WELFARE CLOCK TICKING DOWN; COUNTY'S RECIPIENTS BRACE FOR SWEEPING FEDERAL REFORMS.

Byline: Jesse Hiestand Daily News Staff Writer

Arlene C. has been on welfare the last decade, raising her three children on $700 a month in public assistance, plus $50 in child support paid by her two ex-husbands.

It's not the place she wants to be - relying on taxpayers' money to feed and clothe her youngsters. The 33-year-old Oak View woman has tried to support her family, helped by a Ventura County job training program. But she says the struggle to pay for child care and living expenses out of what she could earn forced the family back on the public rolls.

Adding to Arlene's worries are looming changes in the welfare system that will sharply limit the assistance she can receive and give her a deadline to find a job and become self-sufficient.

``It scares me a little but, all in all, I have to say I've got a good Lord I can trust in and he'll help me through this,'' she said.

The welfare changes facing Arlene and others like her are part of a sweeping effort by the federal government aimed at getting able-bodied adults off public assistance and into the work force. Legislation enacted in August 1996 caps the amount of cash assistance recipients can get (60 checks in a lifetime) and gives them two years to find a job or lose their eligibility for benefits.

``It's a massive change from what we have now,'' said Randy Feltman, a deputy director for the county's Chief Administrative Office, who is overseeing the welfare reform programs. ``We're basically building a new system from the ground up.''

Providing public assistance to Ventura County families costs $124 million a year, with local taxpayers picking up the tab for $6.8 million in direct aid payments and $2.3 million for staffing various programs and agencies. The balance is paid by state and federal tax revenues funneled through the county.

The proposed reforms are not expected to increase the county's welfare costs, although the task of implementing any programs falls squarely on the county, which has less than six months before new welfare guidelines take effect.

``The time clock starts January 1, 1998,'' Feltman said.

County officials say they hope to use current personnel to implement reforms, although there may be added costs down the road as programs are added, expanded or modified.

``No one really knows (how much it will cost) because the first responsibility is to try to change the things that are already there,'' Feltman said. ``There will be additional costs, but we really don't know what they are yet and we don't know what the federal or state governments will pay in terms of additional costs.''

County Supervisor John Flynn, who is heavily involved in reform plans because half the county's welfare recipients live in his Oxnard district, said he hopes the county's efforts are not hampered by the state or federal governments. He is particularly concerned that state lawmakers will impose new rules regarding welfare eligibility as they hammer out the state budget for fiscal 1997.

``We hope one of the guiding principles they use in their legislation is flexibility,'' he said. ``We'd prefer a state grant, actually - just give us the money and we'll make it work.''

Flynn heads an interagency task force, formed 1-1/2 years ago, that has hammered out a two-step approach to get welfare recipients back into the work force.

One-stop benefits shopping

One step is the creation of one-stop Employment Resource Centers, which opened this spring in Simi Valley and Oxnard. The program was adopted by the state Employment Development Department as a way to centralize state employment, county job training and development, adult education, vocational training and other programs.

``They're improving the access to all of these different programs,'' Feltman said. ``It's part of a much bigger effort that government is going through to try to integrate and streamline all these different pieces that are out there.''

Beginning July 1, the Oxnard center will become the focus of a one-stop pilot program in which officials will track the success of 150 welfare recipients.

The Oxnard and Simi Valley employment centers are expected to eventually expand to include offices for other county programs, such as child-support enforcement, mental and public health services and substance-abuse counseling.

``People have child-care issues, transportation issues, personal issues. Otherwise they may not be successful in becoming self-sufficient,'' said Ron Komers, the county's human resources director and a member of the interagency task force.

``There isn't a lot of time. That's why we have to work together at an unprecedented pace.''

Taking PRIDE in yourself

The second step in the county's approach is the creation of the PRIDE program. Plans call for 10 PRIDE centers to be located around the county, with the goal of streamlining the process of qualifying for welfare.

Currently, a resident applying for welfare must visit a district office of the Public Social Services Agency, meet with an eligibility specialist and then spend about four hours filling out 36 pages of forms, Feltman said.

This exhaustive process is intended to ferret out information on a person's income, assets and home life including children, home, car, bank accounts and more.

Once they're deemed eligible, ``they're in the system'' and the first check is mailed out, officials said.

Each month, however, recipients must return to the district office and fill out more forms noting changes in their living situation. All forms are signed under the penalty of perjury.

A major goal of welfare reform in Ventura County is to condense and possibly automate the eligibility forms, Feltman said.

``We're going to put together the program by trial and error,'' Flynn said. ``But I think people will have a better quality of life if they can get a job and get off welfare.''

Contract with the county

Welfare reform will require ``massive retraining'' of county social workers and other public employees, officials say. For some, it will mean learning about the ``family responsibility contract'' that will be entered into between each individual welfare client and the county.

The contract will clearly spell out what a person must do to continue receiving welfare, such as attending job training classes, obtaining mental or drug-abuse counseling and looking for a job.

It will be up to the PRIDE team members to monitor each welfare case for compliance with the requirements of the contract, Feltman said.

Although the reform process is barely under way, county officials are banking on its success.

Flynn said he can imagine the day when the last of the 9,100 families currently receiving welfare in Ventura County will become independent.

``Ten years from now, we should not have anyone on welfare,'' he said.

Uncertainties lie ahead

Until then, numerous obstacles, many yet unseen, must be faced. And officials admit there are risks.

``We're talking about 18,000 children whose roof over their head and food is dependent on their parents' income,'' Feltman said. ``If we take the cash assistance away, the families will break up and it will be a total disaster. We have to help those families become self-sufficient.''

Helen Reburn, deputy director of the county Public Social Services Agency, said reformers have identified other potential trouble spots, such as having to rely more on the welfare net of last resort: general relief, now used strictly for indigent single adults.

``If we have families who either reach their time limit - their federally required five years - and they're still not employed, general relief could be a fallback,'' Reburn said. ``There could also be situations where parents can't take care of their kids, thus increasing foster care.

``We certainly don't want to increase homelessness or crime, because people will do whatever it takes to support their families.''

WELFARE

Following are the number of recipients receiving assistance through Ventura County's welfare system. The figures are as of April 30.

Aid to Families with Dependent Children - 9,104 families/26,456recipients.

AFDC is the largest public assistance program in Ventura County, and the one most synomyous with ``welfare.'' It provides cash, food stamps and Medi-Cal eligibility for families. The average family is composed of a single mother and two children who receive $500 cash, $70 in food stamps and free medical care every month. Under federal welfare reform, the program will be known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

Food stamps - 12,238 famlies/34,338 recipients

Food stamps and Medi-Cal benefits are automatically given to AFDC recipients; other who meet income eligibility requirements receive $25 to $100 worth of food stamps monthly.

Able-bodied adults are limited by federal law to three months of food stamps. Ventura County was one of 18 California counties to receive a six-month exemption to this rule in April due to the county's high unemployment rate. As a result, 240 people who had been cut from the rolls were reinstated but will again be ineligible in October.

Medi-Cal - 51,882 recipients (25,426 individuals plus all family members receiving AFDC)

Medi-Cal is the state version of Medicaid, a federally funded program to provide health care for the needy.

General relief - 174

General Relief is for single adults with no dependents who have no other means of income, shelter or food. They typically receive a non-cash voucher worth about $300 each month for housing or food. Counseling, treatment and job training is required to receive the voucher. Cases are reviewed on a monthly basis to determine continued eligibility.Foster care - 569

Foster care is provided to those abused and neglected children who have been removed from their home by court order and placed into either a fosteror group home.

Source: Ventura County Public Social Services Agency

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