THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 20, 1995 TAG: 9512200435
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A17 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARGARET EDDS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
Welfare recipients and workers in South Hampton Roads have more than two years to get ready for participation in the state's tough, new mandatory work requirements, according to budget documents released Tuesday by the Allen administration.
The district that includes Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, Isle of Wight, Southampton County and Franklin will come into the work program in the spring of 1998, according to the breakdown.
The statewide phase-in timetable had remained a mystery, even though the welfare-to-work program was launched with fanfare last July. All that has been known were the 31 localities that are gradually entering the program during its first year.
Five localities in the Culpeper region were the first to enter the program last July.
Accomack and Northampton counties will be brought into the program next July, according to the timetable.
Under the reform, once a locality is phased in, eligible recipients of Aid to Families With Dependent Children must work for their benefits. They will be allowed to collect payments for no more than two years out of every five.
Social service workers around the state are brainstorming and planning for the phase-in. ``One of the advantages of coming in later is that we have a window of opportunity'' to assess organizational and staffing needs and program ideas that might work, said Keith Chadwell, director of the eastern regional social service office that oversees Hampton Roads.
Most of the localities with the largest AFDC caseloads are being brought into the work program in the second half of the four-year phase-in period.
The exceptions are in Northern Virginia, where seven localities will enter the program this spring, and Richmond, which will be brought on line in the spring of 1997.
John Littel, deputy secretary of Health and Human Resources, said money for child care, transportation and other support needs will be allocated on the basis of cost estimates provided by the localities.
``We want money neither to be the issue or the answer,'' he said, explaining how resources will be divided.
The Allen budget proposal unveiled Monday includes $24 million in support services for localities entering the program in the next biennium. Much of that money is to be matched by localities. Also included is $50,000 per region for planning purposes for those entering the program in its later stages.
According to administration figures, the AFDC caseload has dropped by 5,500 since the Virginia Independence Program was signed into law last April. The case load was 70,500 in April and 65,229 at the end of November. by CNB