• Next meal elusive for hundreds of thousands of needy in D.C. area, By Annie Gowan, March 24, 2011, Washington Post: “More than 400,000 Washington area residents experienced periods of hunger and empty cupboards during the recession, including tens of thousands living in some of the country’s most affluent counties, according to a new study released Thursday. The study, “Map the Meal Gap,” used Agriculture Department, 2010 Census and unemployment data for a sweeping county-by-county portrait of hunger in America, from unemployed timber workers in the South to more than 1.7 million residents in Los Angeles with high unemployment and housing costs…”
• Millions of Americans can’t always afford food, By Kim Carollo, March 24, 2011, ABC News: “While many people may not think much about grabbing a bite to eat, for millions of Americans, it’s been a lot harder. A new report shows about 50 million people aren’t always sure how they’re going to afford their next meal. According to the Map the Meal Gap report by the hunger relief charity Feeding America, about 15 percent of American households experienced “food insecurity” at some time during 2009, or believed they didn’t have enough or couldn’t get enough money for food. The report uses food insecurity data gathered by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The report provides food insecurity rates for every county and congressional district in the country and also analyzes each county’s population to determine whether people are eligible for federal nutrition assistance programs…”
• Study: Tens of thousands have too little food, By Julie Wurth, March 24, 2011, Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette: “A new national hunger study says 79,000 people in East Central Illinois don’t have enough to eat — and more than half of them may not qualify for federal food assistance. About 15.5 percent of the 508,000 people in the 14-county region served by the Eastern Illinois Foodbank are classified as ‘food insecure,’ unable to get enough food on a regular basis, according to a study released Thursday by Feeding America, a national hunger-relief organization. The study, called “Map the Meal Gap,” provides numbers for the first time about food insecurity for each county and congressional district. Previously, that data was only available on a state-by-state basis from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, officials said…”
• Study: Minnesotans miss 100 million meals each year, By Julie Siple, March 25, 2011, Minnesota Public Radio: “A study released this week by the hunger relief organization Feeding America estimates that Minnesotans struggling with hunger collectively miss almost 100 million meals each year. The study says, nationwide, hungry people would need $21.3 billion to fill the gap in their food budgets. Work in Minnesota inspired the study. Rob Zeaske and his colleagues at Second Harvest Heartland food bank were looking for a better way to understand who needs help. ‘Traditionally we’ve measured hunger by who comes in for help, by who comes into a food shelf or who comes into a soup kitchen,’ Zeaske said. ‘The attempt was - how do we make a better estimate of who’s out there needing assistance, and how badly, but might not be getting help?’ Feeding America ran with that idea. The national study they released Thursday does two things that hadn’t been done before. It estimates the number of people struggling with hunger in each U.S. county. And it puts a number on how many meals people are missing…”

Audit finds progress at Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare, By Crocker Stephenson, March 13, 2011, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Some good news: The number of children neglected or abused while in out-of-home care in Milwaukee’s child welfare system is at a historic low. Some more: The raw number of children in out-of-home care has declined. Staff turnover has begun to stabilize. Caseloads are down. And more: Monthly face-to-face contacts between caseworkers and foster children are up. Health care services have improved. Following public outrage ignited by the murder of a small boy two years ago, officials vowed to revamp Milwaukee’s child welfare system. In particular, they promised to make it a safer place for the city’s abused and neglected children. While significant challenges remain - most significantly, too many children still spend too long churning through too many homes while in state care - many of the promises made then have been kept…”

Sacramento County’s neediest must wait weeks for aid, By Brad Branan, February 25, 2011, Sacramento Bee: “Sacramento County’s poorest residents are waiting longer to receive cash assistance because of a double whammy common to social service programs these days. The county has fewer caseworkers even as the need for services has increased. The county tries to finish applications for its General Assistance program within six weeks, or two weeks longer than it did a year ago, said Paul Lake, director of the Human Assistance Department. Applications are taking as long as two months to approve, he said. Advocates for the poor, however, say claims are taking two months to three months to complete. The county is hurting these people because they have no other money to survive, advocates say…”

Social service funding dries up, By Kristen Consillio, February 4, 2011, Honolulu Star Advertiser: “Social service programs for the state’s most needy population will terminate on April 1 to save the Department of Human Services $84 million over the next two years and three months. The department is facing a $116 million budget deficit and will eliminate funding for 41 children, youth and family programs such as Read Aloud America, Big Brothers Big Sisters and the Institute for Human Services. Patricia McManaman, interim human services director, said the department decided to cut funding for the services under the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program so it could keep intact job training and welfare programs…”

Utah foster care placements up 38% in past decade, legislative audit finds, By Marjorie Cortez, January 19, 2011, Deseret News: “The fallout of the 1993 federal lawsuit that challenged Utah’s child welfare practices may be a 38 percent increase in children being placed in foster care, a new legislative audit suggests. ‘Others believe the David C. vs. Leavitt lawsuit has made DCFS (the Division of Child and Family Services) and court staff risk averse and led them to protect children in foster care more than in-home,’ according to a performance audit of the Division of Child and Family Services released Tuesday. DCFS has operated under a court-appointed monitor for more than a decade under the lawsuit. Federal oversight ended in 2007. During the past decade, foster care placements in Utah have increased by 38 percent while the number of families that receive in-home supports that allow children to stay in their family homes has decreased by 40 percent, the audit by Legislative Auditor General shows…”

• More families became homeless in recession, By Henri E. Cauvin, January 13, 2011, Washington Post: “During the throes of the recession, the number of homeless people in the United States increased, and the number of homeless families increased at an even greater rate, according to a report released Wednesday. The findings by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, although not surprising, confirm the harsh toll that the recession - which began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009 - took on families. Historically, people struggling with mental illness, substance abuse or other chronic problems have been the focus of government homelessness efforts, and until recently the number of such homeless people had been declining. But the recession, which has led to rising unemployment and declining social services, has slowed progress among the chronically homeless and increased numbers of the newly homeless, among them many families, according to the alliance’s report…”
• Foreclosures, homelessness surge in Alabama, By Jeremy Gray, January 13, 2011, Birmingham News: “The number of foreclosed homes across Alabama doubled between 2008 and 2009, even as the state’s total homeless population grew 13 percent, according to a report released Wednesday by the National Alliance to End Homelessness. The alliance used data from federal agencies to monitor the change in the homeless population, with 30 other states and Washington, D.C., reporting increases. There were an estimated 6,080 homeless people in Alabama as of 2009, according to the report. The nation’s total homeless population grew 3 percent in that time to a total of 656,129. Also, between 2008 and 2009, the number of homeless families in Alabama grew 7 percent, while the number of unsheltered homeless — those who live on the street or in cars or abandoned homes — grew 40 percent…”
• Homelessness on the rise, By Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje, January 13, 2011, San Antonio Express-News: “The homeless population across the country increased by about 20,000 people, or 3 percent, at the height of the recession between 2008 and 2009, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. A new report from the alliance shows the increases were across the board - families, individuals, the unsheltered and the chronically homeless. In San Antonio, the most recent survey found 3,580 people lived in shelters or on the streets in 2010, compared with 3,303 in 2009…”

