SALT 2010 VIRGINIA STATE LEGISLATIVE PROPOSALS

2010 GENERAL ASSEMBLY SESSION PRIORITIES

Social Action Linking Together, (SALT)--and its 1,000 advocates for faith-based social justice have a number of initiatives related to human services and encourages funding of the following initiatives in the 2010 budget. Together these initiatives address critical issues of poverty and homelessness in Virginia.

TANF Contingency Fund (Stimulus). The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) provisions in section 2101 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) created a new fund, the TANF Emergency Contingency Fund (ECF), under which Virginia can receive federal reimbursement for up to $79 million of increased TANF-related expenditures. Virginia can access stimulus funds in each of three categories:

· non-recurrent short-term payments;

· subsidized employment; or ·

  basic assistance.

We thank Senator Janet Howell, Delegates Jim Scott and Ken Plum for their leadership and for passionately presenting the case for obtaining TANF funding by insisting that the State of Virginia count qualified local initiatives with new or increased expenditures to be considered in the next Virginia request for TANF federal Stimulus funds.

Rental Assistance. SALT supports a pilot Rental Assistance Program. This program would provide funding to bridge the gap between one-third of a family’s income and the fair market cost of housing. Families who could not otherwise afford independent housing, such as women with children moving from welfare to work, or working families in shelters, would be priority targets in a 3-year pilot program. The program would provide time-limited assistance to provide the stability families need to advance in their work and achieve full independence. As their wages increase, their rental assistance would decline.

TANF Benefit Increase.  Virginia families on Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) have received only one increase in their benefits over the past 23 years, a 10% increase in 2000.  Meanwhile, inflation over that same period has equaled over 100%.  A family of three receives only $320 per month, less than a fifth of the federal poverty level.  SALT urges a 10% increase in benefits for TANF recipients next year and the following two years, to be funded primarily from a federal block grant, and the indexing of future benefits to go into effect each time state employee’s wages are raised.

TANF Benefit Indexing. Virginia's TANF payments have not kept up with inflation. SALT joins the Virginia Catholic conference to the urges the indexing of future TANF benefits consistent with Foster Care rate increases. TANF benefits are at only at 20 percent of the federal poverty level and there has been only one benefit increase since 1985. Indexing would prevent further erosion of recipients' ability to meet their basic needs, and can be funded entirely from the TANF federal Block grant. We thank Senator Janet Howell and Delegate James Scott for introducing TANF Indexing budget amendments.

TANF Funding Pool. Currently the Commonwealth of Virginia partially funds community service providers through our TANF federal block grant, under TANF Programming funds. These programs now receive their funds through requests by individual legislators with no reliable way to track duplication or gaps of service and without consistent standards or requirements. To correct this problem, we recommend that the Commonwealth’s General Assembly should direct DSS staff to develop a TANF Funding Pool. The pool could depoliticize and transparently allocate these funds for services to extremely low-income TANF families in Virginia. We strongly urge the General Assembly and DSS to consider moving to a competitive TANF Funding Pool to better allocate programming money from the Federal TANF Block Grant. Our thanks to Delegate David Englin for his leadership and for patroning.

Transitional Assistance for Former Drug Offenders. SALT urges an end to the lifetime ban on TANF benefits for otherwise eligible individuals who have been convicted of drug-related felonies. In its 2005 session, the General Assembly enacted legislation to lift the lifetime ban that had prevented these ex-offenders (unlike persons convicted of any other crimes) from ever receiving food stamps, even after they had paid their debt to society. However, these individuals are still prevented from ever receiving TANF benefits. SALT believes it is critical to lift this lifetime ban as well, since it has the effect of punishing the ex-offender’s family and hindering the person’s successful re-entry into society upon release. Our thanks to Senator Patsy Ticer and to Delegate Vivian Watt for patroning this legislation.

Budget Concern. Save human services from the chopping block! The General Assembly needs to raise revenues, rather than simply cutting spending, so that social service organizations can meet the needs of our neighbors in the greatest need.

Taken together, these initiatives provide a real solution for low-income Virginians, both those who need temporary assistance while moving to work and those who have jobs but whose wages are insufficient to pay for housing. In fact, people with jobs make up the majority in homeless shelters across the State. As a result, shelter stays are longer, and more and more people are being turned away from shelters that are filled with Virginia’s working poor.

