Privatizing welfare / Consulting company offers sample of problems to come
Source: By Julie Creek, Journal Gazette (IN), Sun, Aug. 20, 2006
Until late January, caseworkers in the offices of the Indiana Division of Family Resources had never even heard of the Lucas Group. The memos came first. They announced that the Lucas Group would take responsibility for “alerts,” information employers file with federal and state government when aid recipients are hired or get a raise. Caseworkers regularly check alerts against their records to ensure that those receiving aid aren’t hiding income. A few weeks later, the frantic phone calls began from welfare recipients who depend on the $300 or so a month they receive in benefits. ….. Some 3,700 Indiana families had their benefits abruptly cut off or reduced. But nobody bothered to keep track of how many of those families were actually ineligible for welfare – and nobody knows how many people were too confused, overwhelmed or intimidated to respond to the letters. …. Even as they worry about hanging on to their jobs after the transition to a private company, welfare caseworkers fear most for their most vulnerable clients. “I had a woman who called me, and they said she was working at the exact time she was having a baby,” said Jane Gresham, an officer of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees 3736 and an Allen County caseworker. “And she had other children at home. It turned out she had gone to a one-hour job-training session and realized it wasn’t the job for her. Fortunately, I was able to get her benefits restored fairly quickly.”