The Welfare-to-Work initiative reaffirms and strengthens the work commitment of last
year's landmark welfare reform legislation and responds to what the President cites as "our moral
obligation, to make sure that people who now must work can work. The adoption initiative
focuses special attention on the needs of some of our most vulnerable citizens -- children
languishing in foster care -- who deserve safe and permanent families. I will address each
initiative in a few moments.
First, however, I would like to touch on our progress in implementing welfare reform. I believe
it is the cornerstone to realizing our key goals of work, responsibility and protecting children.
I will close my testimony by briefly addressing problems in the welfare reform legislation that
are harmful to immigrants and that have nothing to do with promoting the welfare reform goals
of moving people from welfare to work. The President's budget proposes to continue to provide
SSI and Medicaid to vulnerable categoration
issues to accompany me. Also at the table with me is Ray Uhalde, Deputy Assistant Secretary
for Employment and Training in the Department of Labor, who will respond to your questions
about Welfare-to-Work.
The President's budget for FY 1998 addresses the needs of children and families in multiple ways
that we believe will strengthen families, move people from welfare to work and increase
self-sufficiency. The areas you have identified for this hearing are certainly important to this
mission. The Welfare-to-Work initiative reaffirms and strengthens the work commitment of last
year's landmark welfare reform legislation and responds to what the President cites as "our moral
obligation, to make sure that people who now must work can work. The adoption initiative
focuses special attention on the needs of some of our most vulnerable citizens -- children
languishing in foster care -- who deserve safe and permanent families. I will address each
initiative in a few moments.
First, however, I would like to touch on our progress in implementing welfare reform. I believe
it is the cornerstone to realizing our key goals of work, responsibility and protecting children.
I will close my testimony by briefly addressing problems in the welfare reform legislation that
are harmful to immigrants and that have nothing to do with promoting the welfare reform goals
of moving people from welfare to work. The President's budget proposes to continue to provide
SSI and Medicaid to vulnerable categories of legal immigrants, especially children and those
who become disabled after entry. As the President said in his State of the Union address with
respect to his proposed strategy to address these problems, "To do otherwise is simply unworthy
of a great nation of immigrants."
Welfare Reform Implementation
The Administration for Children and Families is responsible for administering several of the
programs most affected by the welfare reform legislation, including the new Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, child care programs for families on welfare and
other low-income working families, and the child support enforcement program. States and the
Federal government alike are promptly implementing each of these major pieces of the Act and
we are encouraged by the early progress being made.
So far, we have received 42 TANF plans from States, territories, and tribes and 35 have been
certified as complete. Many State legislatures are just now coming into session and will be
addressing the TANF plans, and we expect new plans from the remaining States and
amendments to plans already submitted before the July 1, 1997 implementation deadline.
Welfare reform provides States with great flexibility to ensure that welfare is a transitional
system, rather than a way of life. Along with this new authority and flexibility, the new statute
holds States more accountable for-program performance. It includes a variety of provisions
designed to ensure that States are moving people from welfare to work: penalties, performance
based funding, data collection and reporting, and research and evaluation.
On January 31, 1997, because of many States' requests for clarifications, we issued preliminary
guidance concerning several issues of immediate concern, most notably the definition of which
State expenditures count toward maintenance-of-effort. The guidance also addresses the
definitions of "assistance," a key term in determining which expenditures are covered by certain
rules, and "eligible families," a key term in determining which State resources count as
maintenance-of-effort.
The Clinton Administration is committed to an effective implementation of this historic welfare
reform law that transforms the welfare system into one with tough work requirements. We have
a great deal of confidence in the States, and we believe that they will use the flexibility in the
law to strengthen the focus on work. We will collect all the information we can on how the
States are using their dollars and we will take all the administrative actions in our power to
ensure that State policies focus on work. We will also work with you and the Governors in a
bipartisan fashion to ensure that each State's overall work effort meets the statute's work
participation requirements. Specifically, we will seek statutory language making it clear that the
calculation of whether a State has met the applicable participation rate shall take into account the
State's success in placing participants in both TANF and maintenance of effort programs' work
activities. In addition, we will work with the States and Congress to develop legislation, if
necessary, to ensure that State flexibility in maintenance of effort programs does not result in
costs to the Federal Government due to the potential loss of child support collections.
As part of the development of TANF policy and guidance, we have met and continue to
meet-with State and local administrators and legislators and their national representatives. We
also have met with advocates, and representatives of non-profit organizations and foundations,
organized labor, and business organizations. These consultations have helped us to identify
issues, such as the one described above, and to ensure that a wide range of perspectives are
considered in the development of policy.