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TANF INDEXING PROPOSAL FOR 2010--Item 327 #1s & 327 #1h

Chief Patrons: Senator Janet Howell & Delegate Jim Scott

 "O. The Commissioner, in cooperation with the Department of Planning and Budget, shall establish a reasonable, automatic adjustment for inflation each year to be applied to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) assistance grants.  However, this provision shall apply only in fiscal years following a fiscal year in which salary increases are provided for state employees."

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TANF BENEFITS (2010)

SALT’s 1,000 members and its advocacy partners* are calling for a 10 percent increase in benefits for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients next year and the following two years, to be funded primarily from the federal block grant, and for the indexing of future benefits to go into effect each time state employee’s wages are raised. Such an increase is urgently needed to partially offset the projected 31 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) since 2000, when payments were last adjusted.

The 10 percent COLA approved in 2000 was the only benefit increase that TANF families have received since 1985, compared to the CPI increase during that entire time of over 100 percent. A typical family of three now receives a mere $3,840 per year, about a fifth of the Federal poverty level. As a matter of basic fairness, we owe it to Virginia’s needy families to restore at least a portion of the buying power they have lost to inflation.

TANF benefit levels matter because poverty harms children. Among many other disadvantages, poor children are much more likely to have health problems and developmental disabilities, and they are at much greater risk for abuse and neglect. Assuming an average of 2 children per family, TANF benefits are currently supporting roughly 60,000 children in Virginia. Most of these children live with at least one parent, but about a quarter of them, roughly 15,000 children, live with a relative other than a parent. These relatives, especially grandparents, make tremendous sacrifices to care for these children and receive little support in doing so.

Consider two siblings aged 3 and 5 living in the Richmond area.

• If they live with a parent and are eligible for TANF, the family will recieve a meager $320 per month to get by on.
• If they live with a relative other than a parent and are eligible for TANF, the family will recieve even less in benefits--$254 per month. 
• However, if they live in foster care, the foster family will recieve $918 per month to care for them. 

This marked disparity effectively penalizes children who happen to be poor and/or are lucky enough to have a relative who cares about them. Moreover, it demonstrates how dramatically the cost to the state would escalate if children in TANF households were transferred to the foster care program.

Foster care support payments were increased by 15 percent in FY 2009. A comparable increase in TANF benefits is long past due. Even with a 10 percent increase for next year and the following two years, TANF benefits would lag far behind foster care payments.

The TANF caseload in Virginia has been reduced by 58 percent since the start of Welfare Reform in 1995 (from 70,797 families in June 1995 to 29,618 families as of May 2008), while Federal funding has remained constant. Thanks to this dramatic caseload reduction, Virginia has sufficient Federal TANF funds that could be used to pay for this modest benefit increase

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* SALT’s advocacy partners on this issue include AARP, the Virginia Catholic Conference (VCC), the Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness (VCEH), the National Association of Social Workers-Virginia Chapter (NASW-VA), the Virginia Poverty Law Center (VPLC) and the Fairfax County Alliance for Human Services (AHS

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Investing in Human Services 

During the state's fiscal crisis of the past several years, the federal TANF block grant was used as an informal “rainy day fund” to support programs that had previously been funded with state general fund dollars. As Virginia’s fiscal crisis has now eased, a portion of increased state revenue is being dedicated to restoring State General Fund support for these programs so that federal TANF funds can be used for their intended purpose---namely, to provide a safety net for poor children and to move families from welfare to economic self-sufficiency.

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Transitional Assistance for Former Drug Offenders 

20!0 General Assembly Session

SALT applauds the 2005 Virginia General Assembly for eliminating the lifetime ban on food stamps for people with drug felony convictions. With Virginia CURE and Delegate Jim Dillard, the bill's patron, SALT members worked to eliminate the ban on food stamps and benefits through Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). The elimination of the ban on food stamps is commendable, but the unjust ban on TANF benefits remains and must be removed to ensure those with drug felony convictions, a vulnerable population, receive the assistance to which they are entitled.

Each year, Virginia releases roughly 10,000 men and women from its prisons. Seventy-five percent of them are parents of two or more children. All Virginians have a stake in the success of these families, since failure is likely to mean renewed cycles of poverty, substance abuse, physical abuse, and crime. Effective transitional assistance, on the other hand, leads to job training, treatment, and limited financial support for members of this population while they work to become self-sufficient.

SALT urges members of the General Assembly to support legislation that would lift the lifetime ban on TANF benefits for individuals convicted of a drug-related felony. This legislation is essential for the following reasons:

· The ban, while providing no meaningful deterrent to drug-related crime, unfairly punishes one group of former inmates who have paid their debt to society, and punishes their families as well.

