Reforms Reduce Welfare Checks for 500 Families

In an early result of sweeping welfare reforms, at least 500 Ventura County families are receiving reduced welfare checks for failing to follow strict new rules for finding a job, county officials said Wednesday.

Adults who are sanctioned for failing to show up for job interviews, missing appointments or quitting a job for unjustified reasons have been cut from welfare rolls as part of the county’s revamped program, according to Human Services Agency Director Barbara Fitzgerald.

Checks to families are reduced on average from $600 to $480 if the adult refuses to work.

The numbers show the county is serious about penalizing those who do not follow the rules, Fitzgerald said.

“We tried to convince them they would be better off getting a job,” she said. “The main reason that hasn’t worked is that they just don’t want to work with us.”

If social workers cannot find a job for an enrollee within three months, the recipient must sign a contract stating he or she will continue the job search. Those who fail to keep searching lose a portion of their monthly payment.

Their children will continue to receive aid, regardless of their parent’s status, because California is among a handful of states that decided to provide this type of safety net, Fitzgerald said.

The strong economy is credited with an overall 50% decrease in the welfare rolls since its peak of more than 10,000 families in March 1995, county officials said.

But county staff members aren’t banking on the low unemployment rate because even those who have spent the past two years looking for a job face losing their aid this summer if they haven’t found work.

“What’s going to be the true test of how effective we are is when we have a recession and when the job market tightens up,” Fitzgerald said. “We are trying to get them employed now and get them some seniority so they can last through a recession.”

The good job market doesn’t help recipients with drug or alcohol problems or those who are illiterate or cannot speak English, Fitzgerald said.

A survey conducted in January by the League of Women Voters of Ventura County showed 53.6% of the 28 families interviewed blamed language barriers, job layoffs and past drug and alcohol problems on their inability to support their families.

Even as some recipients are being kicked off the rolls, others will soon be notified they are nearing their two-year deadline for finding a job.

Those adults must take a county community service job or face reduced checks. The incentives for accepting a community service job include free child care, transportation, legal help and job placement.

“They must do 32 hours a week to keep the check,” Fitzgerald said. “If they do that, the check and services will continue.”

The state’s welfare program, called CalWORKS, was initiated after the federal government ordered counties to significantly reduce public aid caseloads or risk losing federal aid. There is a five-year lifetime limit on receiving welfare.

In Ventura County, about 5,600 families remain on the welfare rolls. A typical family is made up of a single mother with two children. About 50 families leave the program each month for a variety of reasons, said Craig Ichinose, a senior researcher with the Human Services Agency.

Some find jobs, others drop out of the program and a handful are sanctioned for failing to follow the rules of their contract, officials said.

Fitzgerald said attitudes on finding work are changing among those who still receive welfare.

“There’s some grumbling,” she said. “But I think people are now finally feeling a sense of self-worth. We have some really excited participants who are seeing some light at the end of the tunnel.”