Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 24, 1995                   TAG: 9506260038
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WELFARE REFORM AID A CONCERN

The state Department of Health and Human Resources announced this week that the state would help 25 localities - including Bedford and Bedford County - phase in welfare reform over the next 12 months with $7.8 million to cover extra costs of the overhaul.

The money will be used to pay day-care costs for the children of Aid to Families with Dependent Children recipients who will be required to work for their benefits, and to pay for job training, education and job placement programs.

Bedford, Campbell, Amherst and Appomattox counties and the cities of Bedford and Lynchburg, where the reform plan's work component will begin Oct. 1, will share $1,738,803.

Leighton Lankford, director of the Bedford County Department of Social Services, said he didn't know how much Bedford and Bedford County would receive in phase-in aid. But he anticipates substantial costs for his territory, possibly more than state aid can cover.

"I'm going to have to spend money on day care and travel," Lankford said. "We're one of the largest counties without public transportation. How much is it going to cost us to provide transportation - and day care? It is impossible to use volunteers to the extent that they want us to use them."

The department, which handles clients in the county and the city of Bedford, has an average monthly AFDC caseload of 360 clients. Of those, approximately half will be required to work for their benefits, necessitating child care for about 200 children and job transportation for many parents.

Virginia's welfare reform plan - one of the toughest in the country - will become law July 1. It will cut off AFDC benefits after two years and provide one year of transitional aid: child care, transportation and medical coverage.

Much of the plan will take effect next month, but its most ambitious component - requiring able-bodied recipients to begin working for AFDC within 90 days of receiving aid - will be phased in over four years.

Though welfare reform becomes law in Virginia in one week, the federal government has not yet granted the state a waiver from welfare requirements. Without it, the plan cannot be implemented.

"It's going down [to] the wire," Lankford said.

Michael Kharfen, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which is reviewing Virginia's waiver application, said Friday that he expected "news" about the waiver next week. He declined to elaborate.