· Parents who are reentering their communities after incarceration often need public benefits to reunite their families, pay rent, and buy food, clothing, and other necessities. The denial of assistance to such parents as they attempt to rebuild their lives is counterproductive.

· The ban makes it extremely difficult for individuals to enter or complete substance abuse treatment programs, or maintain recovery from addiction. It limits the effectiveness of community-based treatment programs, which rely on their clients to use TANF benefits to help cover room and board expenses.

· The ban interferes with the ability of ex-offenders to find work, return to school, or enter job training programs to gain essential skills to become competitive in the labor market.

· TANF benefits provide a lifeline for women trying to escape domestic violence. Many women with drug-related convictions began using drugs as children when they were being physically or sexually abused. Providing them and their children with essential assistance enables them to avoid returning to an abusive environment.

BACKGROUND:

Section 115 (a) of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, P.L. 104-193, permanently bans individuals convicted of drug felonies from receiving TANF cash assistance or food stamps. However, section 115(d) of the Act allows states to opt out of this ban or modify it, and 34 states have done so. Virginia modified the ban in the most recent session of the General Assembly, removing the ban on food stamps.

SALT has worked repeatedly with Virginia C.U.R.E. to promote meaningful reentry programs for inmate parents and their children. We know from experience that incarcerated individuals who do not receive help with their transition back into society are more likely to return to a life of crime and, ultimately, prison.

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**Cost of Living Adjustment Charts

The TANF caseload in Virginia has been reduced by 58 percent since the start of Welfare Reform in 1995 while Federal funding has remained constant. Thanks to this dramatic caseload reduction, Virginia should have sufficient Federal TANF funds that could be used to pay for this modest benefit increase.

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SALT Success!

Virginia Income Credit Coalition Mini-Grants 

Out of this appropriation, $230,000 the first year and $230,000 the second year shall be provided to the Virginia Community Action Partnership to support the Virginia Earned Income Tax Coalition and provide grants to local organizations to provide outreach, education and tax preparation services to citizens who may be eligible for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit. The Virginia Community Action Partnership shall report on its efforts to expand the number of Virginians who are able to claim the federal EITC, including the number of individuals identified who could benefit from the credit, the number of individuals counseled on the availability of the federal EITC, and the number of individuals assisted with tax preparation to claim the federal EITC. This report shall be provided to the Governor and the Chairmen of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees and the Chairman of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission by December 1 each year."

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Rental Assistance

Select "Rental Assistance" at left-most column on this page or Visit the Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness website at http://www.vceh.org/.  

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Foster Care Disparities

in

Washington Post (Fairfax Extra): Voices of Fairfax (June 19, 2008)

Letter to the Editor                                                            

Dear Editor:

This is regarding the important and excellent May 8 front-page story "A Foster Child Comes of Age" by Chris Jenkins in the Metro section.  It is an enlightening story and reporter Chris Jenkins is to be commended for spotlighting the challenges for foster care children as they come of age.  In this regard, effective July 1, 2008, Virginia legislators did the right thing and increased the foster family homes subsidy rates for a single older youth by 15% to $628 per month.

By comparison, Virginia's support for children in relative care under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program is only $290 a month for a family of three.  Virginia should also say "yes" to a long-overdue increase in TANF which provides time-limited assistance to needy families so that children may be cared for in their own homes or in the homes of relatives.  This includes grandparents raising grandchildren.  Virginia has allowed much needed support for TANF to lag far behind inflation.  Currently a family of three receives less than one-fourth of the Federal poverty level.

Why are TANF family support levels important?  Because poverty harms children.  Poor children are more likely to have health problems and developmental disabilities; and they are at greater risk for abuse and neglect.  Additionally, the cost to the state would escalate tremendously if the children in TANF households were to be transferred to the Foster Care program.

TANF has increased only one time since 1985, a 10 percent increase in 2000, compared to a 95 percent inflation increase over that same period.  Imagine the outrage if Social Security recipients had received only one modest increase in benefits since 1985.  Further, TANF caseloads have declined by 58 percent since 1995, while federal funding has remained constant.

Virginia needs to invest these considerable savings in helping the hard-to-serve families who remain on TANF.  As a matter of basic fairness, The Governor and General Assembly owe it to Virginia's neediest children to restore at least a portion of the buying power lost to inflation and thereby, use TANF funds for their most fundamental purpose, to provide a temporary safety net for families working toward financial independence. 

