Unfitting end

State welfare law punishes wrong parent

This month marks the beginning of a new and unjust period in the state's effort to force absent parents to help pay for raising their children. Such radical legislation has been enacted in response to a serious "deadbeat parent" problem - 90 percent of welfare families only have a mother.

Under a current welfare law passed in April, parents with children receiving assistance from the Family Independence Program who fail to help the state find a missing parent can be kicked off welfare in only four months. The state delegates this tremendous authority to the individual caseworkers and has a set of criteria the recipients must fulfill or risk losing their checks. Recipients must name the missing parent, identify his or her last employer, give contact information of someone who may be of assistance in finding the parent, and show up for important court hearings and blood tests in order to fulfill the caseworkers' requirements.

The welfare recipient can only receive an exemption from the strict rules by proving that their child was conceived as a result of rape or incest or by proving that helping the FIA would place her or her family in danger. Beyond these exceptions, the recipient's caseworker has the power to decide whether the parent is cooperating completely - a judgement too subjective and powerful.

The state's intentions are commendable, but one caseworker should not have the authority to inflict such threatening penalties. There is no system of appeals for welfare recipients who feel that they helped the caseworker to the best of their abilities. Even with such a system, there would be problems - large bureaucracies are often inefficient and recipients who try to get money from such an institution would have to devote a tremendous amount of time toward that end without a guarantee of success.

Michigan has been successful in reducing welfare caseloads. Statewide, about 143,500 families receive welfare benefits - a record low. Legislators proposing welfare reform must keep in mind that the system's purpose is to help people get on their feet. The state's policy should be scrapped because it will cut families off with no other alternatives.

Michigan is second only to California in the number of children receiving child support; the number of parents making timely payments for Michigan children is significantly lower than other states. Federal money that helps parents in Michigan collect child support from their ex-spouses is at risk because the state has not yet implemented the computer payment tracking system required by the Family Support Act of 1988. This is essential because 36 percent of support payments involve a parent living in another state.

Extreme legislation, as written under current welfare law, reinforces the need for all state and federal legislators to come up with creative solutions to solve the "deadbeat parent" problem without hurting their children in the process. Elected officials must not only consider the taxpayers' side of the issue - children are growing up with only one parent. Punishing them further by throwing them off welfare is inhumane - the new reform should not be enforced.

11-07-97