Children's Bureau Funding Must Increase
Posted 09-15-1998
This month I would like to share with you the challenge Westmoreland County is facing with
our 1998-99 Children's Bureau allocation from the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I am sure
you have read about the $600 million surplus the State has, yet we are looking at a $1.4
million shortfall in Children's Bureau funding. Child abuse in Westmoreland County has
been reduced by 35% over the last several years and we believe part of that is because of
non-mandated, preventative programs. Now we must decide whether we cut some of those
programs, or keep them and subsidize them with county General Fund dollars that we don't
really have sitting around.
We are appealing our allocation and asking
for the Department of Public Welfare to reconsider their decision, however that could take
almost a year. We are also contacting the Governor directly with the hope that he can
intercede and help resolve this unfair allocation.
In our 1998-99 Needs-Based Plan we detailed
how Pennsylvania's implementation of Welfare Reform led to the reduction of our Title IV-A
funding from a claim for $4.3 million in 1995-96 to an allocation of $1.6 million of
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). When Welfare Reform was implemented TANF
funding replaced Title IV funding and a formula was announced by the Ridge Administration
that would have set our TANF funding at $3 million. Our Children's Bureau staff has made
repeated attempts to receive an explanation for this $1.4 million shortfall in TANF
funding. To date we have not received an explanation for our allocation that is
significantly less than other Third Class counties our size. Erie county, the other Third
Class county in western Pennsylvania and the home of Governor Ridge receives a TANF
allocation of $3.7 million, even though it's population is smaller than our's.
We have a long and progressive history of
working with the Department of Public Welfare. We have sponsored conferences on Welfare
Reform, helping to make our county one of the more successful in moving people from
welfare to work. We have implemented "Youth Commissions" as a model, and
pioneered the development of risk assessment instruments to assess the safety of children,
and provide leadership and training with the Department of Public Welfare in implementing
similar tools statewide. We are also requesting a supplemental budget request for the
implementation of the Adoption Safe Families Act of 1997. The federal legislation is a
comprehensive change to the child welfare system that will require additional staff and
court time to implement correctly. This additional responsibility should not rest solely
upon counties as an unfunded mandate.
Our county budget grows each year, and
human services are approximately one half of our budget. Most of the human services are
mandated programs, funded by either State or Federal dollars, as they should be. When we
don't receive the necessary funding it puts an undo burden on county government to fund
programs with county dollars. I think everyone agrees that quality child welfare programs
are important, and when they show the results we have seen with a decrease in child abuse
in Westmoreland County, we don't want to sacrifice those programs. However, without the
level of funding that we deserve, we are faced with two choices, cut programs or use
county dollars. Since we are already paying our state and federal taxes, we deserve that
funding here and should not have to ask county taxpayers to pay more. |
