DSHS memos push for caseload reduction

OLYMPIA — Internal government documents show Washington state made an organized effort to kick families off welfare last year, even though state officials deny it.

Department of Social and Health Services offices used parties and contests as incentives for workers to reduce welfare caseloads in the spring of 2003. One DSHS office even rang a bell in celebration each time a worker terminated a welfare case, according to the Welfare Rights Organizing Coalition.

On Monday, the coalition released internal DSHS documents detailing an aggressive effort to reduce the caseload. The documents were obtained through the coalition’s public records request.

“The mission statement of DSHS says they’re supposed to help families, help them reach self-sufficiency,” said Monica Peabody, an Olympia organizer for the coalition. “That mission has been completely forgotten in the push to lower caseloads.”

Ken Miller, Gov. Gary Locke’s policy adviser on welfare, said the state has “never” issued a directive to thin the welfare rolls. “Welfare reform is about helping people find work, stay in jobs and get ahead in jobs, and when that happens the caseload goes down,” he said.

But DSHS documents show that’s not how it happened in the spring of 2003. One typical memo, titled “Caseload Reduction,” describes a May 12, 2003, meeting where DSHS welfare supervisors brainstormed dozens of ideas with the goal of “looking at as many options as possible to reduce caseloads.”

The minutes from DSHS’s community services division regional administrator’s meeting on June 5, 2003, note, “There is a second statewide teleconference to discuss caseload reduction strategies scheduled for June 12.”

Dozens of e-mails obtained through the records request show DSHS workers swapping statistics, tactics and encouragement for the “90-day caseload reduction push.”