Working with TANF Recipients with Disabilities

1. Working with TANF Recipients with Disabilities Florida’s Agency for Workforce Innovation November 16, 2004 Presented by Norman W. Cushon Research and Training Specialist One Stop and Program Support

2. There is a High Incidence of People with Mental Disabilities Among Parents on and off of TANF • National information from the Urban Institute. • Over one-third of current recipients scored low on a standard mental health scale while close to one-fourth scored in very poor mental health. • Approximately one-fifth of former recipients who were not working scored very poor on the mental health scale, placing them in the bottom 10 percent nationwide.

3. GAO Confirmed High Numbers of Parents Receiving Cash Assistance Have a Mental Disability • “Considering both severe and non-severe impairments, 29 percent of TANF adults reported a mental disability, such as frequent depression or anxiety or trouble concentrating.” • GAO notes that self-reporting probably results in underestimates of mental disability and “hidden” impairments such as learning disabilities.

4. Overall, 44 percent of TANF recipients had mental health impairments or were caring for a child with mental disability, compared with 15 percent of the non-TANF population. • Fifteen percent of TANF families with an adult recipient had a child with a disability, compared to three percent of the non-TANF population. • Eight percent of TANF families had both an adult and a child with disabilities. (Among non-TANF families, this figure is one percent.)

5. In their first month after leaving TANF, 36 percent of individuals with disabilities reported having no personal or household earnings, including SSI. • This compares with 23 percent of individuals without disabilities.

6. Some Parents with Disabilities Have Lost TANF Due to Sanctions • As many as one-fourth to one-half of parents who are no longer receiving TANF due to a sanction for failure to comply with the state’s welfare rules, indicate that they were unable to comply with the rules because of their disability, health condition, or illness. • The studies further suggest that parents who struggle with learning disabilities, or who have a low IQ, find it difficult to understand and comply with the program’s rules.

7. According to MDRC: • “Negative experiences with the welfare agency were more prevalent among women with health problems.” • “Welfare recipients dealing with multiple health problems (notably, physical abuse, risk of severe depression, having a chronically ill or disabled child) were twice more likely than other recipients to have been sanctioned in the prior year.”

8. Households with children aged 36 months or younger whose welfare benefits had been terminated or reduced by sanctions had their odds of being “food insecure” increase 1.5 times as comparable households whose benefits were not decreased. • Young children in families whose welfare benefits had been terminated or reduced by sanctions had 1.3 times the odds of having been hospitalized since birth.

9. The MDRC Researchers Concluded “We need to attend much more carefully to the plight of families experiencing welfare sanctions. Sanctioned families have a number of characteristics that serve as markers of concern for the healthy development of children and youth. As such, state and federal governments should explore options for identifying and reaching out to the most disadvantaged and high-risk families involved in the welfare system.”

10. “Possible policy options include assistance to bring families into compliance with rules before they are sanctioned, closer monitoring of sanctioned families, and the provision of additional supports, such as mental health services, academic enrichment, after-school programs, and other family support services.”

11. States and Counties are Legally Obligated to Comply with the Federal Civil Rights Laws • Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) apply • Lest there be any question, the 1996 TANF law specifically incorporates the key federal civil rights laws. • AWI’s Equal Opportunity Officer is Peter de Haan @ 850 921-3201

12. Two Key Principles: • Individualized treatment • Effective and meaningful opportunity

13. Individualized Treatment • Requires that individuals with disabilities be treated on a case-by-case basis consistent with facts and objective evidence • Individuals with disabilities may not be treated on the basis of generalizations and stereotypes.

14. Effective and Meaningful Opportunity • Individuals with disabilities must be afforded the opportunity to benefit from TANF programs equal to and as effective as the opportunity the agency affords individuals who do not have disabilities. • This is defined as individuals and their families being afforded “meaningful access” to TANF programs.

15. Three Key Legal Requirements: • Ensure equal access through the provision of appropriate services • Modify policies, practices and procedures to provide such access • Adopt non-discriminatory methods of administration

16. These Rules Should be Infused into Everything the TANF Agency, Its Agents, and Contractors Do.

17. These Rules Apply No Matter What Position the Person Holds: • Policy maker/policy implementer • Office manager/supervisor • Case worker • Receptionist • Security officer

18. And, also More Globally, in How the Office Functions: • In the contents of notices • In the notices regarding participant’s rights • In the terms included in contracts with private providers or other public agencies to provide services • In how the agency thinks about each and every policy it has that affects the people the agency serves and their families.

19. The Important Role of Reasonable Accommodations • Must happen at different levels — built into policies • Staff must have the ability to design accommodations on a case-by-case basis, taking the individual’s disability into consideration.