Va. Tech helps with foster care, By Kafia A. Hosh, January 10, 2011, Washington Post: “In the 1990s, Fairfax County experienced a surge in the number of foster care cases, mirroring a national increase. Yet the county’s budget was stretched thin, and busy social workers and other county employees had little time to navigate a maze of external government programs from which certain clients could benefit. Facing an overwhelming case-load, the county teamed up with Virginia Tech to launch a pilot program that checked whether a child was eligible for federal and state funding. ‘It was tough for [social workers] to have these responsibilities and work with the families,’ said Melony A. Price-Rhodes, a principal investigator and the program’s director with Virginia Tech. Since then, the program, which officials say is the first and most extensive of its kind in the United States, has saved Fairfax millions of dollars. It has been a model for similar programs in Hawaii and California. The annual contract, valued at about $500,000, saved Fairfax $4.63 million in fiscal 2010, county officials said - for every $1 the county spent on the program, it got back $8…”

• Shelters try ‘housing first’ protocol to help homeless people, By Bill Laitner, December 29, 2010, Detroit Free Press: “An innovative way to help homeless people, called housing first, has dramatically shortened their stays in the South Oakland Shelter system based in Royal Oak and could make shelter programs statewide more effective, experts said. By making permanent housing the first priority at the South Oakland Shelter and addressing other needs — such as job training — later, average stays dropped from four months to 28 days since summer, Executive Director Ryan Hertz said. The organization houses an average of 30 men, women and children at a time, rotating them through 67 churches and synagogues, where volunteers set up cots and serve meals. ‘We’re turning over our beds much faster, so we can help more people,’ Hertz said. But the housing-first approach has taken more than a decade to gain wide acceptance across Michigan because it requires homeless people, shelters’ clients, to have incomes, and there must be safe housing available that they can afford, Wayne State University psychologist and homelessness expert Paul Toro said…”
• New face of homelessness is a family, Dallas-area agencies say, By Kim Horner, January 7, 2011, Dallas Morning News: “First, they stayed with family. Then, they rented a trailer. Finally, they went to a shelter. Katrina Stephens, Alan Charles Walker and their three young children became homeless after Walker’s construction work dried up. Now, the family lives in a modest East Dallas apartment as part of Family Gateway’s transitional housing program. Stephens plans to finish school to become a medical assistant this spring. ‘We’re back on track,’ she said. The economy has taken a similar toll on thousands of families nationwide - and the numbers are rising. About 80,000 families - typically a single woman with young children - are homeless on any given night, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Families are the fastest-growing homeless population, according to Family Gateway and other local agencies…”

Despite predictions, new report shows decrease in number of US children suffering abuse, By David Crary (AP), December 16, 2010, Los Angeles Times: “The rate of child maltreatment in the U.S. decreased in 2009 for the third consecutive year, according to new federal figures. Although the decrease was slight, it ran counter to the predictions of some experts that the onset of the recession in late 2008 would trigger an upsurge of abuse. The annual report from the Department of Health and Human Services, issued Thursday, said the estimated number of victimized children dropped from 772,000 in 2008 to 763,000 last year. That’s down from 903,000 in 2006. The rate of abuse was 10.1 per 1,000 children, down from 10.3 in 2008, to reach the lowest level since the current tracking system began in 1990. The number of fatalities arising from abuse and neglect, however, rose slightly, from 1,740 in 2008 to 1,770 last year…”

Following Felix: Special education in Hawaii 5 years after federal oversight, series homepage, December 15, 2010, Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

As budget cuts loom, aid agencies fear worst, By David Abel, December 16, 2010, Boston Globe: “Having been hit hard in recent years, as budget cuts have taken a steady toll and demands for their services have spiked, the state’s social service providers now worry that the worst is yet to come. The Patrick administration announced this week that it intends to cut as much as $1.5 billion from next year’s budget, potentially eviscerating social services statewide. The cuts have loomed for months as political leaders and economists warned of a shortfall for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. With Patrick and state lawmakers saying they need to make between $1 billion to $2 billion in reductions and with federal stimulus money exhausted, the reality of an even worse year is sinking in. Providers are pleading for the governor to spare them…”

• Colo. food banks see “staggering” increase in need, By Colleen O’Connor, November 18, 2010, Denver Post: “Colorado’s five major food banks distributed more than 76 million pounds of food throughout the state last year, a 25 percent increase over the previous year, and experts expect worse to come. ‘Already, this fiscal year . . . is on pace for another 7 to 10 percent increase over the prior year, which makes that a 32 to 35 percent increase over a two-year time period,’ said Kevin Seggelke, president and chief executive of Food Bank of the Rockies. ‘That’s just a staggering number. The worst news is that we continue to hear that even if the economy (goes) back to pre-2008 levels, there may be a gap of 18 to 24 months’ before the number of people swamping state food banks returns to pre-recession levels, he said. A report released this week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows that food insecurity - the lack of consistent access to a nutritious, balanced diet - remained relatively stable in 2009, with the number of U.S. households classified as food insecure increasing slightly to 17.7 million from 17.6 million in 2008…”
• Employed but low-income N.J. families struggle to find assistance, By Carmen Juri, November 14, 2010, Star-Ledger: “Before the economic slump, Contina Wright and her family enjoyed the creature comforts of a middle-class lifestyle. Wright and her husband, a construction worker, spent money freely, vacationed, dined out regularly and had enough left over for savings. ‘We had everything covered,’ said Wright, 38. All that changed when the housing market plunged. With construction jobs scarce, Wright became the sole breadwinner in a family of six. Unable to pay bills, the family hit rock bottom last year and had to live at a homeless shelter for two months. These days, Wright and her family are actually lucky they found a shelter for the underemployed…”
• Hunger grows in Oregon, according to report, By Jillian Daley, November 19, 2010, Salem Statesman Journal: “Oregon is the third-hungriest state in the United States, according to a recently released report. About 6.6 percent of 1,514,000 Oregon households (about 500,000 people) had very low food security, meaning they did not have regular access to healthy food, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report released Tuesday. The number of Oregonians suffering from low or very low food security is two percentage points higher than it was in a 2004-06 study…”

