(September 1999)

What is happening to our clients who are on public assistance? How are social workers and their services being affected by welfare reform? One social worker put it like this: "I'm really shocked at what's going on with welfare. I always emphasize to my clients that education is really important. It is a way of getting off the welfare rolls and getting a job with a living wage. What I'm finding out is that they are being forced to stop going to school and forced into Work Experience Programs (WEP) programs. Access to child care is a problem. Also, families that are sanctioned are often not given notice and their welfare, food stamps, or other benefits are cut off. When we inquire, no one seems to know what is going on."

This story is one among dozens related by social workers who testified at the Chapter's May 19 Speak Out on Welfare Reform. The Speak Out, sponsored by the Welfare Reform Task Force, provided a forum for social workers to discuss the impact of welfare reform on clients and on their ability to provide quality services. It also provided a way to begin organizing activities that address problems related to welfare reform.

At the Speak Out, a Tribunal composed of educators, agency directors, and other social work leaders, bore witness to the social workers' testimony.

Changes in Welfare with no Thought for Results

The stories told by the social workers at the Speak Out were powerful and compelling because each one illustrates, in a very real way, the tragic effect of welfare reform on our clients. Consider this social worker's account of her work with victims of domestic violence: One of her clients, a Mexican woman with two children, came to the social worker's office crying because her welfare case was closed. When she tried to find out why, her public assistance worker yelled at her to go away. The public assistance worker also hung up on the social worker when she tried to follow up on her case.

Another social worker who works with battered women at an Asian Women's Center noted that immigrant women are afraid to apply for public assistance because they fear that this will negatively affect their citizenship applications.

The anecdotes provided a relentless picture of how vulnerable clients, already living on the edge, are sent into a downward spiral when their welfare benefits are cut. Some examples: A pregnant, substance abusing client is unable to get treatment because her welfare and medicaid are cut off. A middle-aged woman with teenage children loses her public assistance and medicaid and winds up homeless, the children parceled out to live with friends and relatives.

A recurrent theme in the social workers' testimony is their frustration, anger, and sense of helplessness because they find it increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to adequately respond to the needs of poor and vulnerable clients.

Seasoned social workers repeatedly emphasized that their ability to advocate successfully for clients has been eroded by recent bureaucratic changes in the welfare system. For example, eligibility verification review centers and WEP centers all have the power to close or open a welfare case. Trying to define the problem when a case is closed takes an inordinate amount of time and energy. Many public assistance workers cannot be reached by phone or will not talk to social workers. Also, policies change so quickly that social workers are afraid that they will give clients misleading advice. Paperwork and hours of phone calls to welfare agencies take away from the time that social worker can spend with clients. Social workers may feel frustrated, angry, professionally ineffective: a recipe for burnout.

Ways Social Workers Can Make A Difference

The case studies related at the Welfare Speak Out stand in juxtaposition to recent reports which tout the success of welfare reform. The extent to which these reports accurately reflect the lives of our most vulnerable clients needs to be evaluated.

Dr. Megan McLaughlin, Executive Director of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, noted the severe impact that welfare reform has had on social service agencies, workers, and clients. Referring to studies that show that welfare to work programs have not resulted in more stable jobs, she urged social workers to speak out on welfare reform, both because it is our professional duty and because it is good for our own mental health. Invoking the words of Martin Luther King, Dr. McLaughlin reminded the audience that "justice denied anywhere is justice denied everywhere." Dr. Richard Cloward, professor of social work at Columbia University, provided a historical analysis of welfare reform. He noted that the expansion of the welfare roles during the early 70s was a consequence of the lack of decent jobs.

"The problem, the cause of the welfare explosion, was labor market and public policy. If we'd had a labor market with jobs that people could live on, and if those jobs provided either medical care or the government provided medical care, and if someone provided daycare, well, then the welfare explosion would not have occurred."

Dr. Cloward encouraged social workers to reach out to workers in other sympathetic movements, such as the Women's Movement, to address the problems of welfare reform. Tony Morenzi, Manager of Assemblyman Pete Grannis' office, suggested ways for people to be political in their own communities, including calling local legislators to advocate for clients who are not getting their entitlements, and bringing constituents to the legislator's local office. "Remember, he said, "it is their job to serve you!"

Eri Noguchi of the Welfare Reform Task Force, urged social workers to continue to tell their stories to one another, to network with professionals in the workplace, and to consider joining the Task Force to continue the fight for justice.

Five social work students spoke on behalf of the Social Work Action Coalition, a network of student social workers committed to fighting for a just welfare system. The students grounded their discussion in the NASW Code of Ethics, noting that the Code of Ethics mandates that social workers promote social and economic justice.

The students said that their efforts to combat inequities in the welfare system has received limited support from field agencies and the schools of social work. The students focused on the need for collective action on the part of the social work profession and emphasized the importance of understanding clients within a broad context. "If we focus solely on the short-term needs of our clients who are suffering as a result of welfare reform," they stated, "then we will never reach the root of their problems."

The members of the Tribunal were: Dr. Frances Brisbane, Dean, Stony Brook School of Social Work/SUNY; Dr. Bogart Leashore, Dean, Hunter College School of Social Work; Dr. Thomas Meenaghan, Dean, Shirley M. Ehrenkranz School of Social Work, NYU; Dr. Vickie Ashton, Assistant Professor of Social Work, York College/CUNY; Dillona Lewis, Coordinator for Special Services, Welfare Rights Initiative at Hunter College; Julie Carlson, MSW student, Social Work Action Coalition, Hunter College; Gail Aska, Co-Founder and Program Coordinator, Community Voices Heard; Dr. Robert Schachter, Executive Director of New York City NASW Chapter; Stephan Russo, Executive Director, Goddard Riverside Community Center; Mary Pender Greene, Chief of Social Work Services, Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services; Irma Rodriguez, Associate Executive Director, Forest Hills Community House.

The Speak Out was dedicated to Susan Kinoy, an NASW member who served as a role model for welfare advocates for over 30 years. Ms. Kinoy, who died in March, was an innovative activist and organizer who began her work with the National Welfare Rights Organization. She later developed the Welfare Grant Increase Coalition, which served as a prototype for welfare advocacy groups that followed.