20. What Kinds of Steps are Reasonable Accommodations? • Allowing an individual to do work activities part-time, or during flexible hours. • Providing support services such as equipment, a job coach, or tutor. • Placing a person in “Deferral status” if necessary to allow the individual to participate in health, mental health, or substance abuse treatment or rehabilitation services, if appropriate.

21. Clients Must be Allowed to do Things at Different Times/Places or for a Different Amount of Time When Needed Because of a Disability. Some examples: • If the person has a disability and cannot come to the TANF agency for the application interview, a home visit must be provided. • Allowing a client to reschedule to avoid a sanction when there is a possibility of good cause (including a disability-related reason)

22. If a client has a disability and can participate in a work activity or employment with specific restrictions, assigning the person to a particular work environment (i.e., indoors, sitting down) is an accommodation to which a client is entitled. • The assessment interview must be scheduled at a time that does not conflict with medical/mental health treatment.

23. Clients with Disabilities Must be Provided Accommodating Program Schedules • Examples • If a client has a disability or is a caretaker for a household member with a disability, but is unable to work full-time, part-time work is an accommodation to which a client may be entitled • Number of job contacts required during job search must be determined on an individual basis, based on the disability of the household member

24. Caring for a Family Member with a Disability can Affect the Development of a Full-Time Work Schedule • An individual who is needed on a substantially continuous basis to care for a child or other member of the household with a disability may not be able to work outside the home. • If the care needed is part-time, then the caretaker may be able to participate in work activities on a part-time basis; however, it will be important to ensure that the hours involved are compatible with the need to care for the family member with a disability.

25. • It is important for the case manager to maintain contact with the client once (s)he has been assigned to a work activity, to provide follow-up with assurances the work activity is appropriate • Realize that many who are being sanctioned, do not understand how to comply, the consequences of failing to comply, or have the ability to comply

26. In closing, the Agency for Workforce Innovation wants ALL people with disabilities to have “equal and meaningful access” to the full range of the One Stop Career Center’s services and supports. • We want to make sure that individuals with disabilities have the opportunity to join the workforce at the appropriate time, and with the appropriate accommodations.

27. Happy Trails to you,……..until we meet again! Presented by Norman W. Cushon Research and Training Specialist One Stop & Program Support Norm.Cushon@awi.state.fl.us

28. Useful Resources Regarding TANF Reauthorization and/or People with Disabilities and TANF People with disabilities and TANF Eileen Sweeney, Recent Studies Indicate that Many Parents Who are Current or Former Welfare Recipients Have Disabilities or Other Medical Conditions, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, February 2000, http://www.cbpp.org/2-29-00wel.htm

29. Eileen Sweeney, HHS Guidance Explains How Federal Laws Barring Discrimination Against People with Disabilities Apply in State and County TANF Programs, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, February 2001, http://www.cbpp.org/2-26-01wel.htm

30. TANF Reauthorization Sharon Parrott, Heidi Goldberg, Shawn Fremstad, Recycling An Unwise Proposal: State Concerns and New State Fiscal Realities Ignored in House Republican Welfare Bill, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, February 2003, http://www.cbpp.org/2-7-03tanf.htm Sharon Parrott, Jennifer Mezey, Bush Administration Projects That The Number of Children Receiving Child Care Subsidies Will Fall by 200,000 During the Next Five Years, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and Center for Law and Social Policy, February 2003, http://www.cbpp.org/2-5-03tanf.htm

31. Martha Coven, An Introduction to TANF, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, January 2003, http://www.cbpp.org/1-22- 02tanf2.htm Zoe Neuberger, Sharon Parrott and Wendell Primus, Funding Issues in TANF Reauthorization, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, February 2002, http://www.cbpp.org/1-22-02tanf5.htm Heidi Goldberg, Improving TANF Program Outcomes for Families with Barriers to Employment, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, January 2002, http://www.cbpp.org/1-22-02tanf3.htm .

32. Sharon Parrott, Shawn Fremstad, The Senate Finance Committee’s TANF Reauthorization Bill, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, September 2003, http://www.cbpp.org/9-9-03tanf.pdf Key Provisions in TANF Reauthorization Bills Passed by the Senate Finance Committee and the House, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and Center for Law and Social Policy, September 2003, http://www.cbpp.org/9-22-03tanf.pdf

33. Shawn Fremstad, Immigrants and Welfare Reauthorization, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, January 2002, http://www.cbpp.org/1-22-02tanf4.htm Robert Greenstein, Shawn Fremstad, Sharon Parrott, “Superwaiver” Would Grant Executive Branch and Governors Sweeping Authority to Override Federal Laws, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, May 2002, http://www.cbpp.org/5-13-02tanf.pdf