Should Welfare Recipients Do Community Service???

SamoneLenior wrote:

maysay1 wrote:

Well they already do in many states/counties. It's a requirement of receiving assistance if you are not currently working or disabled. But most people don't actually know how welfare works anyway so I'm not surprised at the misplaced outrage.

As an aside, I wouldn't mind if parents and their children had to pass a parenting course, basic skills tests, and submit school attendance records in order to receive their child tax credit. If you're going to get credits for having kids, then you really only deserve those credits if you are willing to actually parent the kids you have.

they should do this for everyone

I wish most people had to pass a parenting test before having children..

in california they have some of these things..

What is Welfare-to-Work?

The intent of the Welfare-to-Work Program is to assist individuals who are receiving assistance through the CalWORKs Program to transition as rapidly as possible from dependency on public assistance into unsubsidized employment and self-sufficiency. Under the CalWORKs Program, adult recipients of aid, unless exempted, are required to meet work requirements by participating in welfare-to-work activities, in order to maintain their portion of the assistance unit's grant. Supportive services are provided to help individuals participate in their required program activities or accept work.
Within the 60-month time limit, applicants will be eligible for 18 cumulative months and current recipients will be eligible for 24 cumulative months of aid. Aid can continue after the 18-and 24-month cumulative time limits, if the county certifies that there is no job currently available and the recipient participates in community service. Counties may also extend the 18-month time limit for up to 6 months if the extension is likely to result in unsubsidized employment or employment is not available in the local labor market.
What type of educational, employment and training services are offered through Welfare- to-Work?

Job search services - includes supervised job search, unsupervised job search, job placement, job development, job club, and employment counseling. In these activities, Welfare-to-Work participants learn how to prepare job applications and resumes, interview properly and find job openings.

Subsidized employment - includes on-the-job training, transitional employment, or supported work, in which Welfare-to-Work participants are placed into public or private sector jobs where they receive training, supervision and counseling to learn job duties and good work habits. All or part of the recipient's CalWORKs cash aid is used to help pay for the wages that the participant receives.

Vocational training - includes specific job skills that are in demand in the county - welding, cosmetology, food service, etc.

Self-initiated placement (in certain situations) - If a CalWORKs recipient/applicant is already enrolled in an undergraduate degree or certificate training program that leads to employment before being required to participate in Welfare-to-Work, he/she may be allowed to remain in that program as his/her self-initiated placement, subject to the following conditions:
1. The program is scheduled to be completed within 18 or 24 months.
2. The participant is making satisfactory progress in the program;
3. A determination is made that the education or training program will likely lead to self-supporting employment; and
4. The participant does not already possess a baccalaureate degree unless he/she is pursuing a California regular classroom teaching credential.
Adult basic education - includes any of the following educational services that are necessary for the participant to obtain employment:
1. Reading, writing, arithmetic, and high school proficiency or General Education Development (GED) certificate instruction; or
2. English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction.
Work Experience - A nonpaid welfare-to-work activity that helps provide basic job skills, enhances existing job skills in a position related to the participant's experience, or provides a needed community service that will lead to unsubsidized employment. Participants may be assigned to obtain work experience in public agencies as well as private sector businesses. Wages are not paid to work-experience participants, but they do continue to receive CalWORKs benefits.
What type of supportive services does Welfare-to-Work offer?

Because Welfare-to-Work staff understand that participants may need more than just training and job counseling to be successful in the Welfare-to-Work Program, each county will help arrange and/or pay for child care, transportation, work-related or training-related expenses, and certain personal counseling related to problems that affect the outcome of the individual's participation in welfare-to-work activities. In some counties, Welfare-to-Work participants may also receive case management services and supportive services for up to 12 months after they become employed, regardless of whether the employment results in ineligibility for aid.
Who must participate?

Every adult CalWORKs recipient who is not exempt is required to participate in Welfare-to-Work.
Who doesn't have to participate?

Certain persons do not have to participate in Welfare-to-Work because of special individual and/or family circumstances. Persons are "exempt" from Welfare-to-Work participation if they are:
1. Under 16 years old or 60 years old or older;
2. Sixteen (16) or 17 years old and go to school (not college) full-time, unless enrolled in school as part of the Welfare-to-Work Program;
3. Physically or mentally unable to work or participate in a welfare-to-work activity on a regular basis for at least 30 calendar days.
4. The nonparent relative caretaker of a child who is a dependent or ward of the court, or a child at risk of being placed in foster care.
5. Staying at home to take care of individual(s) in the household who can't take care of themselves if that keeps the recipient from working or participating in a welfare-to-work activity on a regular basis.
6. The parent or caretaker relative of a child six months old or under (or, depending on the county, for a child 12 weeks old or under or for a child 12 months old or younger). This exemption may be applied only one time under the CalWORKs Program. A subsequent exemption for the birth of another child or adoption of another child six months old or younger will be granted for a period of 12 weeks (or , depending on the county, for a period up to six months). In addition, this exemption does not apply to individuals who are required to participate in the Cal-Learn Program.
7. Pregnant and the individual provides medical verification that she is unable to work or participate in a welfare-to-work activity on a regular basis for at least 30 calendar days.