Periodic Review of 22 VAC 40-293

We Appeal for Help for Virginia’s Poorest Families and Children:

The family is, and should continue to be, the central structure around which a free, caring and self-sufficient society must be built.  Children’s lives are diminished every day in Virginia because of the low level of TANF welfare benefits.  Every day, one in five children—wonder where their next meal will come from. One in three Children in Virginia Lives In-Or-Near Poverty, according to a study from the University of Virginia and children continue to experience higher rates of poverty than any other age group. Poverty is a particularly serious problem for children, who are exposed to toxic stress and suffer negative effects for the rest of their lives after living in poverty for even a short time.

Putting Families First: What should we do to support children and address the issue of childhood poverty?

First--Start Investing in Our Kids: The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program makes it possible for children to be provided for in their own homes or the homes of relatives, despite family poverty.

• Fact: The average TANF payments are low.  More than two thirds are children. It can be no surprise that parents and relatives struggle to raise children on approximately $269 per month. How can we expect families to move out of dependency when they can hardly survive on current benefits?

• Impact: The TANF program is not meeting the needs of its poor.  The low level of TANF benefits promotes dependency.  Because TANF does not support a decent living, families live on the brink of crisis. They struggle to maintain family life in the face of eviction, unsafe and unhealthy housing, illness, loss of employment or underemployment, and personal and family stress.  With personal, family, and financial resources drained, a family’s transition to self support becomes a disheartening struggle.  Meaningful welfare reform requires increasing family stability to pave the way for self support.
• Conclusion:  Virginia’s TANF payments have not kept pace with inflation.  Families on TANF must have the resources not just to survive, but to work to get back on their feet.  A plan for increasing TANF is essential to successful transition to self support.

• Recomemdation #1: Make Increasing the TANF benefits a priority now. Funding for TANF should be increased to account for the value lost due to inflation over the past fifteen years. The payments have not kept pace with inflation; Payments have increased by less than one-third while cost of living has more than tripled. over the same period. In addition benefits should be indexed to keep up with future inflation.  This step would prevent further erosion of recipients’ ability to meet their basic needs.

Second--TANF Must Focus on TANF Kinship and Relative Caregivers:

• Fact: Due to inadequate TANF payments children who might be cared for within the extended families often must be placed—at greater expense and with greater trauma to the child and his or her family—in non-relative Foster Care.
• FACT: Relatives, especially grandparents, make tremendous sacrifices to care for (astonishingly) up to 40% of these TANF children and they receive too little support.  Some older relatives have to postpone retirement and move to a bigger house or out of retirement communities to care for these children.
• FACT: An entire TANF family of three receives less than half as much as a single adolescent foster-care program child.  Are some children worth less just because they are poor, or are lucky enough to have relatives who care?  Addressing the economic support disparity will assure better outcomes both generally and educationally.
• Recommendation: Provide TANF increases whenever Foster Care rates are increased in order to reduce the increasing disparity between Foster Care payments and TANF benefits for children.

Third--TANF Must Focus on “A Family Living Standard”:  Currently, spending on a family “Assistance” amount is insufficient. Virginia TANF benefits are among the lowest in the USA; Virginia is in completion with Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana in terms of benefit amounts.

• FACT: A TANF payment adjustment that provides an adequate level of support to families from which they can begin the road to self-sufficiency is possible.  Set the benefit levels at state defined, minimum standard of living by family size.

• Fact:  Improved Benefit Levels for TANF Families must be a priority. Welfare reform has eliminated the concerns that have prevented welfare payment increases in the past. Declining caseloads numbers have created a TANF surplus that can be used to increase TANF payments with federal funds. 

• Recommendation: Virginia should bring TANF benefits up to a minimum poverty line—including sufficient food, clothing and shelter to those in poverty--- before TANF money can be used for any other programs.

In achieving this objective Virginia should increase its benefit levels for TANF to bring Virginia over the next four years from its present rank of 42nd to the middle ranking among states.

Fourth: It’s time for a positive comprehensive package to help able-bodied Virginian’s: 

• Create a 4th shelter group for jurisdictions in Northern Virginia, which would in effect allow for higher TANF benefits to Northern Virginia because of higher housing costs here.  At present there are 3 TANF shelter groups, and all the present groupings need to be reevaluated to reflect the urbanized and higher costs of many counties and cities.  We recommend as a matter of fairness that priority be given to incorporating Groups #1 and #2 into a single group at Group #3 Venefit rates and create a 4th shelter group composed of the current Group #3 jurisdictions

Thank you for the opportunity to comment.  John Horejsi & SALT