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Show Welfare reform discussed By TOM HARALDSEN BOUNTIFUL "Welfare is not easy to talk about. The American Amer-ican Dream is not working for some people." -With that introduction, members of the Bountiful Area Chamber of Commerce were addressed by Ann Cheves, state program manager of the Family Sufficiency Program under the state's Division of Family Fami-ly Services. Ms. Cheves is actively involved with a state task force that is creating suggested welfare reform, re-form, which is being implemented in a pilot program in Davis County. She told the Chamber members that welfare is difficult for the public pub-lic to understand, saying "one day we read of a homeless family whom we are moved by, and the next we hear of someone committing welfare wel-fare fraud. It leaves us not knowing where to stand." The key to welfare reform begins with a change of attitudes, she explained, ex-plained, "and that includes those of us with state Social Services. We need to rethink our feelings about ab-out the jobs we're doing." She used the analogy of a bridge over a wide river, explaining that for years, the only way for those unemployed or impoverished to succeed was similar to scaling across a log over the river. With new systems, that bridge became more like the structure over Glen Canyon. "Still, we need help in getting people across that bridge." Ms. Cheves said the largest group on welfare in Utah is in the AFDC program, Aid to Families of Dependent Children. Last December, Decem-ber, 15,000 such cases were active in Utah. The average AFDC recipient reci-pient is a single mother, age 20-29, with one or two children, and on assistance for the first time. She said such recipients are usually on assistance for less than two years. "So you see that our stereotype of welfare recipients as being dead-beats dead-beats and bums doesn't fit," she aaid. In Davis County last December, 1,115 were on AFDC assistance, with a number of others on general assistance and medical assistance programs. Though the state's numbers num-bers are lower than national averages, aver-ages, Ms. Cheves said "Utah's welfare workload is increasing. We need to find ways to shorten the amount of time that recipients are on welfare, and channel them towards to-wards other avenues of help if possible, pos-sible, such as families." The pilot program in Davis County that Ms. Cheves is involved in-volved with is converting a welfare program to a self-sufficiency program. "We're stressing that welfare is temporary, not a way of life. Clients have to prepare a written plan to achieve economic independence, inde-pendence, a plan we work closely with them on. The number one approach to solving welfare problems prob-lems is employment, and we're working closely with the communities communi-ties to get them involved with their citizens who are on welfare." Using new client pathways and orientation, stressing self-sufficiency self-sufficiency and trading, and providing pro-viding better staff training are all essential ingredients in the county's coun-ty's pilot program that officials are hoping will provide a cost-effective welfare system reform statewide, and nationwide, in the years to come. |