Nebraska groups criticize child welfare reform effort, By Margery A. Beck (AP), November 10, 2010, Lincoln Journal Star: “Several groups complained publicly Wednesday that agencies hired by the state to manage parts of Nebraska’s child welfare system have refused to work with attorneys in cases involving state wards, failed to return phone calls or even tell authorities where foster children have been placed for weeks. Voices for Children in Nebraska, Nebraska Appleseed and others gathered in Lincoln to release a letter signed by more than 800 organizations and individuals calling on the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services for more information, transparency and accountability in the state’s child welfare reform process. The letter is being sent to Gov. Dave Heineman and officials with the state Health and Human Services Department…”

• Program seeks to aid hard-core homeless, By Alexandra Zavis, November 9, 2010, Los Angeles Times: “Prominent business leaders are putting their weight behind a plan that they say could make a major dent in homelessness in Los Angeles County, embracing a strategy that will face significant political opposition. The blueprint they plan to unveil Tuesday seeks to put a permanent roof over the heads of the most entrenched street dwellers, then provide them as much counseling and treatment as they will use. Because the chronically homeless take up a disproportionate share of resources, the plan’s authors argue that focusing on housing them will ultimately free up services for the many more people who need only temporary help to get back on their feet…”
• Solving homelessness will require cooperation, Editorial, November 9, 2010, Los Angeles Times: “Los Angeles remains the nation’s homelessness capital, with almost 48,000 people living around the county on streets, in cars and in shelters, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority. About a fourth of them are chronically homeless, burdened in many cases by physical and mental ailments that make it hard for them to reintegrate into society. The magnitude and intractability of the problem haven’t stopped policymakers and homeless advocates from offering plan after plan for improving the situation, but none has made much of a dent in the homeless population. On Tuesday, yet another group will weigh in: the Business Leaders Task Force on Homelessness, a project organized by the local branches of the Chamber of Commerce and the United Way…”

A haven for homeless veterans, By David Abel, November 8, 2010, Boston Globe: “Like too many veterans of the Vietnam War, Tom Clark has been homeless for years. Now he’s making a list of all the domestic items he will soon need - a loveseat, vacuum cleaner, an iron - and considering things he never imagined would be a concern, such as how to match his bedding with curtains. ‘This is unbelievable that this is possible,’ said Clark, 58, a former Marine corporal, as he shared his list of household items with fellow veterans from nearby shelters who will join him this month in a new, daintily manicured complex in Pittsfield. It is the nation’s first community of its kind for homeless veterans and part of a new approach to fighting homelessness: Instead of moving those without homes into overcrowded emergency shelters or transitional places far from services, the $6.1 million project that looks like a high-end condo complex provides them with attractive one-bedroom and studio apartments for as long as they want to stay. The new community, which was built beside a shelter for veterans and includes an array of mental health and addiction services, allows the veterans to buy in with a $2,500 deposit and, depending on the size of the apartment, make regular payments of either $640 or $740 from their disability checks or other income to an association that they run…”

Mergers, program cuts recommended to trim state budget, By Cy Ryan, October 29, 2010, Las Vegas Sun: “Merging agencies, shifting programs to local government and cutting benefits to low-income residents are among proposals to save millions of dollars as the state faces a financial crunch. The fiscal staff of the Legislature on Thursday outlined more than 20 ideas for efficiencies and savings in the upcoming budget. State agencies have produced initial budgets with 10 percent reductions. The legislative financial division has additional suggestions the 2011 session might consider…”

Privatizing child welfare near, By Martha Stoddard, October 26, 2010, Omaha World-Herald: “Department of Health and Human Services officials hope to take a first step this week in replacing child welfare workers with private contractors. Agency spokeswoman Kathie Osterman said Monday that the agency’s staff is working on documents justifying the change. The documents are expected to be submitted to the Department of Administrative Services for approval ‘within the week,” she said. The justification is required by a 1995 state law. But some legislators are questioning the agency’s plans and its timeline. State Sen. Gwen Howard of Omaha, a former state caseworker, said she is concerned that the change is being rushed through without legislative oversight. She said numerous questions need to be answered in light of the problems experienced already in the move toward privatizing care of state wards…”

A growing problem: Fresh out of foster care and homeless, By Carol Smith, October 18, 2010, Seattle Post-Intelligencer: “Fueled by high unemployment and high housing costs, shelters for young adults in King County are turning people away in record numbers. The legacy of a failing foster care system and young people stranded by the crack epidemic of the late 1980s, the record demand experienced by these shelters illustrates a new face of homelessness, and comes even as the number of beds for young adults has been expanding. Homeless families are overwhelmingly headed by young women with young children. Yet the group driving this trend — young adults ages 18-24 — is generally under-counted and under-represented when solutions are envisioned. Relatively few resources are being directed to prevent them from producing new generations of homeless families…”

• Chronic homelessness down 42 percent, new Utah report says, By Marjorie Cortez, October 13, 2010, Deseret News: “Utah has experienced a 42 percent downturn in chronic homelessness from the previous year, a new report shows. Researchers and human services providers attribute the decline to a 10-year initiative that places the homeless in housing sooner and connects them to an array of services and case management to deal with issues that contribute to homelessness…”
• Number of homeless Utah kids skyrockets, By Julia Lyon, October 14, 2010, Salt Lake Tribune: “The lingering recession has taken a toll on Utah’s youngest residents, leading to a 48 percent increase in the number of homeless school-age children since 2008, according to state data released Wednesday. Nearly 12,000 children were homeless in January 2010, meaning their families had lost their homes and were typically staying with friends or relatives, officials said at the annual Homeless Summit in downtown Salt Lake City. In the Salt Lake City School District this fall, one girl was staying with friends after her mother was deported. Another teenager stayed with relatives, finishing high school in Utah after his family left the state for work in Montana. Statewide, the numbers of homeless children jumped from 8,016 in 2008 to 10,388 in 2009 and 11,883 in 2010…”
• D.C. still lacks enough shelter for homeless families, By Nathan Rott, October 13, 2010, Washington Post: “With cold weather just weeks away, the District has shelved a plan to expand its already packed shelter for homeless families at the former D.C. General Hospital, a decision that advocates fear could leave vulnerable families even worse off than last winter. A month after pledging to do a better job of sheltering the city’s homeless this winter, District leaders haven’t figured out how best to meet that promise. Meanwhile, the Family Emergency Shelter, which can house 135 families, is nearly full. And last week, 67 more families were waiting for emergency housing, with no place else to go, according to Omega Butler, chief of operations at the Virginia Williams Resource Center, which helps find housing for homeless families…”
• R.I. homeless shelters to reach record number of visits in 2010, By Chris Barrett, October 14, 2010, Providence Business News: “Visits to homeless shelters will reach record levels in 2010, the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless predicted Thursday. The advocacy group expects 4,340 people will visit shelters by the Dec. 31, the highest number since records started 25 years ago. Last year, 3,371 people visited shelters…”

