ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Fueling the Call for Welfare Reform

The welfare system is on almost every short list of needed reforms in the 1990s. Now a study done in Orange County by county and state investigators is adding fuel to this political issue, and it has resulted in a statewide alert to be on the lookout for other incidents of fraud in so-called “child-only cases.”

The study found more prevalent than expected abuse of a welfare program intended to help families with children, and of course that is troubling. However, there’s a need for caution in interpreting the results of a relatively small study such as this one.

Five hundred of the 26,000 Orange County families receiving Aid to Families With Dependent Children were covered in the inquiry, which began last December. It was found that 27% of the families violated rules, usually by not reporting extra income.

One good question is whether the program’s rules are clear enough to prevent unintended errors. The investigators saw the violations as cheating, but one advocate for welfare recipients claimed that welfare workers make mistakes as often as recipients in filling out forms. State Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles), who heads the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, wisely has asked legislative researchers to verify the study’s findings.

It’s obvious that people should not receive benefits they are not entitled to, and it’s possible that the study indeed points to wider patterns of fraud in the welfare program for children. But be careful not to draw hasty conclusions.