Still needs work
IN AMERICA, the cure for welfare is work. But getting to work is a long drive for some people.
Take a single mother with a mental illness and a child who has asthma. She may need job training and a car to get to work. She has to manage her health and the well-being of her child.
''It's never just one thing," says Elizabeth Toulan of Greater Boston Legal Services about the barriers that keep people from work. One person can grapple with depression, domestic violence, and cognitive problems, or illiteracy and mental illness. And since the welfare caseload has fallen, from 103,000 in 1995 to 46,000 today, many of the recipients who are left have some of the toughest problems to overcome.
Currently people with disabilities and very young children are exempt from the state's welfare work rules. But once Congress reauthorizes welfare reform, the new federal rules will almost certainly require more people to work more hours. And Massachusetts will have to follow these rules or jeopardize millions of federal welfare dollars.
Governor Romney and the Legislature have the same goal: use work to lift people out of poverty. But the lawmakers want to take different roads.
Romney has called for requiring people with disabilities and very young children to work. The risk is that they won't find jobs, Massachusetts won't meet federal rules, and the state would lose federal dollars.
State Representative Antonio Cabral, a New Bedford Democrat, has a more creative solution. He has filed a bill that would shift the disabled into a welfare program that uses only state money. It's an accounting change that would protect families from unnecessarily harsh rules and protect the state from losing federal funds. The families would still get help finding jobs from other state agencies that have a proven record, including the Department of Mental Health and the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission. And no extra funds would be needed because costs would only be shifted to a different account, not increased. It's an approach that 29 other states have used.
As Cabral says, welfare reform should include reaching out to employers, explaining that they can prosper by hiring workers who have physical disabilities or have overcome mental illnesses and other challenges.
A similar Senate bill was filed by Cynthia Creem, a Newton Democrat. Moving the bills quickly would help Massachusetts prepare for the changes that congressional reauthorization will undoubtedly bring.
Massachusetts has spent years getting tough on welfare. Now it's time to get smarter.
