Welfare cap harmful
Nearly all media attention on the state’s new welfare law focused on its demeaning restrictions on how benefits could be spent – no cruises, lingerie, movie theater admission, etc. But the far more harmful change – particularly for women and children – was the reduction in how long a person can receive benefits.
Federal law puts a 60-month lifetime cap on cash assistance through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. The Brownback administration had already lowered the cap in Kansas to 48 months. The new law approved this legislative session lowers it even further to 36 months, effective July 1.
As a result, about 350 parents and 700 children will be dropped from TANF on July 1, according to the Kansas Department for Children and Families. Then going forward, DCF expects to cut off an additional 40 adults and 80 children each month as they reach the 36-month cap.
In addition, there will be nearly 1,600 fewer Kansans on average who receive food stamp benefits next fiscal year and more than 3,800 fewer the year after that, according to DCF.
Gov. Sam Brownback bragged during his re-election campaign that his administration reduced welfare rolls by half – which was due largely to the lowered benefits cap and other restrictions. But there is little evidence that the adults who were cut off welfare found good jobs and that families climbed out of poverty.
On the contrary, the number of children living in poverty has increased, as has the demand for assistance at food banks and other charities.
“We know that as a result of this policy change many families with children will be unable to meet their basic needs, which, in turn, translates into a generation of poor children who are more likely to become tomorrow’s poor adults,” Shannon Cotsoradis, president of the advocacy group Kansas Action for Children, told The Eagle editorial board. “The decision to limit lifetime benefits to 36 months for Kansas families is a decision that will have long-term consequences for our children and our state.”
Even DCF, which championed the reforms, is working on a communications plan for alerting food pantries and homeless programs to the likelihood of more families turning to them for assistance, the Kansas Health Institute News Service reported.
Another concern is that cuts to TANF and food stamps could result in more children entering the state’s foster care system – which is already at record levels.
“Because the parents are going to have to do whatever they can to make money when they can’t afford child care, there’ll be more complaints about children being left unsupervised,” Wendy Flickinger, who runs the Hutchinson-based Family Advisory Council, told KHI News Service.
The new prohibitions on spending TANF money made easy satire for late-night comedians. But for struggling Kansas families who soon will be cut off federal assistance, not being able to go on a cruise is the least of their concerns.
For the editorial board, Phillip Brownlee
This story was originally published May 12, 2015 at 7:06 PM with the headline "Welfare cap harmful."