My partner in this program is Ms. Z. age about 38. Two ex husbands are
providing no support (H & W will pursue the two ex-husbands for child
support
if Ms. Z. wants them to--I haven't broached the subject). She has 5 children
ages, 3, 6, 6 (twins), 12, and 17. She works 40-50 hrs/week at two jobs and
earns about $12,000/year which places her below the poverty level. She owns
a 17 year old van and a vintage 3 bedroom trailer.
Ms. Z. has completed the equivalent of two years of university with a 4.0 in
languages and arts. She is bilingual in 4 languages-English, French, German,
and Spanish. She has no computer or typing skills.
She is strongly committed to stay off welfare, and set an example for her
children. Six years ago she was on food stamps when her twins were born.
Her life is her family and she is totally committed to their care and nuture.
Ms. Z. is type of individual that the proponents of current welfare efforts
like to point to and say that the programs have been successful. In this
case, Ms. Z has done everything on her own.
It has taken a great deal of time to develop a rapport and degree of confidence
in our relationship. Ms. Z. reports that she has been burned so many times by
case workers, potential employers, and "well meaning" citizens. A current
example is that she applied to H & W for health insurance for her children.
The case worker said that they would all be covered, and then two weeks later
she received a letter that denied any coverage. No reasons were given in the
reply. (I'm having this checked out through H & W). Another problem is the
complex and non-friendly user paper trail used to apply for welare benefits.
Ms. Z. says that many times she received conflicting instructions from case
workers in how to fill out the forms, and then received a call saying that
the benefits had been approved and some time a later a letter stating that
the request had been turned down. She reports that the constant hassle,
"put downs" in many cases, the emotional rides of thinking that benefits would
be approved and then disapproved, develop resistance of welfare recepients
to seek further help. As Ms. Z told me, "I have such little time and I have
to drive over 20 miles to Moscow just to meet with the case worker that
I can't sacrifice that time from my family."
Her 17 year old son has a serious in grown toe nail problem that will require
surgery. The cost is estimated to be over $2,000 and the family has no health
insurance. I received an e mail from one visionary who will be working with
the family to see if the son is eligible for help at the Shriner's hospital.
I also received assistance through the Head Start Program in Moscow and the
H & W Office in Lewiston to get the forms for the Caring Program for Children
administered by Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Idaho which should provide some
basic and free health coverage.
An unanticipated spin off of this program is that several other local people
in Ms. Z neighborhood contacted me about welfare problems. In one case
a 25 year old man with an artifical foot and some other disabilities was
turned down by SSI for assistance. This young man earns $240/month and receives
free housing from his aunt and his father provides some assistance. I'm looking
into the SSI issue and also looking for possible training programs for Mr. X.
It's obvious that a safety net with adequate resources needs to be provided
welfare recepients including child care, health care, transportation, training,
etc. I'll report more on this subject at a later
Rep. Tom Trail/District 5
Dr. Tom Trail
International Trails
2039 Mt. View Rd.
Moscow, Id. 83843
Tel: (208) 882-6077
Fax: (208) 882-0896
e mail ttrail@moscow.com