MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
Six years ago, the nation's welfare system fundamentally changed.
One of the biggest changes was a 60 month maximum lifetime time-limit for benefits.
Now, some families are facing the reality of life without welfare.
I'm Christopher Shields for Missouri Capitol Caucus.
Carletta Connor of Mexico, Missouri is one of many people facing the 60-month time-limit imposed by Temporary Aid to Needy Families, or TANF.
Connor is single, unemployed and a mother of four.
She gets 388 dollars a month from TANF, Food Stamps, Medicaid and occasional child support payments.
She says she can't work because of her 4-year old that needs special care.
Even with the TANF benefits, Connor says its impossible to stretch her budget every month.
Connor isn't the only one about to lose her welfare benefits.
Connie Ward from the Missouri Social Services Department.
Ward says that before benefits are cut off, social services discusses a strategy for the remaining time.
While there is a plan in place before someone hits their time limit, Connor says it doesn't help at all.
Even though Conner will lose her benefits soon, Ward says she will not be completely cut off of all benefits.
Despite her complaints, and with her time-limit approaching Conner is making progress moving off welfare.
She says she will get her GED soon.
Her youngest son will start school next fall freeing up time to work, although it may take her away from Mexico.
She says losing TANF benefits may be a setback in becoming self-sufficient.
In part two, we'll explore how Missouri's welfare system functions and how it's different from the now defunct federal system.
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Until 1997, the federal government set detailed rules for providing cash assistance to needy families.
That all changed with welfare reform, which gave states more power to administer their own welfare systems.
I'm Christopher Shields for Missouri Capitol Caucus.
15 years ago, Robin Acree was a low-income single mother fleeing an abusive relationship.
Acree went on Aid to Families with Dependent Children or AFDC, the now defunct federal welfare program, for 6 years.
Under AFDC, families with dependent children recieved cash entitlements from the federal government.
There was no time limit, but cash assistance ended once a parent became employed.
Today, Acree has a college degree and runs Grass Roots Organizing, a poverty advocacy group in Mexico, Missouri.
She says AFDC helped her get where she is today.
If Acree wanted benefits today, she would be faced with a different welfare system run by the state.
When the new program-heralded by Congress and President Clinton as welfare reform went into effect; it stipulated that programs have 60-month timelines and require recipients to work.
Connie Ward from Missouri's Social Services department describes who is eligible for state Temporary Aid for Needy Families, or TANF.
Once benefits start, the recipient is required to engage in some kind of work activity or education to maintain cash benefits.
Ward says a variety of things can count as work activity.
Once a person is employed, the state will not count that income for a year, allowing the recipient to stay eligible.
Acree says this is an advantage over the old system.
The new system also has a time-limit.
Unless someone is over 65 or disabled, a person can only be on TANF for a lifetime total of 60-months.
After 60 months a family is only eligible for federal programs like food stamps and Medicaid.
In the third and final part of this series, we'll examine if the new program has been successful after 6 years and what the future holds for TANF.
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In 1997, welfare reform took effect, giving states more power in administering welfare benefits.
Six years later, caseloads are lower but some argue that Temporary Aid to Needy Families isn't moving people out of poverty.
I'm Christopher Shields for Missouri Capitol Caucus.
TANF was created with the intention of moving people from welfare to work.
According to Connie Ward of the state Social Services Department, people in Missouri are moving off welfare.
When TANF took effect in 1997 there were 184-thousand cases in Missouri.
Today that caseload has dropped by 64-thousand.
But Diana Moore from the Missouri Association of Social Welfare says just getting people off welfare and into jobs shouldn't be the only focus.
According to a 2000 study conducted by researchers at the US Department of Health and Human Services, 45 to 65 percent of people who left welfare nationwide were working.
Of people moving from welfare to work in Missouri, the average monthly income was a little over 1-thousand dollars a month.
That prospect doesn't look good for Carletta Connor of Mexico, Missouri a single mother of four who's time limit on TANF is about to run out.
The amount the state determines as enough to support a family in Mexico is almost twice the average income for former TANF recipients in Missouri.
So has welfare reform been a success?
Moore says it depends on how success is defined.
Ward says success can't be defined by people moving off welfare, and says she isn't sure whether people are moving out of poverty.
Whether welfare reform has been a success or not changes are on the way.
Those arguing that welfare reform has failed say they want to extend time-limits and get people into better paying jobs.
The Bush administration is proposing extending the work requirement from 30 to 40 hours per week along with doubling funding for childcare and job training resources.
That measure is still in Congress.
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