Policy & Practice articles from March 2002

Policy & Practice archives from March 2002

Letter from the executive director.(Brief Article)(Editorial)
March 1, 2002... Since assuming the APHSA executive director position last September, I've met with state and local human service leaders throughout the country. During these meetings, the current budget shortfall has consistently emerged as the primary concern...

Inside story.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... A cross the country, people are upset about the price of their prescription drugs. Who can blame them? They are sick; some may even need their medicine to live but prescription drugs costs so much. On the other side of the coin, for...

New Jersey. (Dispatches from the States).(Children's System of Care Initiative)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Children and their families often do not get the services they need when and where they need them, especially children with emotional and behavioral disturbances and those with multi-system involvement or complex needs. Families are often...

Poverty outlasts welfare reform. (News Watch).(Connecticut)(from the Hartford Courant)(Brief Article)(Reprint)
March 1, 2002... The Hartford Courant Welfare reform in Connecticut has moved people into jobs since 1996, but it has not significantly improved their well-being leaving many among the state's working poor, according to a detailed study. The extensive...

Prime cuts: Swift slashes welfare fraud investigators. (News Watch).(Massachusetts Acting Gov. Jane Swift)(from the Boston Herald)(Brief Article)(Reprint)
March 1, 2002... Boston Herald A state agency whose investigators recoup and prevent millions in welfare fraud was abolished by the Swift Administration in an effort to save $500,000. Acting Governor Jane Swift used the budget ax to cut 63 of the agency's...

Taft asks seniors for drug-bill help. (News Watch).(Ohio Gov. Bob Taft)(from the Cleveland Plain Dealer)(Brief Article)(Reprint)
March 1, 2002... The Plain Dealer Governor Bob Taft asked senior citizens to help him fight for a prescription drag discount program that faces opposition in the Ohio Senate. In a visit to a senior community center, Taft provided a group of seniors with...

Locke cuts back welfare programs. (News Watch).(Washington Gov. Gary Locke)(from Seattle Post-Intelligencer)(Brief Article)(Reprint)
March 1, 2002... Seattle Post-Intellinger Governor Gary Locke is eliminating nearly $60 million in welfare reform programs, partly by cutting 1,000 working poor families off subsidized child care, to fill a new deficit in welfare money. For years,...

High Court lets states vary rules on Medicaid. (News Watch).(from the Washington Post)(Brief Article)(Reprint)
March 1, 2002... The Washington Post The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that some states may continue to use a formula for allocating Medicaid benefits that requires spouses of nursing home residents to spend more of their own resources before qualifying for...

Runaway prescription drug costs. (A Conversation with Paul L. Jeffrey).(director of pharmacy for Massachusetts' Division of Medical Assistance)(Interview)
March 1, 2002... Prescription drug costs are the fastest growing segment of health care spending nationwide. Yet more than one-third of the 38 million people covered by Medicare have no prescription drug coverage, and many of those who are covered have limited...

Living on little: The stories of families with very low income and lessons for TANF reauthorization.(Temporary Assistance for Needy Families)(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2002... As the October 2002 deadline for reauthorizing the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant approaches, some current and former welfare recipients continue to struggle to support their families. Whether they are working,...

Client assessment and the next step in welfare reform.(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2002... The 1996 welfare reform legislation shifted welfare office caseworkers' primary responsibility from processing timely and accurate cash assistance payments to helping clients find and maintain employment. In the subsequent five years, the...

Unsung heroes: Relative caretakers in child-only cases.
March 1, 2002... Much attention has focused on families receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits. Yet, less attention has been given to TANF cases that do not have an adult receiving assistance. Such "child-only cases" are generally...

Low-Wage Workers in the New Economy. (Book Notes).
March 1, 2002... Edited by Richard Kazis and Marc S. Miller Since 1994, more than one million people, mostly women, have made the transition from welfare to employment. Welfare rolls have dropped by more than 50 percent nationwide and by as much as 90 percent...

Achieving Excellence in the Management of Human Service Organizations. (Book Notes).
March 1, 2002... By Peter M. Kettner Examines classical and contemporary theories of management, and examines ways to recruit, select, train, and nurture each employee in a way that encourages mutually supportive teamwork and generates a synergy that keeps...

Who Speaks for America's Children? The Role of Child Advocates in Public Policy. (Book Notes).
March 1, 2002... Edited by Carol J. DeVita and Rachel Mosher-Williams Serves as a valuable resource for anyone interested in creating effective strategies for child advocacy. Beyond cataloging current organizational efforts, it also identifies previous...

Our Do'ers profile.(Anita Bock, Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, California)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... In "Our Doers Profile," we highlight some of the hard-working and talented individuals in the public human services field. This issue features Anita Bock of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services in Los Angeles,...

Letter to the editor.(Letter to the Editor)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Marriage and Welfare Reform Patrick F. Fagan's article (Reforming Welfare and Restoring Marriage, December 2001) was disturbing because it is strongly slanted toward the legal state of marriage rather than the quality of marriage for the...