Demita Burnett admits she made some poor decisions in her young life that ultimately led her to seek welfare assistance in January. The 26-year-old Saginaw resident, a single mother of a 5-year-old son, had few job skills, no transportation and not even a driver’s license or state identification card. “Financially, I had no other choice […]
welfare
Posted inMichigan Government
700 families get to keep cash welfare benefits
About 700 families who can’t hold jobs because they’re caring for seriously ill or disabled family members will continue to receive welfare cash assistance, under the terms of a welfare reform bill awaiting the signature of Gov. Rick Snyder. The bill codifies policies put in place by the Department of Human Services in the fall […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Legislature poised to lock in strict time limits on cash aid to needy families
Michigan’s massive welfare reform, which removed 15,000 families from cash assistance in its first year, was never the law of the land. That may be about to change. Senate Bill 1386, which would codify the Department of Human Services’ controversial time limits on cash assistance, is rushing through the Legislature this week, in what appears […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Welfare changes have saved state money; fate of ex-recipients unclear
The number of Michigan families getting welfare checks from the state plummeted to the lowest level in more than 40 years just nine months after welfare reform was implemented. Twelve months in, the state is spending nearly $18 million a month less on cash assistance, the cumulative result of reform and an improving economy. Those […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Center for Michigan, Bridge win battle for transparency on welfare records
Bridge Magazine and the Center for Michigan prevailed in a Freedom of Information Act appeal, gaining access to records related to Michigan residents removed from cash assistance as a result of the state’s massive welfare reform. In May, Bridge requested data from the Michigan Department of Human Services documenting how many of the more than […]
Posted inChildren & Families
Welfare reform results: few jobs, few state answers, refuge in a vacant home
Welfare reform hasn’t been kind to Tamika Thomas. Eight months ago, the 33-year-old lived in a rental home in Detroit with her four children. She attended Wayne County Community College, where she was working her way toward an associate’s degree in radiological technology that would have led to the first good-paying job of her life. […]
Posted inPeter Luke: Eye on the Capitol
Hey Grandpa, how about a little help?
A 5-year-old child born to a mother who has exceeded 48 months on cash assistance was being reared in destitution before the state yanked $5,000 in annual welfare benefits. A 75-year-old residing in a nursing home, meanwhile, receives $80,000 in Medicaid-funded care. Not that future fiscal choices should favor the young at the expense of the old, […]
Posted inChildren & Families
Welfare reform: Back to the drawing board
What would you do if you could reform Michigan’s welfare system? That may be a question state leaders are asking today, after Michigan’s massive welfare reform was thrown out in court. Calling it an “end-run around the Legislature,” a Genesee County Circuit Court smacked down a Department of Human Services policy that knocked between 11,000 […]
Posted inChildren & Families
Welfare reforms put care-givers in a wrenching bind
Todd Stafford has an uncontrollable neurological disorder that causes him to beat himself in the head hundreds of times a day. The beatings have made him blind and caused his head to “look like Frankenstein,” he says. His wife, Tina Stafford, doesn’t have a job because someone needs to be at their St. Joseph County […]
Posted inChildren & Families
More families set to lose welfare assistance
Needy families who kept their cash assistance after last fall’s massive welfare reform shouldn’t get too comfortable. Almost 500 more families per month are projected to lose cash assistance during the second year of reform, which begins in October of this year. According to Gov. Rick Snyder’s budget proposal released Thursday at the Capitol, 7,130 […]
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