During these meetings we have also heard about the critical importance of child care in enabling
people to move from welfare to work. We were pleased that the new law provided a substantial
increase in child care funding and increased flexibility for States to design an integrated child
care system to serve both families on welfare and low-income working families. We refer to
the newly integrated system as the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF). ACF moved
quickly to implement the child care program changes, which became effective October 1, 1996.
Our Child Care Bureau has taken a number of steps to inform prospective grantees and other
interested parties about the CCDF and to ensure the earliest possible flow of the new funds in
order to provide continuity between the old and new programs. We issued new mandatory and
matching funds as soon as they became available and published early policy guidance requested
by States. We have held consultations with grantees and other organizations. We now are
developing regulations, financial reporting forms, and other data collection forms. We also are
planning for the FY 1998 grant cycle, for which States and tribes will submit applications by July
1, 1997.
We are also proud of the progress States have made in child support enforcement. In 1996, we
collected a record of almost $12 billion in child support payments, and the comprehensive I
provisions in the welfare law are projected to increase child support collections by an additional
$24 billion over 10 years.
Implementation of many of these new provisions will require the enactment of State laws.
Effective dates of the new requirements vary, but typically fall within 1 to 2 years of enactment.
Therefore, full implementation of the child support provisions will take place over time.
Nevertheless, many States already have implemented some of the new federal requirements. For
example, in 1995 the President urged all States to implement license revocation programs.
Today 43 States have done so. In addition, 35 States recently have enacted the Uniform
Interstate Family Support Act, and 26 States have adopted some form of reporting new hires.
At the federal level, we-have made great progress in making the expanded Federal Parent
Locator Service (FPLS) a reality and we anticipate meeting the statutory deadline. Since the
enactment of welfare reform, we have entered into contracts with several nationally recognized
and respected vendors to help us design and develop the expanded FPLS, manage the project and
enhance our quality assurance efforts, and assist us with providing training and technical
assistance.
The federal Office of Child Support Enforcement is also providing technical assistance to States
in implementing the other child support provisions in welfare reform. We are conducting broad
consultation and outreach to program stakeholders to ensure that the promise of the legislation --
a strong child support enforcement program -- is realized.
With respect to the reforms affecting each of these programs, the Administration for Children
and Families is committed to working closely with the Congress, the States and localities to
ensure that families receive the supports and encouragement they need to move forward with
their lives, to engage in work, and to support and nurture their children. I will now turn to the
items from the President's budget that are the focus of your invitation -- the adoption and
Welfare-to-Work initiatives.
The Adoption Initiative
In his radio address to the nation on December 14th, the President set an ambitious national goal:
to double, by the year 2002, the number of children from the foster care system who are adopted
or permanently placed annually.
In his directive to HHS on adoption, the President asked us to work with States to set numerical
targets to benchmark improvement, provide technical assistance to help States in their efforts,
and recognize and reward States for their success with financial incentives. With respect to the
latter, we will propose providing, beginning in FY 1999, a per child financial incentive to States
for increases in the number of children adopted from the public child welfare system. As we
envision it, the incentive structure would result in no net cost, since increased adoptions from the
public system would reduce foster care costs. This approach represents another step toward
focusing on outcomes for children and families in evaluating the effectiveness of our programs.
The President's FY 1998 budget has requested $10 million to provide technical assistance to the
States as they strive to find more children loving and permanent homes. The President has
requested an additional $10 million to provide funding to States to identify barriers to
permanency and develop targeted strategies to find permanent homes for children who have been
in foster care a particularly long time. Finally, he has requested $1 million for the Department of
Health and Human Services to embark on a public awareness campaign to highlight the benefits
of adoption and increase the number of-adoptive families.
We are strengthening our efforts on adoption because of a growing consensus that we must
engage in a more concerted effort to move children to adoption or another permanent family
arrangement when they are unable to return home. We know that some children are in foster care
far too long awaiting adoption. Last winter, I visited the White House with a teenager who had
been in several foster placements over the course of many years. She described the longing that
she felt to have a family of her own, but her hopes were fading as she got older and to family
could be found. I am pleased to report that this young woman was adopted last year, partially as
a result of the attention that her plight received. However, she represents thousands of other
children in the public child welfare system who still face multiple barriers to permanence.
Currently, 100,000 of the 450,000 American children in foster care will not be able to return
home. Yet, in 1995, only 20,000 children were adopted; another 7,000 children were placed in
permanent guardianships. There are multiple barriers to permanence for children in foster care
which include a system overwhelmed with serious cases, procedural delays in agencies and the
courts and a dearth of potential adoptive families. Underlying and compounding these barriers is
the complexity and gravity of the placement decisions that must be made for each child and
family in crisis. The President emphasized in his directive that placing children in nurturing
families is a responsibility that requires a commitment from Federal, State, and local
governments, as well as community, business, and religious groups.