Sincerely,  john Horejsi, SALT

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Striving for Family Stability Through TANF

Family stability is a primary goal of the TANF program.  Social Action Linking Together (SALT) is requesting a 10% increase in TANF payments to parents and other kinship/relative caregivers of children in Virginia.  Current TANF payments are inadequate to support families with children.  As a result, children who might be cared for within their extended families often must be placed-at greater expense and with greater trauma to the child and his or her family-in non-relative foster care.

Kinship/Relative Care:  A Case Study

A growing number of children in Virginia are being raised by kinship/relative caregivers-relatives other than their biological parents.  In most cases, kinship/relative care is preferable to other foster care situations, because the child maintains closer connection to his or her family of origin.  However, these preferred caretakers labor at a disadvantage-the TANF payments they receive are only about 30% of the payment a non-relative foster care parent would receive.

The story of Darlene and Mickey Palmer, Grandparent Caregivers, is typical:

We were in our early fifties living a good life. We were both college graduates (one with a Harvard master's degree) and earned a good living. Two adult children were on their own and doing well. We still had an eight-year old at home, who attended private school at Georgetown Day and whose interest in music resulted in opera and voice lessons at the Levine School of Music and the Kennedy Center performing arts summer camps.

When an emergency need arose for us to "take in" two of our grandchildren due to a tragic domestic violence crisis-and then eventually all four of them-we thought, "No problem. We have a house and food. What more do we need?" Like most grandparents and relatives who find themselves in this situation, we thought with our hearts.

But reality set in very quickly.  We went from a family of three to a family of seven. The food was not stretching as far as we thought and the house was getting very crowded. The severity of our eldest daughter's problems became increasingly apparent, and it became clear to us that the children could not go back to their parents.  Separating them into foster care homes was also out of the question, as far as we were concerned.  Our new family was our new life.

After two years of battling for custody in an out-of-state court, we won permanent guardianship and custody of all four grandchildren.  But winning custody drained our financial resources. Because we had put most of our excess income into improving our children's opportunities, we had little savings. Legal costs and traveling for the frequent court appearances depleted all those reserves. We received no support from either parent and never would.

With diminished resources, we tried to use all the services available from state and county government such as TANF, Medicaid, etc. We had thought Temporary Aid for Needy Families (TANF), would be a real benefit. However, we received only $310 per month for four children (about $19.50 per week per child)-not nearly enough to feed and clothe them, and take care of their other normal and special needs. The state spends far more to support children through foster care programs. 

Today, we are in our early sixties, living paycheck to paycheck. We deeply love our grandchildren. But we can no longer give them all the benefits we were able to provide our own children. We can love them and teach them to be good people and to get a good education, but we and they would be better off if the support we receive through TANF were increased. 

Because Darlene and Mickey Palmer love their children and grandchildren enough to step in during a time of her daughter's tragic family domestic violence crisis -and for the duration-their own financial stability is put at risk, and their dreams for retirement are deferred, perhaps forever.  SALT believes that families like Darlene's and Mickey's-as well as those parents struggling to care for their own children-deserve greater support, and so requests a 10% increase in TANF payments to families in need.

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Kinship Care is Better

A recently published study in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine reports on the impact of kinship care on the behavioral well-being for children in out-of-home-care. The study was conducted over a three year time period and involved 1309 children. The children included those in kinship and foster care. The conclusions of the study were that children placed into kinship care had fewer behavioral problems three years after placement as opposed to those placed in foster care.  The study authors concluded these results support efforts to maximize placement of children with willing and available kin when they enter out-of-home care.

The complete journal article can be viewed on line at

 http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/162/6/550?eaf

For a simpler version, see the Science News summary at:

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/32805/title/Fostering_gains

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Voices of Fairfax:  Letters to the Editor

Foster Care Disparities

I wish to commend Chris Jenkins for his excellent foster-care article ("A Foster Child Comes of Age," Metro section, May 8).

Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) makes it possible for children to be provided for in their homes or the homes of relatives, despite family poverty.  Relatives, especially grandparents, make tremendous sacrifices to care for these children, and they receive little support.  Some older relatives and grandparents have to postpone retirement and move to a bigger house or move out of retirement communities to provide for these children.  I know: I grew up in relative care.  The disparity in benefits is amazing.  An entire TANF family of three receives less than a half as much as a single foster-care program child.  Are some children worth less just because they are poor, or are lucky enough to have a relative who cares?  We hope you will look into and make these disparities known.

John Horejsi

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