Task Force Tackles Welfare Reform Recommendations

Orange County will take its first steps today toward developing a plan for welfare reform.

Over the past few months, local officials have pored over a new 600-page federal policy on how society may help the poor. Today, a small task force charged with developing broad policy recommendations for the County Board of Supervisors will begin its work.

“Although it’s too early to tell what’s at stake, there’s a lot of potential impact,” said Rob Richardson, manager of legislative affairs for County Chief Executive Officer Jan Mittermeier.

“Thousands of people are on some kind of county aid and federal programs who, because of their immigration status, will not be on that program next year and will seek some services from the county,” he said.

Much of the federal welfare reform bill, passed in August, allows states to curtail services to legal immigrants. That will particularly affect the county’s Housing and Community Development Agency, which provides housing assistance, and the Health Care and Community Services agencies. Both serve large numbers of immigrants.

One of the task force’s first chores will be to determine whether the new federal requirement that counties report any suspected illegal immigrants to the Immigration and Naturalization Service quarterly applies to all departments.

“We’re just not sure yet who has to do what,” said Larry Leaman, director of the Social Services Agency.

Other city and county agencies represented on the task force are the district attorney’s office, the Probation Department and the Health Care, Community Services, Housing and Community Development agencies, all of which deal with the poor in some capacity.

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Though the group is small and its meetings will not be public, Leaman said, the goal is to work with as many local agencies as necessary and to reach out to all cities for ideas.

Working together on the welfare issue is crucial, officials said, because the functions of the agencies are closely interconnected.

For example, Social Services provides financial assistance largely to single women and their children and administers the Medi-Cal program; the district attorney’s office pursues fathers who do not pay child support and whose families are on welfare.

The Probation Department’s caseload includes many men who are in jail and whose wives and children are on welfare; and all of the departments deal with legal immigrants.

In general, much of the task force’s time will be devoted to resolving who is responsible for what.

“We have major overlap with the Health Care Agency with regard to Medi-Cal and paternity that will need to be resolved,” said Jan Sturla, the deputy district attorney for family support.

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Under current law, if a mother and father live together but are not married and the mother seeks Medi-Cal for the children, the Health Care Agency refers the case to Sturla’s office, which then establishes paternity.

“We file 1,000 cases a year when, basically, these are not cases where the father is denying paternity at all,” Sturla said. “Under the new procedures, we’re hoping it will be possible for fathers to acknowledge paternity on a form with the Health Care Agency so we don’t have to bring Dad into court.”

Also, the new law allows counties to reduce or eliminate a welfare recipient’s grant if the person is not cooperating in seeking work. The policy does not specify how that can be accomplished, though.

The task force hopes to have a draft policy to the Board of Supervisors in 60 days and will probably have to revise its plan often to address specific local concerns and to take into account any changes prescribed by Gov. Pete Wilson in his annual State of the State address next month.

“That’s when we’ll really know what it is the state is going to do,” Leaman said, “which will largely determine what it is we choose to do.”