By Sara Quam
Welfare to Work has become a necessary phrase that defines the transition of clients who will stop receiving benefits after 60 months.
Brian Sietsema, Luverne, is helping local people make that transition by starting full-time work at Rock County Family Services this week.
Job counselor for the Private Industry Council, Sietsema contracts with Family Services to work with those receiving cash assistance.
"People who apply for the cash assistance are referred to an employment services provider, and our goal is to figure out a way to get them off it quickly," Sietsema said.
Sietsema deals only with clients who are able to work in some capacity. He tries to help them develop job skills and identify suitable work.
Cash assistance isn't what it used to be. It now comes in the form of the Minnesota Family Investment Program, which expects, supports and rewards work.
Unlike former systems in which benefits were more-readily handed out and receivers had little monitoring, MFIP has strict requirements and makes it easier to work than to remain on welfare.
The Minnesota Legislature set the lifetime limit of cash benefits at 60 months in 1997. So those who were in the program at that time can expect to have benefits stopped in June 2002.
Sietsema is trying to get Rock County clients to be self-sufficient, especially those who were in the program when the state set the limit.
"Most of my folks don't want to be on assistance," Sietsema said. Of the almost 25 that he works with, 15 are employed and most of those are full time.
The state's call
Agencies across the state are starting to worry about the effects of cutting off cash benefits to clients after their 60-month limit. Those who started with benefits before programs like Sietsema’s may have the hardest time making do.
In a December legislative forum that Sietsema will attend, state officials will hear from different agencies concerned about the program.
Sietsema said he isn't in favor of unlimited benefits, but he is concerned about families with children who can't make ends meet.
"I hate to see kids taken away from their parents if they're good parents, and that's going to be one of the repercussions," Sietsema said.
The cost of taking children out of homes that can't provide for basic needs is more costly than helping to meet those needs, Sietsema said.
"The state is going to have to balance whether we’re better off letting people stay in the program if they have children," he said, "or if it's better taking them off the program and ending up taking children out of the home."
Some in the industry think that the state will decide to take a middle-ground approach and allow some discretion with the 60-month limit. Others fear that any leeway will send a mixed message to clients who were initially told they had a strict time limit.
Hitting the 60-month lifetime cut-off is a concern for Sietsema, but not as much as it is in other counties with similar populations. "A lot of people need it, and they're not on it really long," Sietsema said.
Sietsema said Rock County employers and clients have had good attitudes and moved forward more quickly than other counties have.
Motivation is a key part of Sietsema’s job. "You have to think this person will make it," he said. "You get your hopes dashed a lot because you think 'this person's got a great job and it's going to work out.' And sometimes it doesn't, but you have to think they'll make it."