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Washington State NOW supports full implementation of the Wellstone-Murray provision of the Federal welfare bill that would allow states to exempt victims of violence from the work requirements and time limits. NOW supports adequately funding child care, health care and transportation costs for low-income people struggling to leave and stay off assistance. NOW supports training and education for low-income people to help create career ladders and thus move people not just off welfare, but out of poverty.
During the 1997 legislative session, the legislature created Washington State’s WorkFirst program. WorkFirst is our state'’s version of welfare refom m- Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). Childcare is a necessity for parents with young children attempting to find employment and to obtain training to remain employed and move out of poverty. Under WorkFirst, a recipient can be eligible for childcare assistance during training and after obtaining employment. Yet under current regulations, if a WorkFirst participant enters job search, finds employment and then initiates training to enhance her job skills, the Department will not support her efforts by paying for the childcare while she is in school. In addition, if a WorkFirst participant obtains employment in combination with her approved training and then decides it is in her best interest to end the TANF grant, she will also lose her childcare for the hours in training. Many welfare moms going to work and training will have to rely on family and friends -- a less dependable form of care.
WorkFirst regulations do not insure that participants for whom immediate work activities are not appropriate will not be required to do twelve weeks of job search before an individual evaluation of their personal circumstances is conducted. The Department of Social and Health Services has said that it will screen for domestic violence. It has also said that community service will include caregiving, (i.e. a recipient who provides care for a disabled, dependent household member). Supposedly, non-parent caretaker relatives over the age of 50 (such as grandparents) are exempt from job search. Yet the WorkFirst regulations do not carry through and enunciate these policies. The state work performance bonus may mean that recipients could be willy-nilly shoved into workfare jobs that may be only temporary or very low paying and have little future for promotional advancement. Millions of former welfare recipients could form an enormous underclass of low-skilled, desperate workers that are easily exploited and which would ultimately bring down wages for other groups. WorkFirst regulations bar new residents from receiving benefits higher than those given by the state they left. This law was designed to discourage welfare recipients from moving to Washington from other states. Benefits vary from state to state - based on cost-of-living differences and the state’s attitude towards supporting poor families. This law discriminates against families who move to Washington State for very legitimate reasons - a job opportunity, to join family members, or to escape domestic violence. For example, a mother and her four children (who were born in the Puget Sound area) left Washington in August 1997 to live with friends in Missouri after her husband threatened to kill her. Then in October, after hearing that her husband had moved from Washington State, they returned to be closer to her parents and grandparents. They left the state for safety. The mother further said, "I did not return to Washington because of higher benefits. I returned because I consider Washington my home and because my family is here."(1) This family of five can only receive $375.00 per month (Missouri'’s benefit) instead of the $740.00 per month they would have received if they had not left the state for 3 months to escape family violence. Washington State NOW believes this practice of limiting benefits for new residents is unconstitutional. In fact, similar laws in Pennsylvania and California have been overturned in Federal Court.
Call 360-253-7147 for a contact person in your local community.