Savings From Welfare To Help Child Support System Restructured For Better Service; Other State Programs Expected To Benefit
A share of $6.3 million in savings from welfare reform will be used by the state for more staff to collect overdue child-support payments.
That should mean faster and better service for parents who depend on money from child support.
Welfare reform, which took effect in July, has cut the cash-assistance rolls so quickly that the state now has too many welfare caseworkers. Many will be transferred to the Department of Health and Welfare’s child-support division, easing caseloads so staffers can give closer attention to each complaint.
Staff has not been added to the program in 10 years, while the caseload has more than doubled to 73,000 families.
Health and Welfare spokesman Bill Walker said about 60 of 196 workers in the welfare self-reliance program will be transferred to other programs within a few months because of the reduced workloads in that program.
The transfer to child support should help reduce caseloads from up to 900 families per worker to about 750 families per worker, said Gary Payne, director of the Boise region’s Health and Welfare office.
Other programs also will benefit from the drop in welfare recipients, whose numbers are down by two-thirds since June to 2,280 families statewide. Many parents left the rolls because the state now requires them to work or train for work in order to receive benefits.
In all, taxpayers have saved $6.3 million with welfare reform. About half of that will be returned to the state general fund. About $600,000 will be added to the child-support budget and $1.9 million will finance a new child-health initiative.
The last $900,000 has been set aside in case the federal government fines the state for putting too few welfare recipients to work.
xxxx STAFF SOLUTIONS The transfer of more money to the child-support program should help reduce caseloads from up to 900 families per worker to about 750 families per worker.