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behind this switch in regulations. Reeve said she’s received no official rationale. "I surmise that they felt there were changes we weren’t getting apprised of.”
The $50 leeway in income also has been stricken. “Now any change in income will mean a change in the ADC grant...It may save money and it may cost more,” she said, particularly when the extra hours of work by the office assistant and ADC caseworker are considered.
The heightened demand on staff time will indirectly affect welfare recipients. Although listed in the welfare budget under administrative costs, salary for the ADC and child services caseworkers would be alloted more properly to services, at least in part.
Since the welfare board has official custody of foster children, caseworker Sylvia Krietler must be consulted by foster parents on all major decisions. “She has to be mother to many children,” Reeve noted. In addition, Krietler provides assistance with adoptions, protective services to children and court services.
Both Krietler and Reeve, whose regular position is ADC caseworker, handle referrals for housing and employment and provide budget counseling.
“That’s not really our responsibility but it's often difficult to separate financial problems from social problems,” Reeve noted. These and other duties aren’t in the job description for either position but “we do them as time allows and need arises,” she said.
Also under the new regulations, ADC mothers with children under 6 years of age no longer will be automatically exempt from registering for work. The caseworker will have to deal with each woman on an individual basis. “Now we’ll have to assess things like the number of hours she’s with the child each day in order to determine if she must register,” Reeve said.
But most of Rappahannock's welfare mothers who are not working are untrained, according to Reeve. "Not only do they lack job skills, they don’t even have job seeking skills!”
No Job Training
And at the same time that these untrained women are being required to register for work, the CETA (Comprehensive Employment Training Act) and WIN (Work Incentive) programs that would have provided training have been eliminated.
“It will be difficult to find jobs for our ADC mothers who now have to register,” Reeve acknowledged. Formerly, CETA jobs helped women in this situation to establish good work records. Reeve said. "It helped them realize—in a protected situation—what is expected from them in the real world of work...It’s amazing how many of our mothers went off assistance even though they were still eligible under the old rules. That was directly WIN related,” Reeve pointed out.
86.7%