Program to Put Welfare Recipients to Work Delayed

Orange County’s plan to begin forcing welfare recipients who cannot find work to perform community service is on hold as officials await the outcome of a bureaucratic battle between the state and federal government.

The community-service requirement was supposed to kick in this month for people who have received aid for more than two years and don’t have jobs. It was considered a significant step in the effort move recipients from welfare to work.

But officials in Washington and Sacramento are still debating whether the compensation for community service is enough to meet minimum-wage laws--or whether such laws even need to be met.

In the meanwhile, welfare recipients are continuing to receive benefits without performing any volunteering. A mother with two children, for example, receives $699 a month plus $275 in food stamps and health benefits. Under welfare reform, most of that aid is only offered for a total of 60 months over a recipient’s lifetime.

About 2,800 county residents are immediately affected by the impasse--most of whom officials describe as “hard cases” who for some reason have failed to find jobs or were unable to keep them.

Angelo Doti, the head of the county’s welfare reform effort, said it’s unclear when the dispute will be resolved. For now, he said, the county is crafting a strategy for moving these recipients into some type of work.

“We are thinking that what is needed is a triage approach,” Doti said.

Health experts, community college workers and social workers will be brought in to figure out why these welfare recipients can’t hold jobs. Doti said some recipients may need help with anger management, dyslexia and child care.

The work requirement is a key component of welfare reform, which was intended to move recipients to self sufficiency. In 1998, a state law gave recipients 18 months to find a job. Counties extended that deadline six months for those who were making a good-faith effort to find a job.

Orange County has dropped its welfare case load 68%, to 7,600 people since the program began in 1998.

Daniel Flaming, president of the Economic Roundtable, a nonprofit research group studying Los Angeles County’s welfare outcomes, said recipients aren’t necessarily to blame for their lack of job-finding success. He said despite the strong economy, jobs can be difficult to find--even for those who want them.

Patricia Thompson, 31, a single mother of three children, said she worked in three jobs but had problems with each.

In one case, she said, she was fired because she didn’t show up to work on a day when two sons were ill.

“I’ve been in and out of work and I want to keep a job but things keep going wrong,” said Thompson of Anaheim.

“I’ve been dreading the day when they tell me my benefits have run out or they send me to do some really horrible job.”

Anastasia Voyatjides, a coordinator at the Salvation Army’s Opportunities Unlimited career development program, said the community service requirement instills fear in welfare recipients.

“They didn’t work for years. Now they have to get to work, do community service and go to school to get the right skills. The change they have to make is enormous.”