CAMPUS/AREA UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, November 4,1993
3A
Candidates say welfare system should be reformed
By James Evans
Kansanwriter
The average welfare recipient in Douglas County is a white, adult female and mother of two.
Recipients are often high school dropouts with some work experience, but they have trouble staying employed, said Sue Pearlmutter, a graduate research assistant in social welfare. She is helping to write the "Welfare Fact Book" for the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services.
In Douglas County there are 1,916 people that receive Aid to Families with Dependent Children, which is also called welfare. The number of welfare recipients and the amount of money spent on them each year are reasons that many political candidates in Kansas are calling for welfare reform. The 1994 budget for Kansas' AFDC program was $130,790,000.
Benefits that can be received through AFDC include a monthly cash payment and Medicaid. People who use AFDC usually can get help in paying for utilities and food stamps, Pearlmutter said.
"I looks like a lot of people are getting things for free, but the system is not set up to let recipients live the way we think they do," Pearlmutter said.
She said recipients often received subsidized housing. But Douglas County has a shortage of subsidized housing, and the Lawrence Housing Authority's waiting list has 450 people on it.
The amount of money a family receives a month is based on its size and the amount of the money it makes a month, Pearlmutter said. A family of three, for example, can get up to $429 a month from AFDC without having any income.
A single person on welfare usually
receives $100 to $200 a month, Pearlmutter said.
She said that one reason why the 683 Douglas County adults on welfare had trouble leaving the system was the county's job situation.
"There is fierce competition for jobs in Douglas County because of KU students," she said.
In 1989, Kansas started the KanWork program to help welfare recipients with job preparation and training, providing child care and education.
Individual training and educational programs are set up to fit the interests of the individual, said Penny Schau, employment preparation specialist for SRS in Lawrence.
"Training varies for each person," Schau said. "Some of the participants just need to get ready for work and need a resume, while
others need vocational training or two year educational programs."
Schau said the program limited participants to 30 months of paid training or education. The program is financed by federal and state money.
"I've seen a lot of great successes come from the program," Schau said. "Some of the people get really good jobs and are able to buy houses and cars."
"The numbers have largely stayed the same," Dyer said.
The success of the program in its five-year existence has not made an impact on the overall welfare numbers in Douglas County, said Ernie Dyer, community relations specialists for SRS in Lawrence.
He said many recipients left the welfare system for two to three months but often returned to receive aid after having financial or personal problems.
Burdett Loomis, professor of political science, said that welfare reform was an important political issue. He said most of the current reforms that politicians had looked into were aimed at the welfare mother who had several children.
The children of welfare recipients are most often hurt by reforms that have been implemented, Loomis said. He said welfare mothers were not able to adequately provide for the needs of their children when they try to leave the welfare system.
Loomis also said that training programs like KanWork were not being given a chance to assist welfare recipients.
WHERE THE CANDIDATES STAND
"The pattern is you create a program, don't fund it adequately and then call it a failure," Loomis said.
GOVERNOR
GRAVES — He said he thought the government should pursue anti-poverty strategies with all its education and economic development resources. He supports a requirement for identifying fathers
Bill Graves (R)
as a condition for receiving government assistance and a time limit for receiving government aid.
SLATTERY He said he would work to overhaul the system to break the cycle of welfare dependency. He supports a system which provides able-bodied people with temporary
Jim Slattery (D)
ATTORNEY GENERAI
help while they are looking for work or getting job training. Welfare recipients would be required to sign individual responsibility contracts with the state, agree to take a job, receive job training and seek treatment for substance abuse.
Carla Stovall (R)
SCHODDORF — Welfare fraud is a problem that needs to be stopped, he said. If people are stealing from the government, they are stealing from taxpayers.
Richard Schodorf (D)
U.S. HOUSE — 3RD DISTRICT
MEYERS — "We've been spending more than we've been taking in for 40 years," she said. "Somebody, sooner or later, is going to have to pay for that, and that's your generation."
Jan Meyers (R)
Judy Hancock (D)
HANCOCK — "approach the subject of welfare reform with a lot of humility because I don't have a grand plan," she said. "The present system is cock- it sends
the message: Don't work. Don't save. Don't try to improve your own life."
U.S. HOUSE — 2ND DISTRICT
BROWNBACK — He said the current welfare system needed to be overhauled. He said that the government couldn't 'do all the changes that needed to be made and that welfare reform should be addressed at the state level.
Sam Brownback (R)
John Carlin (D)
CARLIN — He said that it had been estimated that 25 percent of all the people receiving welfare were receiving it for health care coverage. He said there needed to be incentive programs developed to get people off
welfare.
KANSAS HOUSE — 44TH
Barbara Ballard (D)
BALLARD — She sponsored a welfare reform bill. She said that welfare was needed as a helping measure but that it had become bogged down and was count terproductive. She said people needed to be more realistic and tighten up the guidelines on how to receive payments.
KANSAS HOUSE 45TH
SLOAN—"If you receive assistance from the state, you should give something back to the state," he said. "It's not enough for the state to simply provide the minimum requirements for life."
Tom Sloan (R)
Forrest Swall (D)
wage level. That needs to change."
SWALL — "The system should always be reviewed," he said "We need to strengthen the services provided. For example, more adequate child care is needed. Minimum wage, right now, is about half the poverty
KANSAS HOUSE — 46TH
SCHMIDT—
He favors giving tax credits to families who are caring for unemployed or sick relatives.
Eric Schmidt (R)
KANSAS HOUSE — 47TH
Troy Findley (D)
FLOWER --She supports three-year training programs and education to get people off welfare.
Joann Flower (R)
Charlie Geist (D)
GEIST — He supports a system of training to get people off welfare.
DOUGLAS COUNTY COMMISSION
BUHLER — "There's no question that the welfare system doesn't work," he said. "We're not helping them. There'a lot more work that needs to be done."
Mark Buhler (R)
Lisa Blair (D)
now, and it should be.
BLAIR — "I would like to see the Douglas County Commission take a more active role in funding additional services," she said. "I don't see that as a priority right
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