With Marion County on board, Indiana’s welfare system is now fully ‘hybrid’, By Mary Beth Schneider, February 20, 2012, Indianapolis Star: “Marion County today becomes the final county in the state to move to the so-called ‘hybrid’ welfare eligibility system. The change represents the final and perhaps biggest challenge for the state’s Family and Social Services Administration since the new system was implemented in January 2010. The number of people receiving benefits in Marion County is 20 percent of all welfare cases in the state. About 125,000 people in Marion County receive various services, including Medicaid and other health programs, food stamps and job training. Starting today, they’ll not only be able to visit the welfare offices as they are accustomed to doing — though some are in new locations — they also will be able to access records online and call a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week toll-free number to check benefits or report changes to their status. People now will be able to enroll online or walk into an office, without an appointment, to get help…”
Tag: Computer systems
Child Welfare Reform – Colorado
Child welfare reform: Colorado unveils plan to better protect children, By Christopher N. Osher, February 16, 2012, Denver Post: “Colorado will overhaul how it trains child abuse caseworkers, make more information public when a child dies of abuse or neglect and will start holding counties accountable for how they deal with reports of child abuse, state officials said today. Reforms unveiled by Gov. John Hickenlooper and Reggie Bicha, the executive director of the Colorado Department of Health and Human Services, are aimed at improving a child welfare system that has seen 43 children die in the past five years amid concerns that caseworkers did not do enough to save them. ‘Every decision we make in formulating and implementing this plan has the safety and well-being of children and their families at the forefront,’ Hickenlooper said in a prepared statement. The plan, which took a year to develop, has five key strategies. The Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Case Family Program helped the state come up with the program and has contributed more than $600,000 toward developing and implementing the proposal…”
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – Pennsylvania, Connecticut
- Corbett raises limit on assets for food stamps, but critics blast the idea of a test, By Alfred Lubrano, February 2, 2012, Philadelphia Inquirer: “Modifying its original proposal, the Corbett administration is raising the amount of assets a person can have to retain food stamps, drawing the ire of critics who say the asset test itself is improper. The state Department of Public Welfare on Wednesday announced that households with people under age 60 will be limited to $5,500 in assets. For households with people 60 and above, the figure is $9,000. Houses, retirement benefits, and one car would not be counted as assets. Any additional vehicle worth more than $4,650 would be counted. Asset testing will begin May 1…”
- Pa.’s food stamp asset test will be easier than planned, By Karen Langley, February 2, 2012, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “The state said Wednesday that it is easing limits of an asset test it plans to reinstate for Pennsylvanians receiving food stamps. A total of 4,000 households are expected to lose their food stamps under the revised proposal by the state Department of Public Welfare. The plan sparked criticism from Democrats and advocates for the poor when it became public last month. Older people and the disabled with more than $9,000 in assets would no longer qualify for food stamps under a plan submitted Wednesday to federal officials. Those under age 60 would be disqualified if they have more than $5,500 in assets…”
- Conn. working to fix troubled food stamps program, By Susan Haigh (AP), February 4, 2012, Boston Globe: “While a fraud scandal cast a cloud over a special emergency food aid program following Hurricane Irene, the state is working to address deeper troubles that have plagued the traditional food stamps program, including high error rates, slow response times and an antiquated computer system. Connecticut is ranked last among all the states and territories for processing applications for the federal program in a timely manner. In 2006, the state was processing 81 percent of applications on a timely basis. But that dropped to 59 percent in 2010 and the head of the Connecticut Department of Social Services said the current rate is even worse…”