The District’s approach to public assistance has undergone significant changes to make the transition from welfare to work better for families, but there are some cases in which major barriers cannot be removed so easily, such as domestic violence or serious family illness. In many other states, the time taken to address these difficult issues does not count against the five-year benefit limit on the program known as TANF, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. This is a sensible approach, and the DC Council should put the $1.5 million needed in next year’s budget to make sure that parents are not forced to choose between a threatening situation and feeding their kids.
As it stands for next year’s budget, DC would send mixed signals to moms and dads trying to care for a seriously ill child. Here’s the problem: the District doesn’t require families dealing with these circumstances to be looking for employment. These kinds of work exemptions are part of the TANF programs in nearly every state. Yet the family’s 60-month time limit clock would continue to run, even though most states stop the clock in these situations.
Last year, the DC Council agreed that these families should receive full benefits and a time limit break by including these protections in the adopted budget. But the Council put the money to make this happen on a contingent revenue list, meaning it would only be funded if additional money was identified by December 2012. This did not happen.
In these last few weeks, the Council’s human services committee was able to identify $4 million to fund some of what was passed last year, including protections for parents dealing with domestic violence, grandparents caring for grandchildren, and parents caring for a child under 12 months. An additional $1.5 million would cover the costs of the rest of the protections that the Council approved last year. For example, parents caring for a family member with a disability would be given the time to provide this care and to prepare for work after this care is no long needed.
Without a time limit exemption, many families who have received an exemption from work requirements due to personal challenges will experience a steep cut in assistance in October. A family of three will see their benefits reduced to just $257 per month.
DCFPI urges the Council to identify the additional $1.5 million needed to put these protections into the budget and to better align the time limit so that it only applies when families are able to prepare for work.
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