• Governor’s veto ax falls heavily on welfare, child care and special education programs, By Jack Dolan and Shane Goldmacher, October 9, 2010, Los Angeles Times: “Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday vetoed nearly $1 billion in spending on welfare, child care, special education and other programs before signing the budget bill that lawmakers had passed about eight hours earlier after a marathon overnight session. The governor slashed 23 line items from the $87.5-billion general fund budget, including $256 million from a program for school-age children of families moving off welfare, $133 million from mental health services for special education students and nearly $60 million from AIDS treatment and prevention programs. Schwarzenegger did not explain his actions, but a report issued by his finance department said the savings from his vetoes would ‘create a prudent reserve for economic uncertainties.’ The state’s reserve for emergencies such as battling wildfires will grow from $375 million to $1.3 billion, the report said. Advocates for the poor said the governor’s cuts were too deep, especially after a months-long standoff had produced a compromise spending plan that largely spared health and welfare programs from the ax…”
• Governor’s vetoes to strike local day care, other social services, By James Burger, October 11, 2010, Bakersfield Californian: “Linnea Hood found out over the weekend that she’s going to lose her job providing day care to the children of low-income families in Oildale. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used his line-item veto power Friday to slash the state budget and remove $256 million of statewide funding for a program that helps those families in the final stages of leaving welfare to pay for day care. Hood said she’s not worried about the job she has working for her daughter who runs the large day care. ‘My main concern is the children,’ she said. Her daughter was forced to tell the parents of all but five of the children she cares for that they will have to find a new place to take their kids. Hood said the day care can’t afford to discount care enough to keep the children there and, even if they did, parents who have fought to land an $8-an-hour job couldn’t afford to pay for their day care without help. ‘These aren’t career welfare people who are just sitting on their butt. They’re out there working,’ Hood said. ‘We’re going to take care of our (state) budget on the back of our children.’ P.H. Walker, deputy director of the state Department of Finance, said he could not speak about local impacts of the governor’s nearly two dozen line-item vetoes. Schwarzenegger made the cuts to strengthen the state’s rainy-day reserve, increasing it from the ‘razor-thin’ neighborhood of $300 million to $1.3 billion, Walker said…”

Child abuse investigations didn’t reduce risk, a study finds, By Nicholas Bakalar, October 11, 2010, New York Times: “Child Protective Services investigated more than three million cases of suspected child abuse in 2007, but a new study suggests that the investigations did little or nothing to improve the lives of those children. In 1973, Congress passed the Child Protective Services Act, designed to encourage more thorough and accurate reporting and record-keeping in child abuse cases. In New York, for example, there are now Child Protective Services offices in every county, paid for in part with federal funds. Researchers examined the records of 595 children nationwide, all at similar high risk for maltreatment, tracking them from ages 4 to 8. During those years, Child Protective Services investigated the families of 164 of these children for suspected abuse or neglect. The scientists then interviewed all the families four years later, comparing the investigated families with the 431 families that had not been investigated. The scientists looked at several factors: social support, family functioning, poverty, caregiver education and depressive symptoms, and child anxiety, depression and aggressive behavior - all known to increase the risk for abuse or neglect. But they were unable to find any differences in the investigated families compared with the uninvestigated in any of these dimensions, except that maternal depressive symptoms were worse in households that had been visited…”

• Hard choices: Oregon can’t keep up with rising health, social services costs, By Michelle Cole, September 28, 2010, The Oregonian: “The Great Recession placed a heavy burden on Oregon: Nearly one in five people relies on the state to help put food on the table. More than 635,000 depended on government-provided health care last year. Tens of thousands of seniors, children and people with disabilities counted on the state for help. Looking ahead to the next state budget, it’s clear that Oregon cannot afford those same services for all who need them. Even if state government spent every dollar of new revenue on health and human services and none of that money on schools, police or prisons, it would still come up $200 million short. Complicating the math: More than $1 billion in federal stimulus and other supports that helped the Oregon Department of Human Services and the newly formed Oregon Health Authority cope with record demand will dry up as of July 1…”
• $281M cut from state social programs ‘devastating,’ advocates say, By Janet I. Tu and Carol M. Ostrom, September 29, 2010, Seattle Times: “Cutting programs for the mentally ill, disabled and poor elderly residents, the state’s Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) announced Wednesday a wide swath of reductions totaling nearly $281 million and bringing a flood of concern from advocates for the poor and vulnerable. The 6.3 percent across-the-board cuts, some of which will begin in October, include nearly $113 million of state funding for Medicaid programs providing hospice care to the dying, and medical care for those too disabled to work, children and pregnant women, among others. The cuts are being made in response to Gov. Chris Gregoire’s directive to pare spending to help balance the state’s budget, as required by the state constitution…”

California extends foster-care help to young adults, By Vauhini Vara, October 1, 2010, Wall Street Journal: “California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill Thursday extending foster-care support to young adults between the ages of 18 and 21, a move cited as a bellwether by child-welfare advocates. The new benefits ‘will ensure our foster youth have access to important resources as they transition into adulthood,’ Mr. Schwarzenegger said. Previously, benefits ended at age 18 or 19. Because a federal law enacted two years ago helps pay for such an extension and other foster-care services previously borne by the state, California-which faces a $19.1 billion budget deficit for the fiscal year ending in June-doesn’t expect to incur any additional costs. ..”

