families to remain intact while becoming self-supporting.
Add an Emergency Assistance component to the Aid to Dependent Children program to provide short-term assistance to families with children who are threatened with homelessness and family breakup.
Many Virginians are only two paychecks away from the welfare line. The Children's Defense Fund estimates that it costs four times more to shelter a family in a welfare hotel than to provide housing assistance, homelessness prevention, and support services combined.
Due to the current recession, many Virginians who previously were self-supporting are now being forced to seek services. This situation, coupled with increasing poverty rates among the young, has placed demands on a system that has neither the staff nor automation capabilities to meet the increasing workload of the past two years.
These steps represent a practical plan of action which Virginia can implement now. For Virginians like Doris, a successful social-service system means an opportunity for a new life.
John W. Holdren , director of James City County Social Services in Williamsburg, is president of the Virginia League of Social Services Executives.