Welfare Reform Shouldn’t Be an Inflexible Structure

More than half of the nation’s two-parent welfare families live in California, and nearly half of those parents in California are refugees, primarily from Laos, the former Soviet Union and Vietnam. Many have severe cultural and language barriers that discourage employment. Because of this and other problems, California deserves a break from an unrealistic federal requirement, effective last Wednesday, that states have 75% of the adults in two-parent welfare families in jobs, schooling, training or community service.

This is certainly a problem that federal planners did not foresee. But the fact remains that state officials do not control the nation’s borders or admit refugees. That is a federal responsibility, and Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala should for this reason waive the penalties for California.

Two-parent families would at first glance seem an easy target for a tougher work requirement than single parents. Because there are two parents in the home, in theory, one should be able to work while the other cares for the children. In reality, experts from the state Department of Social Services have found, this group faces the most severe barriers to employment. Aside from immigration issues, they tend to have more mental health problems, physical disabilities and substance abuse problems than the overall welfare population, 90% of which is composed of members of single-parent households.

Because of these challenges, nearly half of the states missed the Oct. 1 deadline to have 75% of two-parent families in jobs or work-related programs. The potential penalty is 5% of federal welfare block grant funds, in California’s case $187 million out of about $3.8 billion. Those millions are needed for work programs, child care assistance and job training; California can apply for an exemption from the requirement and should do so right away.

California has placed 20% of the two-parent welfare population in the requisite activities. An additional 12.6% have left welfare since the federal law was passed. Exempt the 40% who are refugees and the state is nearly at 75%.

CAL-Works, the state welfare reform law that takes effect Jan. 1, will require two parents who receive welfare to work 35 hours a week either individually or in combination, which is consistent with the federal requirement. With training, job counseling, job placement and other support, a better result is likely, but the federal deadline was premature.

California struggles under a lot of immigration-related burdens that ought to be federal responsibilities. Let’s not add a big welfare reform penalty to the unfairness.