• Fewer kids in foster care in Pennsylvania, Allegheny County, By Jill King Greenwood, September 21, 2010, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: “A report to be released today finds Pennsylvania is making ’significant progress’ in safely reducing the number of children living in foster care. That number fell almost 12 percent between this year and last, according to the Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group in Harrisburg. ‘Pennsylvania’s child welfare system serves some of the most vulnerable children and families in our communities. It is critically important that we continue to monitor the performance of this essential safety net,’ said Joan L. Benso, president of the partnership. The report compared data collected between April 1, 2009, and March 31 with the previous year, and drew from all 67 counties in the state. The declines are being achieved without endangering children’s safety, the report said, because repeat cases of child abuse did not measurably increase and re-entry into foster care declined…”
• Fostering good care results, By Peter Hall, September 24, 2010, Bucks County Courier Times: “The number of Bucks County children in foster care declined, while the number of children who left foster homes for permanent homes increased last year, according to a report released Tuesday by a child welfare advocacy group. In Montgomery County, the number of children in foster care dropped only slightly and the number of children who found permanent homes stayed level. But indicators of child welfare performance in both Bucks and Montgomery in those and many other areas examined in the report were better than the average for other urban counties or Pennsylvania as a whole…”

Education Dept. awards grants to 21 distressed communities to plan for ‘Promise Neighborhoods’, By Christine Armario (AP), September 21, 2010, Los Angeles Times: “Organizers in distressed communities from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., will soon begin plans to create what the Department of Education envisions as ‘Promise Neighborhoods,’ where children and families receive support services that boost a student’s chance of being successful in school. Twenty-one applicants for the program to transform communities and student outcomes were named on Tuesday. They will receive planning grants of up to $500,000. ‘Communities across the country recognize that education is the one true path out of poverty,’ Education Secretary Arne Duncan said. ‘These Promise Neighborhoods applicants are committed to putting schools at the center of their work to provide comprehensive services for young children and students.’ The program is modeled after the Harlem Children’s Zone, which provides comprehensive support for families from pregnancy through birth, education through college and career. Children in the program’s charter schools have made impressive gains on standardized tests and in closing the achievement gap…”

When family fails | A child’s stability, a parent’s rights, By Crocker Stephenson, September 19, 2010, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

• How we reported this: “To help people gain a clearer understanding of how the child welfare system works in Milwaukee County, reporter Crocker Stephenson and photojournalist Kristyna Wentz-Graff received unprecedented access to two cases that reveal how the parties involved try to balance child safety with parents’ rights and the goal of a stable home life. The journalists spent more than eight months tracking three families - two mothers seeking to be reunified with their children and a foster couple hoping to adopt a child they have cared for since shortly after her birth…”
• Struggle to reunite families can hurt children: “Brandy remembers that night, in early spring 2009, settling a $5 chunk of crack on the tip of her pipe. The pipe is a metal tube, blackened by frequent use on one end. The other end, which she places to her lips, is wrapped for protection with a torn matchbook cover and a piece of duct tape. She sits at her kitchen table in a public housing complex on the city’s north side. On the table is a black plate. On the plate are two more $5 pieces of crack. The black plate helps Brandy see them: nickel rocks, the size of peas. A fluorescent light hums above her head. Above the sink behind her is a plaster relief of Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘The Last Supper.’ Brandy started smoking crack in her late teens. Thought she could control it. Thought it would keep her thin. Now she’s a heavyset 40-year-old addict, a pipe in her right hand, a lighter in her left. She is alone. Two sons - their father uninvolved - in foster care. Another son living with Brandy’s on-again, off-again boyfriend. A daughter living with another father’s relatives. Another daughter, yet another father, grown and with a child of her own…”
• Lives tipped upside down: “Brandy’s vow in the spring of 2009 to regain custody of her two sons would require not only that she quit using drugs but that she also display an ability to keep the boys safe and provide for their well-being. Her most recent attempt at reunification had been a crashing failure. After nearly a year of sobriety, Brandy had been reunited with Tae and Shakiem in November 2006. At the time, Brandy was 39 years old and pregnant with her third son, who would be born in January 2007. In April 2007, Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare caseworker Kelly Smith, believing the boys, after years of moving from foster home to foster home, had successfully found permanency with their mother, filed a request to end bureau services to the reunified family by the year’s end. ‘Brandy recently gave birth to a healthy baby boy and the new addition and transition has been successful,’ Smith noted in the boys’ court files. In truth, Brandy was barely holding on…”
• Motherhood put to the test: “It is early spring 2010. In a few minutes, Tae and Shakiem will arrive for an extended unsupervised visit with their mother.  They will be with Brandy for a week. She says she is exhausted already. A drug addict for more than two decades, Brandy has been clean for about a year - since March 2009 - but lately, night after night, she says, she dreams she is using again. ‘Nightmares,’ she says. Brandy’s sons - Tae is 12 and Shakiem is 10 - are among the more than 2,000 Milwaukee County children who, because of abuse or neglect, have been removed from their families and placed in out-of-home care by the state-run Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare. The brothers have been in and out of foster care for most of their lives and have moved from one home to another more than a dozen times. The bureau is moving Tae and Shakiem toward reunification with their mom. They’ve been reunified with their mother before. Twice. Both times, the reunification failed. ‘Insanity,’ Brandy says before the boys arrive, ‘is repeating the same thing and expecting different results. Here I am. Repeating.’ Not quite, though, she hopes…”

New data: Many fewer US kids in foster care, By David Crary (AP), August 31, 2010, Washington Post: “The number of U.S. children in foster care has dropped 8 percent in just one year, and more than 20 percent in the past decade, according to new federal figures underscoring the impact of widespread reforms. The drop, hailed by child-welfare advocates, is due largely to a shift in the policies and practices of state and county child welfare agencies. Many have been shortening stays in foster care, speeding up adoptions and expanding preventive support for troubled families so more children avoid being removed from their homes in the first place. The new figures, released Tuesday by the Department of Health and Human Services, show there were 423,773 children in foster care as of Sept. 30. That’s down from 460,416 a year earlier and from more than 540,000 a decade ago…”

The high cost of our homeless, By Jenel Few, August 22, 2010, Savannah Morning News: “For the past 12 years, Samuel Wayne Anderson has spent most nights in a shelter, a cheap motel, a makeshift campsite or a cell at the Chatham County jail. The 72-year-old veteran with a long, white beard and penchant for liquor spends most of his days hanging out in downtown Savannah. He’s a regular at the Inner City Night Shelter and the free health clinics downtown. Many know him as the man who totes an open 32-ounce bottle of King Cobra, asks tourists for change and makes it hard for them to enjoy the scenic squares in the Historic District. Anderson is chronically homeless. He has family in Ellabell that love him. His son Stephen Anderson is currently serving with the military in Iraq. But for whatever reason, the old man’s preference for alcohol and a solitary life has drawn him to the street for most of his adult life…”

Deep cuts in family services proposed for 2012-13, By Corrie MacLaggan, August 20, 2010, Austin American-Statesman: “More than 14,000 Texans who are now in state programs designed to prevent child abuse, neglect and delinquency would lose those services under a state budget-cutting proposal, according to Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Tom Suehs. The Department of Family and Protective Services is suggesting cutting its prevention and early intervention programs by $73.7 million - 84 percent - in the face of the state’s projected $18 billion shortfall for the 2012-2013 budget. The programs contract with nonprofits and local governments to provide services such as mentoring, parenting classes and family crisis intervention counseling. Advocates for at-risk children say that the cuts would be disastrous for low-income families, who are the primary recipients of such services. And they say that stripping programs designed to keep children out of the juvenile justice and child welfare systems would be costlier to the state in the long term…”

Students raised in foster care to get priority housing at California universities, By Larry Gordon, Los Angeles Times: “It can be lonely spending the summer in a mainly vacant college dormitory. But it’s a worthwhile tradeoff for Daysi Espinoza, who’s grateful to have a room at Cal State Fullerton to call home. For Espinoza and hundreds of other former foster youths attending California’s public universities, dorm rooms provide a much-needed stable residence. While classmates can retreat to childhood bedrooms and their families’ embrace, these students are often on their own and want to stay in their dorms during vacations. ‘It’s definitely important,’” said Espinoza, 19, who lived in foster homes through most of middle school and high school. ‘Personally, having guaranteed housing has helped me so much.’ State universities are paying much more attention these days to the academic, financial and housing needs of the relatively small group of former foster youths who are enrolled there. About 700 are enrolled at UC campuses and 1,200 in the Cal State system, plus several thousand at community colleges who might transfer to those four-year schools, estimates show…”

Child care subsidies keep ‘poorest of the poor’ at work, By Yvonne Wenger, July 25, 2010, Charleston Post and Courier: “Five months and 100-plus job applications after Tamara Townsend’s boss laid her off from her full-time job with a steady paycheck, the 30-year-old single mother finally found work in May. But this job is commission-only selling alarm systems. Some weeks she doesn’t clear a dime. Whether she scores a sale or not doesn’t change the fact that she has to pay for full-time day care for her 7- and 4-year-old daughters. Townsend moved back into her parents’ West Ashley home after she lost her job at a car dealership that went under in December. She was able to secure a scholarship to help offset her weekly bill at Preschool Academy. Still, juggling the cost of child care and a job that isn’t paying the bills makes it hard to justify working. But Townsend doesn’t want to give up trying. It’s a matter of pride and not wanting to set a bad example for her girls. Townsend has joined the growing ranks of middle- and low-income families that can’t afford child care. The Great Recession and lingering economic slump have left many parents to choose between work or staying home, depending on one income or turning to government assistance…”

• Governor signs bill to assist children aging out of foster care, By Doug Denison, July 20, 2010, Dover Post: ” Children aging out of the foster care system now have access to greater protections under the law thanks to legislation signed June 14 by Gov. Jack Markell. Under Senate Bill 113, former foster children between the ages of 18 and 21 will now be allowed to petition Family Court and continue to work with the Department of Services for Children, Youth and their Families to get help with housing, employment, education and health care. Court-appointed child advocates, former guardians and the foster children themselves will be able to bring cases to Family Court that weren’t previously within its jurisdiction. In the last fiscal year, 94 Delaware foster children aged out of the system, putting in jeopardy their ability to continue to receive various kinds of federal- and state-funded assistance. Ten years ago, half as many children were in that position…”
• Foster kids at 18 aren’t ready to go it alone in the world, By Kathy Markeland, July 24, 2010, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Each year, more than 7,000 Wisconsin children are removed from their parents’ homes and placed in foster care. Most of these children will live with relatives or foster parents for a short time and then be reunited with their families. Sometimes families can’t be reunited and children are connected to new families through adoption. But for up to 600 young people in Wisconsin each year, their stay in foster care ends when they turn 18 and ‘age out’ of their foster home. They ‘age out’ of the system that promised to protect them. The national data on the experiences of youths that age out of the foster care system are grim. Compared to their peers in the general population, these young people have a higher incidence of physical and mental health needs, yet are less likely to have health care coverage…”

Too old for foster care, youths struggle, By Catherine Jun, July 21, 2010, Detroit News:”A growing number of youths in Michigan are reaching adult age while in foster care, a situation experts fear leaves them vulnerable to homelessness, poverty and incarceration.
State and welfare agencies say a lack of funding has been the greatest obstacle to getting these youths the safety net they need when they age out of the system. When they’re pushed out onto the streets at age 19 after years of jumping from home to home, the trauma of being separated from their families and getting inconsistent adult guidance destines them to multiple problems, said Paul Toro, professor of psychology at Wayne State University…”

Strain on aid agencies rises with jobless extensions stopped, By Sean F. Driscoll, July 14, 2010, Rockford Register Star: “All Kim Adams-Bakke has to do to judge the effect of lapsed unemployment benefits is listen to the chatter in the Rock River Valley Food Pantry’s waiting room. ‘I hear a lot of people talking about them and what will happen if the extension doesn’t go through,’ said the pantry’s executive director. ‘We know this is affecting us.’ It’s been 44 days since funding for 73 weeks of unemployment extensions lapsed, with efforts since to revive them ending in congressional stalemates. The benefits are in addition to the 26 weeks’ coverage offered by the states. More than 100,000 Illinoisans have prematurely exhausted their benefits before being able to take advantage of the four tiers of extensions available. Although a Senate vote on the funding is expected next week, it’s far from a sure thing that Democrats will garner the 60 votes they need to overcome a filibuster and pass the measure. The uncertainty has social service agencies like the food pantry preparing for the worst in the midst of an already challenging year…”

Oregon foster care improves in latest federal review, By Jessica Van Berkel, July 14, 2010, The Oregonian: “Three years after Oregon failed most of the federal requirements for the safety and well-being of children in foster care, a second review has shown significant improvement. Oregon met or exceeded all six federal goals, including returning foster children to their families sooner, reducing abuse and maltreatment, and moving children less frequently while they’re in foster care. Regional officials from the U.S. Administration for Children and Families, which conducts the reviews, commended Oregon’s improvement. But there’s still a long way to go, state officials in child welfare said. Three Oregon-specific goals approved by federal officials were not met: keeping children out of long-term foster care, providing services to families to help children remain safely at home, and responding in a timely manner to reports of abuse and neglect…”

Delaware’s children: On their own after foster care, By Mike Chalmers, July 14, 2010, Wilmington News Journal: “One day when Lorri Moxey was 13, her mother told her she needed a yearlong break from her kids. ‘When I walked into the house, all my stuff was packed and there was a van parked outside,’ said Moxey, now 20. ‘I didn’t know what foster care was,’ she said. ‘I didn’t know where I was going. By the age of 14, I knew she wasn’t coming back. She doesn’t want to be a mother.’ Like many teenagers who enter Delaware’s foster care system, Moxey was not adopted and never went back to her family. She ‘aged out’ of the system when she finished high school last summer at age 19. Most leave when they turn 18. Moxey got lucky, though. One of her former foster mothers took her in until she could get on her feet. But others struggle with the transition to adulthood and may end up homeless, in jail or addicted to drugs, experts said. With the number of teenagers aging out of the system nearly doubling in the past decade, Delaware is about to make big changes to help them line up a home, a job, an education and the little things that new adults need to go out on their own…”

Ontario should adopt bold vision for welfare reform, By Laurie Monsebraaten, June 14, 2010, Toronto Star: “Ontario should adopt a bold vision for welfare reform that includes new income supports and services for all low-income residents, says a government-appointed panel in a report being released Monday. ‘We are currently investing billions into federal and provincial programs that too often trap people in poverty and fail to offer alternatives to social assistance,’ said Gail Nyberg of the Daily Bread Food Bank who chaired the panel of anti-poverty experts. ‘Tinkering with a broken system will not lead to different outcomes. It’s time to unleash a bold review,’ she said. Social Services Minister Madeleine Meilleur appointed the panel last December to advise the government on the scope and terms of reference for a review of social assistance, promised in 2008 as part of the Liberals’ anti-poverty strategy…”

More Hoosier kids put in foster care, By Tim Evans, June 9, 2010, Indianapolis Star: “It is among the most devastating and gut-wrenching decisions government can make: taking a child away from his or her parents. As child welfare experts understand more about the lasting effects of such a decision, social workers have sought new ways to support troubled families and keep children in their homes. That is one of the likely explanations for the most recent federal data that reveals a 7 percent drop in the number of U.S. children removed from their homes — the most significant one-year decline in a decade. But that’s not the case in Indiana. According to that same data, the number of Hoosier children removed and placed in foster care has climbed to an all-time high, 9,375 — a 22 percent jump in removals from 2007 to 2008. That means the Indiana Department of Child Services is removing, on average, about 180 children per week…”

City services for families in trouble could be cut, By Stephen Ceasar, June 8, 2010, New York Times: “The beating death of a 7-year-old, Nixzmary Brown, at the hands of her stepfather in 2006 helped prompt a series of reforms in New York’s child protection services, including a greater emphasis on providing intensive services to families with problems, from domestic abuse to mental illness, that put children in danger. The focus on preventing abuse has helped keep children safe, prevented families from being divided and avoided unnecessary referrals to costly foster care, according to children’s advocates. Now, under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s budget proposal, funding for preventive services for about 3,000 families could be cut. The city’s child protection agency, the Administration for Children’s Services, stands to lose $12.8 million for these services from the Bloomberg administration, which is trying to close a $5 billion deficit before the start of the fiscal year on July 1. And because the state matches city money for the agency, by nearly 2 to 1, the total reduction would amount to more than $35 million…”

Reforms help states cut foster-care populations, By David Crary (AP), June 5, 2010, Washington Post: “No single youngster can be the poster child for America’s foster care system, with its mix of happy endings and heartache. Yet Tatiana Fowler’s smile, as she embraces the woman who adopted her, gives a hint at the groundswell of change that is altering that mix for the better. Tatiana, 16, and her 15-year-old sister Brittany were adopted earlier this year by a cousin of their mother after four years in foster care. They became part of a dramatic trend in New York City, which has reduced its foster care population from nearly 28,000 in 2002 to under 16,000 this spring. Thanks to sizable reductions in several other states, it’s a coast-to-coast phenomenon - the latest federal data, from 2008, recorded 463,000 children in foster care nationally, down more than 11 percent from 523,000 in 2002…”

Indiana, IBM trade suits over welfare contract, Associated Press, May 13, 2010, Wall Street Journal: “Indiana and its former partner in welfare privatization, International Business Machines Corp., sued each other Thursday over the technology giant’s canceled 10-year, $1.37 billion contract to automate the state’s intake for food stamps, Medicaid and other benefits. Both lawsuits were filed in Marion County courts in Indianapolis. In its lawsuit, the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration is seeking to recover the $437.6 million it paid IBM through Jan. 31, plus the costs of any third-party lawsuits, federal penalties, and state employee overtime that it incurs as a result of its association with the Armonk, N.Y., company. The state is seeking triple damages, or more than $1.3 billion, as it is entitled to do under state law. It accused IBM of intentionally denying benefits to clients to make its performance appear better and giving the state agency false and misleading information…”

South Africa AIDS orphans overwhelm social work services, By Scott Baldauf, May 10, 2010, Christian Science Monitor: “Lora Doman sees more human drama, suffering, and courage in a single morning than most South Africans ever see. Ms. Doman is not a nun, or a saint. She is one of South Africa’s 12,000 social workers, a front-line soldier in a battle to hold her country together, one family at a time, several families a day, ensuring that abused, neglected, or orphaned children have a home. It’s a monstrous task in a country where an estimated 5.5 million people - roughly 18 percent of the population - are believed to be infected with the HIV virus.The AIDS epidemic not only kills millions of South Africans, it also orphans children. A United Nations and World Health Organization report last year estimated that as of 2007 there were 1.4 million South African AIDS orphans - a tripling of the number estimated in 2001, and the largest concentration in the world. For homes, many of these AIDS orphans must turn to their extended families - many of whom are already living in poverty - and to overwhelmed orphanages and shelters for survival…”

