Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Welfare Numbers Drop In Clark County

Every now and then the federal government does something right.

Such is the case with the welfare reform program implemented three years ago.

In 1997, the federal government did away with the Aid for Dependent Children program, replacing it nationally with the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program.

The U.S. government also stipulated a person could only be on the welfare roll for five years under the TANF program. However, this program does not affect food stamps, Medicaid or housing assistance, only the money the government had been paying out.

Richard Sutton, with the Clark County Department of Human Services, said Arkansas came up with a different name for its program  Transitional Employment Assistance or TEA.

The federal government, he said, provided each state with a block grant of money through the national TANF program, telling the states to develop their own welfare reform programs. This was done in 1997.

At the time, there were more than 21,000 welfare cases in Arkansas, but as of May, 2000, this number has dropped statewide to 12,000.

More than 9,000 cases have been closed out since 1997, Sutton said, and these cases were closed out because the people went to work.

Jack Farr, program supervisor at Arkadelphia's DHS, said the idea was to give people a hand up instead of a handout by making them more employable and self-sufficient.

Farr said there were 120 welfare cases in Clark County when the program began in '97, and now this number has dropped to 50.

Sutton said this figure of 50 includes grandparents getting checks to help raise grandchildren and is not time limited.

The time limit in Arkansas is 24 months for a person's lifetime. Once someone begins receiving TEA funds, the clock starts ticking in many instances. After the 24th month has passed, they can no longer receive these funds, unless there are extenuating circumstances and an extension is granted.

On the federal level, a person can receive this money up to five years. However, the federal government allowed states to establish their own parameters in this area. States can either allow the same five years or less, but not more. Arkansas chose to let people receive assistance for 24 months.

Sutton said only 14 of the cases the DHS is currently working with are time limited and must find jobs before their two years expires. The rest of those receiving checks are in other categories where there is no time limit.

To date, he said, the longest running case has been nine months, and of the original 120 cases in '97, all have been cleared.

Those cases being worked now are all new ones.

Farr said the AFDC program was a "free ride," while TEA requires people to go to work.

AFDC, Sutton said, was eligibility driven, with those receiving benefits having to meet certain criteria. The TEA program teaches these people to be independent by getting them to work. TEA, he added, is results driven.

The motivating factor in the program, he continued, is to get results by making people employable. "Our motto is any job is a good job.'"

In Clark County the program is easier to administer because of the low unemployment rate, Farr said. This means jobs are available and these people help fill a valuable need.

This isn't the case in all counties, Sutton said. In the Delta counties there are some serious problems with the TEA program.

Because of the jobless rates in those counties, he said, the case load for the TEA program has doubled in some instances.

"Employment is a big driving factor," Sutton said.

"Under the old system," he continued, "once a person was no longer eligible for benefits they were terminated. Now, though, the benefits are gradually decreased to help the people make the necessary adjustments."

The adjustments are done on a declining sliding scale until the recipient is completely independent.

Clark County has another benefit other counties don't have  the new Southwest Arkansas Learning Center.Sutton said with the center operational, new cases will be referred there for training.

Getting back to the 14 time-limit cases, Sutton said, of these four are women in their third trimester and are considered disabled. Because of this, their time isn't being counted against them.

Two others have been sanctioned because their parents refused to cooperate, which left them with their benefits cut by 25 percent.

Three others are disabled, leaving a total of five having time counted against them now.

"We consider this a successful program," Sutton said.

Farr said those claiming long-term disability are sent to rehabilitation services to see if they can be helped in other ways.

One of the things making this a successful program, Sutton said, is cases are now handled at the lowest level  with case managers making determinations.

Under the AFDC program, he said, the decision making process was handled entirely at the Little Rock DHS offices. Now, though, case managers have the authority to make such decisions, based on guidelines they must follow.

Along with the TEA program, Farr said, all counties have coalitions to help in other areas.

These coalitions, he said, are groups of people pooling resources not provided by the TEA program.

In Clark County, the coalition incorporated a program for proper parenting, focusing on the teen pregnancy issue along with educational issues.

The Arkansas Department of Health, he said, instituted a program on unwanted pregnancies with a family planning waiver.

Those participating are given a card good to help offset the cost of birth control measures. It also pays for visits to gynecologists and gives the person with the card their choice of birth control measures to be used.

It does not, though, pay for abortions.

This program is available to those 14 and older.