State hoarding funds meant to help needy families

Millions for Ohio's needy unspent
Money reserved for foster care of children by relatives, family friends
September 25, 2006Author: Diane Suchetka, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Sept. 25, 2006.

Ohio lawmakers set aside $10 million last year to help several thousand low-income grandparents, aunts and uncles raise their grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

But the state spent only $608,500 of the money, about 6 percent. And it spent it on 726 families when there was enough money to help at least 5,000.

That means more than $9 million for poor Ohio families now sits in a fund of unspent federal welfare money - in a state with one of the largest welfare reserves in America.

"Cleveland has been named the poorest big city in America, and Ohio's sitting on one of the largest reserves of [welfare] money? Hello?" said Jim McCafferty, director of the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services, which serves Greater Cleveland children whose parents can no longer care for them.

"Historically, when you don't spend it, the state takes the money away."

AARP Ohio expressed concern, too, especially with estimates that 88,000 grandparents in Ohio are caring for their grandchildren.

"What's the rationalization for sitting on the money rather than helping the people who need help?" asked spokeswoman Kathy Keller. "That's the big question that we're all wondering about."

State officials say so little of the money has been distributed because the program took six months to get up and running.

"It's not a crisis if it's not spent in the first year," said Tom Roelant, assistant deputy director of Ohio's Office of Children and Families. That office, within the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, oversees the kinship incentive program.

"This is a program that has its best impact at a grass-roots level, so it does take a while to get the traction it needs. What you're looking for is to build acceptance and understanding of the program. And, frankly, the best way to do that is by word of mouth and county outreach."

"The program is going to do nothing but grow."

Crystal Ward Allen, executive director of the Public Children Services Association of Ohio, which pushed for creation of the program, agrees.

"It's just slow going," Allen said. "People don't necessarily understand everything about it."

Funding for abused and neglected children is complicated.

In this case, Ohio lawmakers gave $10 million in federal welfare money to the Department of Job and Family Services for what it calls the Kinship Permanency Incentive Program. The program was designed to give $3,500 to grandparents, other relatives and close family friends to encourage them to permanently care for children whose parents could no longer do so.

The $10 million was to be used between July 1, 2005, and June 30, 2006. Any money remaining after became part of the state's welfare reserve.

On July 1 of this year, the department got another $10 million for the program's second year. As of Sept. 1, the state had spent $398,500 of that - about 4 percent of the total - according to a Job and Family spokesman.

Critics say not spending federal welfare money is especially appalling in a state like Ohio.

In August, the U.S. Census Bureau announced that Cleveland was the poorest big city in America. Cincinnati, according to 2005 census estimates, was ranked eighth, making Ohio the only state in the country with two cities among the 10 poorest.

In addition, Ohio has one of the largest piles of unspent federal welfare money in the country.

Right now, it's at about $700 million, state officials say.

"I think the state has a really poor track record of getting these programs up and running," said John Corlett, senior fellow at the Center for Community Solutions in Cleveland.

"This is why the state has such a large [federal welfare] reserve, because we don't seem to be able to administer these dollars in an appropriate way."

And it's unfortunate because there are real people out there with real needs. These grandparents are doing courageous work to help these grandchildren and keep them out of much more expensive settings.

"Abused and neglected children who aren't cared for by relatives end up in foster care, which costs the government much more money. Foster parents get about $600 a month per child in Cuyahoga County. Home safety inspections, training and other regulations add to that cost."

McCafferty is also concerned that kinship caregivers can get the kinship money only if they took legal custody or guardianship of the children on or after July 1, 2005.

State officials say they had to draw the line somewhere - whatever date they picked would have left families out. And, they say, the program was designed to encourage new caregivers to step forward.

McCafferty also criticized the program's limit of $3,500 per child, distributed over three years. The way the kinship incentive works, approved families receive $1,000 initially and $500 every six months after that until the limit is reached.

Kinship caregivers don't like that either.

"I think it stinks," said Johanne Farris, a 63-year-old woman who is raising her grandson in Shaker Heights. And Farris can't get the kinship money because she took custody of the 11-year-old before July 1, 2005.

"They didn't include those of us who've been doing this for all these years. They just left us out," said Farris.

"The attitude is that this is your grandchild and you should be happy to keep him. I'm not talking about joy, I'm talking about money.

"My loving him and caring for him doesn't fill his stomach, it doesn't put clothes on his back."