States and communities all over the country are implementing innovative techniques, as we
learned when we consulted with hundreds of State, county, and tribal leaders, foster care and
adoption professionals, judges, foundations, and intergovernmental organizations in developing
our report to the President. They have asked us to explore further with them innovative practices
like concurrent planning for children in care, family mediation, and voluntary relinquishment
counseling for parents.
We will build on this momentum and continue to look for ways to
-
reduce barriers to permanency in Federal law and regulations through bipartisan
collaborative efforts
- shorten the time required to move children to permanence
- reduce procedural barriers and promote practices that move children to permanency more
quickly by examining a number of policy issues, such as reasonable efforts to ensure permanency
and policies on timing and purpose of dispositional hearings.
The recent Congressional actions, the President's initiative, the willingness to work together at all
levels of government and innovations in the field make our goals more achievable. We look
forward to working with the Congress to realize these goals for children.
Welfare-to-Work Initiative
The enactment of PRWORA makes a dramatic and fundamental shift, from a welfare system that
too often fostered dependence to a new system that promotes independence and work. To realize
the full potential of this new law, welfare recipients must take on major new responsibilities to
prepare for and accept work. States and cities must exercise the flexibility provided to undertake
new and innovative approaches to preparing recipients for self-sufficiency and work. Private
businesses, religious organizations and community groups must join in the President's challenge
to create jobs for those hardest to place. In addition, we urge Congress to join with the
Administration in enacting two critical additions -- an enhanced Work Opportunity Tax Credit
and the Welfare to Work Jobs Challenge.
The President recently suggested that communities should use "employment councils" like the
one in Kansas City to help in meeting the requirements of welfare reform. Under the Job
Training Partnership Act, 640 similar councils in place across the country engage over 10,000
private sector volunteers in overseeing the training and placement into jobs of welfare recipients,
other low income adults and youth, as well as dislocated workers. We anticipate that States and
communities will actively engage these councils in meeting the Welfare to Work Jobs Challenge.
These elements provide the tools for an effective welfare to work strategy and help us make the
promise of welfare reform real. This Administration is dedicated to the realization of that
promise. The President's FY 1998 budget would greatly enhance and target the Work
Opportunity Tax Credit to provide powerful, new private-sector financial incentives to employers
to create jobs for long-term welfare recipients. The enhanced Work Opportunity Tax Credit
would allow employers to claim a 50 percent credit on the first $10,000 a year of wages, for up
to two years, for workers that they hire who were long-term welfare recipients. In addition, the
President proposes to expand the existing tax Work Opportunity Tax Credit to include
able-bodied childless adults aged 18 to 50, who, under the Administration's Food Stamp
proposal, would face a more rigorous work requirement in order to continue to receive Food
Stamps.
The Welfare to Work Jobs Challenge proposed by the President is designed to help States and
cities move a million of the hardest to-employ welfare recipients into lasting jobs by the year
2000. It provides $3 billion over 3 years in mandatory financing through the Department of
Labor for job placement and job creation. States and cities can use these funds to provide
subsidies and other incentives to encourage private business to hire welfare recipients.
It is now widely recognized that a more targeted job placement and creation measure is needed to
complement the TANF Block Grant if we are to make welfare reform work. The Jobs Challenge
is, intended to meet this need. We look forward to working closely with the Congress in
exploring ways to assist States and localities in helping welfare recipients who can't find jobs on
their own transition from welfare into real private sector jobs.
Another major focus for the Administration is to change parts of the welfare reform law that
have nothing to do with welfare reform. When the President signed the Welfare Reform bill he
made clear his disappointment with the harsh benefits to immigrants provisions in the bill. The
President stated:
"My Administration supports holding sponsors who bring immigrants into this country
more responsible for their well-being. Legal immigrant This proposal would
allow 320,000 legal immigrants to receive SSI and Medicaid benefits."
The budget would also provide poor immigrant children the same Medicaid health care coverage
low income citizen children receive. These children are permanent members of our nation and it
is in our self interest to provide them with the same quality of health care as other children.
The budget would lengthen the five year exemption for refugees from the ban to seven years in
order to give them a more appropriate amount of time to naturalize. The United States admits
refugees and asylees into this country on a humanitarian basis. It is a matter of simple decency
to provide assistance to this population while they adjust to their new circumstances.
In addition, the Administration is proposing to delay the prohibition against legal immigrants
receiving Food Stamps. The Administration proposes to delay the ban on Food Stamps for legal
immigrants until the end-of FY 1997 in order to give legal . immigrant families, elderly and
disabled more time to naturalize.
Conclusion
In closing, I would like once again to thank you for your support on behalf of children living in
poverty and children in our nation's child welfare system. I look forward to our continued work
together as we seek to realize the goals of independence for every family and safety, permanence,
and well-being for every child.
My colleagues and I would be happy to answer any questions you have at this time.
