Recently in Social Services Category

Source: Journal Gazette (IN), Sat, Nov. 25, 2006

Who’s in power in the Indiana General Assembly is important for one reason: It determines what gets done on the floor. In the House of Representatives, the power shift means that a thorough and much-needed review of the state’s headlong rush to privatization will get done. …… For now, those without a job are the state workers whose positions have been eliminated. David Warrick, director of Council 62 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said about 3,000 state jobs have been lost to privatization so far, with 2,500 more likely to be eliminated with the FSSA contract. ……If Daniels is committed to privatization as a better way of providing public services, he should accept the House Democrats’ review as a way to prove its effectiveness.

Source: By David Koenig, Associated Press (IN), Tue, Nov. 28, 2006

The chief executive and top financial officer at a company Indiana wants to manage its welfare programs resigned after an internal investigation found that they manipulated grant dates for stock options, violating the information-technology company’s ethics code. Affiliated Computer Services Inc. CEO and President Mark A. King and Chief Financial Officer Warren D. Edwards signed separation agreements and relinquished their titles Sunday.

…… Critics of the Indiana contract called on Gov. Mitch Daniels to review the agreement Monday. “We would ask in light of recent happenings and just appeal to him (Daniels) one more time to reconsider this rush to privatization and allow elected legislators in the state to be part of this decision,” said David Patterson, spokesman for Council 62 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents at least 5,000 FSSA workers.

Source: San Antonio Express News, 11/20/2006 06:47 PM CST

The theory behind privatization of public services is to increase efficiency to consumers and lower costs to taxpayers. But as a new study by the Center for Public Policy Priorities suggests, that theory doesn't always hold up in practice.

......... No one doubts the state's system of public benefits needed modernizing or that, like any other bureaucracy, it could operate more efficiently. But Texas has either gone down the path of modernization and privatization too quickly or it has gone down the wrong path. And vulnerable children, the elderly and people with disabilities have paid the price.

Source: By JANET ELLIOTT, Houston Chronicle, Nov. 17, 2006

Glitches in the state's new computer system have left investigators unable to check for fraud and overpayments in food-stamp and other benefit programs in the two counties where it is being used, according to an audit released Thursday. The Office of Inspector General at the Health and Human Services Commission has been unable to investigate benefits cases processed through the privately run integrated eligibility call centers that screen needy Texans for a variety of public assistance programs. ……. The system was developed under a contract with Deloitte & Touche USA, Goodman said, and maintenance of the system transferred last December to Accenture and Texas Access Alliance.

Source: By Corrie MacLaggan, AMERICAN-STATESMAN (TX), Tuesday, November 14, 2006

A group that works to support low- and middle-income Texans said Monday that the state's problems with outsourcing enrollment for food, health care and cash assistance benefits should serve as a warning for other states. …… As other states seek to modernize enrollment systems that tend to rely on filing cabinets rather than computer systems and in-person meetings rather than Web- and phone-based applications, they should avoid some of Texas' mistakes by allowing time for training and testing, the Center for Public Policy Priorities report says.

Source: By Corrie MacLaggan, AMERICAN-STATESMAN (TX), Wednesday, November 15, 2006

A year into a massive overhaul of Texas' Child Protective Services, the death of a North Texas boy in foster care has a key state lawmaker and some children's advocates questioning a state plan to privatize the foster care system. Sixteen-month-old Christian Nieto died of a head injury over Labor Day weekend while in foster care in Corsicana. .........

At a meeting Tuesday of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, Chairwoman Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, said that when she bought into the idea of privatizing the foster care system, she believed that there would be protections to prevent this sort of tragedy.

Source: Houston Chronicle (TX), Nov. 2, 2006, 8:15PM

Despite the continuing turmoil caused by privatization of the state's Health and Human Services eligibility system, another unneeded and reckless effort could force Harris County Protective Services for Children and Adults to halt many of its programs.

If that happens, a legislative drive to outsource the provision of social services to private vendors will endanger the welfare of thousands of vulnerable children here. Each year $4.7 million in county funds finances essential protective programs for abused and neglected children.

Source: KEN KUSMER, Associated Press (IN), October 31, 2006

The state is on course to privatize by Jan. 1 the system of determining who's eligible for the food stamps, Medicaid and welfare received by one in six Indiana residents. ….. FSSA officials have said for months that they were negotiating with a single team of contractors led by IBM Corp. and Affiliated Computer Services Inc. FSSA Secretary Mitch Roob has said the contract would be worth about $1 billion over 10 years. ………..The potential deal has come under scrutiny because of problems that other states have had with similar contracts, and Gov. Mitch Daniels named a team of top aides from outside FSSA to review the need for outsourcing the services. …… "The administration continues to push through this privatization scheme when they have yet to show any social or financial benefits from it," said David Patterson, a spokesman for council 62 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Source: By ASHLEY COOK, The Lufkin Daily News (TX), Thursday, October 26, 2006

The Angelina County food stamp office has added 14 temporary employees to skirt a mismanaged private call center application process until problems can be addressed when the legislature returns to session in January, state Rep. Jim McReynolds, D-Lufkin, said Thursday. New applicants to the food stamp program have been waiting between 18 and 40 days for eligibility, getting by on short-term emergency stamps and donations, overburdening local charities, according to Linda Smelley, executive director of the Christian Information and Service Center, the county's largest food bank.

....... Mishandling by the commission and a private contractor dragging its feet means Texas may lose millions in federal food stamp dollars, according to a press release by Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn Wednesday.

Source: Dallas Business Journal, 5:01 PM CDT Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn on Wednesday recommended the state terminate its contract with Accenture Ltd., a private company hired to administer health and human services to low-income residents. Strayhorn said she conducted the review into Bermuda-based Accenture's $900 million contract at the request of Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso; Rep. Carter Casteel, R- New Braunfels; and Rep. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio.