Welfare Moms Feel Pinch Workfirst, State’S Reform Program, Leaves Many Still In Poverty Balancing Low Pay And Child-Care Demands

At the end of the frigid line outside the Christmas Bureau headquarters, Hunter Simington is thinking about Power Rangers.

His mom is thinking about getting fired.

“I’ve got 45 minutes,” Belinda Simington said, stamping her feet and holding 3-year-old Hunter close to keep him warm. “My boss cans you if you’re late.”

She’s holding down two jobs, supplementing her work as a caregiver for the elderly with temporary holiday shifts at a post office. After a few minutes in line, she bolts so she can take Hunter to child care and get back to work.

Officials at the Christmas Bureau, the yearly giveaway of toys and food sponsored by The Spokesman-Review, expect to hear a lot of tales of harried, low-income working moms this year.

Social workers point to the 3-1/2-year-old state welfare-to-work program, a chronic dearth of living wage jobs and layoffs at places such as Kaiser Aluminum.

The state welfare reform program, WorkFirst, has put thousands of low-income families into jobs. But it’s also left many in poverty, balancing hectic work schedules, low pay and child care demands.

The Rev. Frank Bach, who is running the Christmas Bureau, said hours at the charity are being extended from the normal 2:30 p.m. closing time to 6:30 p.m. on Thursdays to accommodate harried parents. The office is at the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center.

Welfare reform “has created a lot of women who have to go to work with small children,” he said, watching a team of volunteers in a warehouse at the Spokane County fairgrounds. “They’re really stuck, working low-paying jobs and trying to pay for child care.”

Since July 1997, when Gov. Gary Locke unveiled the WorkFirst program, Spokane County welfare rolls have shrunk from 7,333 to 5,064 in September 2000, the most recent month for which data is available.

As of September, the average wage of people getting jobs through WorkFirst was $7.38 an hour, up about a dollar an hour from January 1999.

“For caseload reduction, it’s been amazing,” said Carl McMinimy, an administrator with the Spokane regional headquarters of the Department of Social and Health Services.

McMinimy notes that those who’ve gotten work are better off than those who remain on welfare.

But he agrees with social workers in nonprofit agencies who say WorkFirst has been slowed locally by a lack of entry-level jobs above the $6-and $7-an-hour range.

The program is intended to get welfare recipients into entry-level jobs, and get them to advance through continued job training. The training is available; the jobs haven’t been.

“Moving people into the better job, that’s been more of a challenge,” said McMinimy.

The observations of social workers are mirrored by a variety of recently released reports.

A survey of nearly 1,000 low-income households statewide found more working families in Spokane and northeast Washington still needed welfare and food stamps than in any other region of the state.

The survey, completed by the liberal-leaning nonprofit Statewide Poverty Action Network, reports that nearly two thirds of the surveyed families remained on welfare despite working. Nearly three-quarters still used food stamps. About a third couldn’t afford medical care.

In comparison, a little more than 40 percent of King County families included in the survey received welfare while working.

A second, unrelated report by University of Washington researchers found that nearly 80 percent of one-parent Spokane County families had “inadequate income,” or about $23,300 or less for a family of three with a child. The statewide average of inadequate income is 60 percent.

The Census Bureau estimates that 22 percent of Spokane County children - and 17 percent of people overall - live below the poverty threshold.

Even the DSHS is struggling with welfare reform. The department is battling a trend of families leaving welfare, then returning within three months; 646 did so from July to September this year.

“Folks are really struggling with the day-to-day necessities,”’ said Linda Stone, head of the Children’s Alliance’s Spokane office. The culprit, she said, is job wages.

Brandi Lauth is learning that quickly.

The 17-year-old is the single mother of a 1-year-old girl.

Since arriving from Anchorage three months ago, Lauth has worked toward her high school diploma through a Spokane Falls Community College welfare-to-work program.

“I don’t want to be the teen mom on the road to nowhere,” said Lauth, who plans to visit the Christmas Bureau this week.

She hopes to become a dental hygienist, but knows there are struggles ahead. She has no car. Her $440 monthly welfare check is consumed by rent, food and diapers.

As soon as she’s done with the high school classes, she must look for work. She hopes to pull herself off welfare through multiple jobs as a cashier.

“Six-fifty an hour seems like a lot when you’re on welfare,” she said.