September 25, 2001 - Some on cash assistance reaching 60-month time limit

Beginning in October, a small number of Kansas families will begin to reach their lifetime limit for receiving cash welfare benefits.

Five years ago, in 1996, the United States Congress enacted the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program aimed at ending long-term dependence on cash assistance. Unlike the previous publicly-funded cash assistance program, TANF limits receipt of cash assistance to 60 months in an adult's lifetime and requires all adults to actively seek employment or participate in work preparation activities. Support services such as medical assistance, food stamp benefits, and child care assistance are not subject to the 60 month time limit.

Of the 13,349 Kansas families currently receiving TANF cash assistance, it is expected that about 300 families will reach their 60-month limit in the 12 months following October 1. However, the vast majority of these families, about 270, are expected to be granted a ‘hardship' exemption to the 60-month time limit and therefore allowed to retain cash benefits, said SRS Secretary Janet Schalansky.

Federal law allows the state to grant time limit hardship exemptions for up to 20 percent of all families receiving TANF assistance.

In Kansas, the families expected to receive a hardship exemption are those headed by elderly adults or adults with disabilities which preclude employment. Hardship cases also include adults who are cooperating with TANF work requirements but because of multiple employment barriers have been unsuccessful in sustaining employment. Employment barriers many families face include lack of employment skills, mental illness, learning disabilities, lack of transportation, substance abuse, and domestic violence.

Secretary Schalansky said while enforcing the time limits when appropriate, SRS has taken steps to protect families who have barriers to employment. A step-by-step protocol has been established for case managers to follow before terminating assistance to any family due to the 60-month time limit. The protocol includes assuring all assessments have been completed and all treatment recommendations followed with multiple job placements attempted for those assessed capable of working.

Each family is provided a case manager to help the family achieve employment. Cross agency teams, including the SRS TANF, child welfare and Rehabilitation Services workers, contracted employment service providers, and Welfare-to-Work case managers, are involved in decision-making regarding either granting of a hardship exemption or terminating cash assistance due to the time limit.

"SRS is making every effort to uncover employment barriers and provide employment services," said Secretary Schalansky. "No family will lose TANF cash assistance due to lack of opportunity to receive employment preparation services."

Secretary Schalansky explained that after a family is granted hardship exemption status, their continued receipt of TANF cash assistance will be based on their continued exemption from work requirements due to age or disability or their continued cooperation with work requirements. For persons capable of future employment, work activities will continue to be required during the exemption period.

Schalansky said that since federal welfare reform began, Kansas adopted a ‘work first' model called KansasWorks that is based on the philosophy that adults can best reach self-sufficiency by first getting a job and then engaging in training or education while employed to advance to a better job.

"I would like to complement the more than 37,000 adults who have gone to work in the last five years through KansasWorks employment activities and have retained a job for at least a year," Schalansky said.

Pointing to programs developed to help families deal with learning disabilities, domestic violence, substance abuse, and physical or mental disabilities, Schalansky praised work done to move people from welfare to work.

"The TANF program has allowed Kansas the flexibility to develop initiatives which meet the goals of promoting adult self-sufficiency and strengthening families," she said. "It has also created opportunities for collaboration across systems involving numerous community partners which has enabled more families previously on welfare to enter the work force."