Statement of Lori Scorsone, Family Independence Manager, Family Independence Agency, Saginaw, Michigan

Hearing on Welfare Reform Success

April 2, 2002

Good morning Chairman Camp, and honorable members of the Subcommittee. I am honored to be present today to offer testimony on behalf of the Saginaw County Family Independence Agency and to recommend the reauthorization of the federal welfare reform act known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

In 1990, I was hired as an Assistance Payment Worker for what was then known as the Department of Social Services.  At that time an Assistance Payment Worker's primary goal was to determine if an applicant would be approved or denied for assistance based solely on eligibility. We were processing applications focusing more on gathering verifications, processing  paperwork, and meeting deadlines, than focusing on the applicant and their need.  We had little opportunity and fewer resources to focus on the individual, the reason there was a need for assistance, or barriers that prevented an individual from becoming employed.

Further, there was not an understanding that assistance was expected to be temporary, or that the applicant or the department had a mutual responsibility to see that it was actually temporary. In 1996, we changed our name to the Family Independence Agency. The title Assistance Payment Worker was changed to Family Independence Specialist. The new titles implied the new goals and objectives of the agency and staff due to Welfare Reform.  Since 1996, the agency has been able to focus on the individual's need for assistance and what can be done to abolish obstacles in their way of becoming self-sufficient. Implementation of TANF has allowed staff to serve our customers as individuals and families. Today we are able to work together with the customer to not only identify barriers that prevent them from becoming employed, but to help remove these barriers, and help them maintain employment.  TANF has allowed the Family Independence Agency to work together with the customer and other resources within the community to resolve issues such as lack of day care, transportation, education, substance abuse, and domestic violence.

We are all familiar with reports, surveys, and statistics that have been published giving us an idea of how welfare rolls have declined since 1996.  Reports have illustrated that there are fewer families on assistance and more single mothers are working. Through my duties as a Family Independence Specialist and Manager, I have been able to witness first hand the achievements of Welfare Reform.  I have seen and heard former recipients talk about their joy at being able to be role models for their children as they have moved from assistance to employment.

This extremely gratifying experience has provided personal evidence that the new way of doing business has been successful in ways that statistics and reports cannot communicate.  I can only hope that the specialists are allowed to continue to provide the services they've been able to provide since 1996. Doing so will allow the agency to make even more positive changes, and longer lasting changes.  It will allow us to develop other ways to provide the help and support that is needed by the people we serve.  It will allow us to educate and instill a work ethic for our customers thereby reducing the welfare roll even more. Welfare Reform helped launch Project Zero, a program that focuses on customers who have no earned income.  Specialists now do an assessment of a customer in need of the agency's help. Assessments allow the specialist to ascertain what barriers a customer may have that prevents them from becoming employed.  We look at their family circumstances, educational background, availability of transportation, and child day care. We try to determine any evidence of drug or alcohol dependency, and if there are any signs of domestic violence. Prior to Welfare Reform, assessments were not done.  Workers were just processing paperwork; it was a system that seemed to help continue a person's and their family's dependency on welfare.  Prior to Welfare Reform we were not dealing with the cause of the problem.  Today, we determine the cause and together work with the customer to resolve the problem. Two primary barriers for customers in Saginaw County are transportation and Child Day Care. Welfare Reform has given Saginaw County the opportunity to employ the services of the Michigan Department of Transportation to supply transportation for customers in need. Customers are taken to and from work.  Their children are taken to and from their day care provider.  Saginaw Valley Regional 4C, a day care referral agency, is currently housed within our agency making it more easily and readily accessible to our customers.  These services are something we were not able to provide prior to Welfare Reform. Because of Welfare Reform,  many of our customers are realizing for the first time that they are capable of doing more than they ever dreamed they were capable of doing.  Because of Welfare Reform, the specialists are able to give the customers some guidance and direction.  Something we have not given them in the past. The statistics and the graphs can never demonstrate to the general population the difference in a person's attitude when they bring home their first paycheck,  how it completely changes their attitudes and opinions of themselves.  How it empowers them and gives them the encouragement and desire to continue to do well.

To be self-sufficient and no longer depend on the agency for their livelihood.   Welfare Reform, in no small way is responsible for the successes I have witnessed in the last several years.  We have made tremendous strides in determining some of the barriers our customers have that have prevented them from becoming self-sufficient, but there is still much more that must be done to help families free themselves of the barriers and realize their potential. For years we have fostered our customer's dependency. To reverse this will not happen overnight.  Reformation of welfare must continue so we are allowed to utilize our customers,  partner with outside resources, learn the true cause of need, and determine how resolve it. Reauthorization of the Federal Welfare Reform Act along with proper staffing will allow us that opportunity.  I respectfully request that you strongly considering doing so.

Thank you.