SR-11-A (50)
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March, 17 1992
Santa Monica, California
MAR 1 ~ 1992
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Commission on the Status of Women
SUBJECT: Proposed revisions in the state of California's Aid
to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program
INTRODUCTION:
The Santa Monica Commission on the status of Women (SMCOSW) has
closely observed the development of Governor Pete Wilson's
proposed revisions to the state of California's Aid to Families
with Dependent Children (AFDC) program.
The SMCOSW undertook
this policy analysis because oversight of the needs of women and
children is a key component of the commission's mission.
The SMCOSW urges the Santa Monica City Council to oppose the
Governor's proposed revisions to the state's AFDC program.
BACKGROUND
The proposed AFDC rules would require that all welfare recipients
attend school or job training or risk losing benefits. It would
also eliminate subsidies for additional children. In principle,
the new rules are the same as those contained in the state of New
Jersey's Family Development Initiative Act.
The commission urges the City Council to oppose the Governor's
proposed AFDC revisions for the following reasons:
1. Data from Project GAIN, the state's workfare program,
demonstrate that too many participants have been unable to find
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M~R 1 ';c 199
any work. The reality of today's job market mitigates against
any aggregate success for job training program participants.
2. Many mothers on welfare fear that they will lose health care
coverage for their children if they go to work.
3. Many mothers on welfare remain on AFDC rather than take a
minimum wage job because they have no place to put their children
while they work.
4. There is no evidence that mothers on AFDC have more babies to
increase the size of their checks. A family on welfare is only
slightly larger than all other families. This slight difference
is more closely associated with religion; lack of contraceptive
devices and education; and, less access to abortion.
5. Most women on AFDC have as much contempt for welfare as any
middle-class person. only one-third of AFDC recipients remain on
the rolls for six or more years. Another one-third use AFDC
intermittently. The last third only use AFDC once to help them
weather a crisis. Most turn to AFDC as a last resort.
6. The August 1991 cuts in the state's AFDC benefit levels,
along with the freeze in cost-of-living increase, equate to a 30
percent reduction in spending power for recipients. These are
sufficiently powerful disincentives to use the AFDC program for
anything but minimal survival.
Solutions to welfare reform are complex. They can never be as
simple as those proposed by Governor Wilson. Real welfare reform
will require radical and comprehensive action, like another war
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on poverty. More immediate solutions include: greater emphasis
on reducing teen-age pregnancy and the school drop-out rates,
more education and training that targets the real needs of a
changing jOb market, more innovative thinking about new ways to
get people working and more initiatives for child care and health
care.
The City of Santa Monica has set one small example for the state
in its support of the School Aged Parent and Infant Development
(SAPID) program.
This program, operating on the Santa Monica
High School campus, provides child care and support services for
adolescent parents so they may continue their education. The
Child Care Master Plan, when fully implemented, could set a
larger example.
It could enable many AFDC mothers to work with
the security of child care.
BUDGET/FINANCIAL IMPACT
There is no budget or financial impact.
RECOMMENDATION
The SMCOSW recommends that the city Council oppose Governor Pete
Wilson's proposed revisions in the State of California's Aid to
Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program and that the
Council authorize the SMCOSW to oppose the Governor's proposed
revisions.
Prepared by: Madeleine Stoner, commissioner
Melodye Kleinman, Staff Liaison
Santa Monica Commission on the Status of Women
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