Welfare caseloads rise, cause frustration, By Catherine Jun, April 5, 2010, Detroit News: “State welfare workers are juggling an astronomical number of requests for help, causing delays in emergency benefits to families and in some cases kicking them erroneously off welfare, according to state employees and welfare recipients. And in crowded welfare offices around the state, the frustration of families waiting for food, medical or cash assistance is reportedly boiling over, with threats and assaults against caseworkers. ‘They’re just frustrated with us. We can’t get their work processed fast enough,’ said Nancy Opatich, who works at the Michigan Department of Human Services office in Warren and who testified before a Michigan House subcommittee in the fall. Since 2001, the welfare assistance caseload in Michigan has dramatically swelled to 2.4 million cases, triple that of 2002, raising per-worker caseloads to 740 from 320…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty