Plan Urges Parent Class for Some on Welfare

Ventura County could send some parents on general assistance to parenting classes as part of a far-reaching welfare-reform plan county supervisors hope to adopt by next year.

Supervisor John K. Flynn said the county probably could not require welfare recipients to brush up on parenting skills before they receive their government checks. But, he said, the county could strongly encourage some parents to attend such courses. The parents would be recommended by caseworkers.

“It would probably not be an absolute requirement,” Flynn said. “Every person that gets into our [welfare] system, unless they are diverted immediately into a job, will sign a contract. Depending on what they need, they could very well be directed toward parenting classes if that is something that they need in their lives.”

Flynn met Thursday at the Ventura County Government Center with a group of about 35 community members involved in parenting issues to talk about making parenting education part of the special reform proposal.

Flynn said state Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) recently introduced a bill that would allow the county to set up its own welfare program on a three-year demonstration basis.

The county now issues about $68 million in mainly state and federal funds through its welfare programs. Although officials working on the reform proposal have not worked out its cost, they said they would use existing resources.

Supervisors Flynn and Frank Schillo have spearheaded the effort to set up the program, designed to help welfare recipients find jobs and reduce their reliance on government money.

The number of county residents receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children is about 29,800, and the number receiving food stamps is about 40,700, according to 1995 county Public Social Services Agency statistics.

Some local community groups criticized the parenting-class suggestion because they said it appears to characterize welfare recipients as bad people.

“This has the presumption that just because they are poor, they are poor parents,” said Paige Moser of the Simi-Conejo chapter of the National Organization for Women. “I don’t know where they come up with this stuff.”

But Flynn and others say the county proposal only seeks to provide welfare recipients with both the best possible chance of landing a job and access to services that low-income residents may not have.

Helen Reburn, deputy director of the county’s Public Social Services Agency, said classes could help mothers and fathers on welfare learn to cope with parenting stresses while looking for work or starting a new job.

“If the child is getting involved in gang activities or having trouble staying in school, parents are more effectively going to be dealing with that child,” Reburn said. “It is learning how to manage parenting and still keep your job.”

Reburn said parenting classes could also come in handy for teenage parents who are struggling to finish school.

“We are really proposing a total restructuring and redesign [of the county welfare program] to make it more of a transition program which focuses on employment and trying to provide necessary services to the client,” Reburn said.

Under the proposed reform program, caseworkers would interview welfare applicants extensively to determine if they could begin working immediately or need training or other help.

Times staff writer Fred Alvarez contributed to this report.