Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 16, 1995 TAG: 9505160083
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But on July 1 - provided it passes federal muster - welfare reform will become law in Virginia.
Gov. George Allen is expected to announce this week or early next week which areas across the state have been selected for the first of a four-year phase-in, Carol Brunty, commissioner of the Virginia Department of Social Services, said Monday.
Brunty, who was in Roanoke for the Council of Community Services' annual meeting, could not say which areas had been selected. But she said selection will be based on community structure, community interest, economic development and new-job potential. Some areas have pressed to be among the first.
The reform plan has been called one of the strictest in the country. It cuts off Aid to Families with Dependent Children benefits after two years and requires recipients to begin working for their benefits within 90 days of receiving aid.
The plan, in part, also requires recipients to work a maximum of 36 hours and a minimum of 24 hours a week, whether they are in education programs or not; prohibits recipients from having more children once they join the rolls; and requires teen parents receiving welfare to live with their parents.
An estimated 2,331 of 4,060 AFDC recipients in and around the Roanoke Valley would be required to participate in the program, Brunty said.
Critics have denounced the plan as anti-family and playing politics with the lives of children. But Brunty says the current system has evolved into one that has ``trapped people more and more.''
``Thirty years ago, we decided that we needed to help people who were temporarily down and out,'' Brunty said. ``I think that was the right thing to do. But now we've got to change our system to offer opportunity and challenges.
``Change is not going to be easy. And for some it's going to be difficult, because they still think the only way is the current way.''
The government's role in that change should be ``as small as it can be,'' Brunty said.
``I hope you look at innovative ways for different groups to provide services,'' she said to those attending the Council of Community Services meeting, many of them staff from social services departments in Southwestern Virginia.
``The local social services role needs to be as limited as it can be. Community colleges, other colleges and universities, the business community, private agencies, all play an important role.''
by CNB