• Indiana ‘hybrid’ welfare program set to expand, By Niki Kelly, May 11, 2010, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “The Family and Social Services Administration announced Tuesday the next region for its new ‘hybrid’ welfare eligibility system is an 11-county area that includes Vigo, Parke and Monroe counties. The expansion is dependent on federal approval. FSSA on Monday released statistics showing that adding more local welfare workers in 10 southwestern Indiana counties under a pilot hybrid system has cut the problems that clients have had with Indiana’s privatized, automated benefits system…”
• Officials: Changes in welfare cut complaints, By Mary Beth Schneider, May 11, 2010, Indianapolis Star: “Armed with evidence that the changes made to welfare delivery in a 10-county pilot project are working, the state will announce today whether it will expand the program to more areas of Indiana. Gov. Mitch Daniels pulled the plug on a $1.34 billion IBM contract for a centralized welfare intake system in October. The Family and Social Services Administration replaced it with a hybrid program, combining modernization and computerization of records with the face-to-face contact between caseworkers and clients that was the hallmark of past welfare systems…”

• Backlogs for aid may grow, By Mary Vorsino, May 6, 2010, Honolulu Advertiser: “The state has abandoned a controversial cost-cutting and modernization plan for benefits eligibility offices, a plan that included laying off 228 workers. But officials warned that without the changes, big backlogs for food stamps, cash aid and other applications will continue to grow. The state could also face federal penalties for failing to process applications in a timely way, Department of Human Services director Lillian Koller said yesterday…”
• Override vote ends plan to close welfare offices, By Mark Niesse (AP), May 6, 2010, Honolulu Star Bulletin: “The state Department of Human Services has called off a plan to close all the state’s welfare eligibility offices and lay off 228 public employees. A law passed by the Legislature last week stopped the state from moving forward with the proposal to close the state’s 31 welfare locations and replace them with two new processing centers in Honolulu and Hilo, said Human Services Director Lillian Koller. Republican Gov. Linda Lingle vetoed the law, but the Democrat-controlled Legislature’s override prevented welfare office closures on the neighbor islands and required public hearings before they could be consolidated on Oahu…”

Youth struggle to succeed after foster care, studies show, By Brooke Adams, May 5, 2010, Salt Lake Tribune: “Until she entered foster care, Bianca Flores was too busy tending her three younger siblings to attend school. Her mother was either sick or MIA, gone for nearly a week at a time. There was no dad — never had been. So Flores filled in as best she could, putting her own life on hold. But since January 2009, Flores has powered through three years of high school credits, and this spring she will do what seemed unimaginable a year ago: Flores, 18, will graduate from high school, the second person in her family to do so. Next up is an even bigger challenge — at the end of August, Flores will exit the state’s foster care system and become a student at Snow College, where she plans to pursue a degree in graphic design. If Flores succeeds, she will be defying the odds. Numerous studies, both here and in other parts of the country, have highlighted the struggles of youth who age out of foster care, finding they are more likely to be homeless, unemployed, under-educated and in jail. One report released this month found nearly 60 percent of young men had been convicted of a crime, compared with 10 percent of young men who had never been in foster care. For women, three-quarters were on public assistance by age 24…”

New federal report shows drop in child abuse rates, By David Crary (AP), April 1, 2010, Washington Post: “The rate of child maltreatment in the U.S. dipped in 2008 to its lowest level since 1990, but the number of abuse-related child fatalities continued to rise, according to new federal figures. The annual report from the Department of Health and Human Services, issued Thursday, said the estimated number of victimized children had dropped sharply, from 903,000 in 2006 to 772,000 in 2008. However, there were 1,740 reported fatalities, up from 1,330 in 2000. Carmen Nazario, HHS assistant secretary for children and families, said she was encouraged by the decrease in maltreatment, but sounded a note of caution. ‘The results show too many children still suffer from abuse and neglect, and we have not yet experienced the full impact from the economic situation,’ she said. The HHS data was for the 2008 fiscal year, ending Sept. 30, and did not reflect the recession that took hold in the final months of that year…”

• Food stamp frustration is valid, state audit report says, By Corrie MacLaggan, March 30, 2010, Austin American-Statesman: “Applying for food stamps in Texas can be quite a chore, according to a new state auditor’s report. Need to ask a basic question? Forget the phone. Workers often don’t have time to answer questions by phone and their voice mailboxes tend to be full, the report says. Instead, applicants ‘make unnecessary trips to a local office, in which they sometimes sit for hours just to ask a question or submit a document,’ says the report released Tuesday by State Auditor John Keel. ‘Crowded lobbies, long waits, and delays in eligibility determinations clearly resulted in frustrated clients,’ the report said. The report describes an inefficient system in which 80 percent of cases are kept on paper and a lack of experienced workers is contributing to problems processing applications accurately and within the 30 days required by the federal government. It recommends using technology such as automated kiosks and allowing applicants to check the status of cases online, an option the state now makes available only to certain applicants…”
• State auditor questions social services agency’s no-bid deal with ex-colleague to fix welfare problems, By Robert T. Garrett, March 31, 2010, Dallas Morning News: “State Auditor John Keel has questioned why state social services officials awarded work to a former colleague without seeking other bids, when his offer to curtail processing errors is good for only one-fifth of Texas’ 3.3 million food-stamp recipients. Keel also chided Health and Human Services Commission officials for seeking help last summer from former deputy commissioner Gregg Phillips’ company, though they ignored for nearly two years a similar offer by a Plano firm already on contract. Earlier this month, The Dallas Morning News reported that Phillips, who played a major role in the state’s botched privatization of eligibility screening for assistance programs, is making money trying to help Texas fix the problems that resulted…”
• Human Services to lay off 228 workers, By Mary Vorsino, March 30, 2010, Honolulu Advertiser: “The state Department of Human Services will lay off nearly half of its 517 workers who process applications for government benefits and will shut down 31 eligibility offices statewide under a cost-cutting plan set to go into effect June 30. The plan, which has been strongly opposed by advocates for the poor and several lawmakers, is expected to save about $8 million and DHS officials say it will actually speed up wait times by allowing people to apply on-line and over the phone, congregating workers in two main offices and streamlining workloads. The plan comes at a time when DHS is seeing increases in requests for Medicaid, cash assistance, food stamps and child care subsidies as families struggle to make ends meet. The increase in applications has meant significantly longer backlogs in processing requests for help…”
• Disputed welfare practices don’t hold up in court, By Jon Murray, March 31, 2010, Indianapolis Star: “When Gov. Mitch Daniels pulled the plug in October on a privatization contract that was the cornerstone of an aggressive welfare services modernization plan, he said it simply didn’t work. But the arrangement’s inefficiency, lost paperwork and wrongly denied benefits weren’t the only problems. A judge has ruled that parts of the modernization push also violated the law. Two recent rulings from a Marion County judge and a third from Clay County delivered a new slap to the state’s welfare services agency over several practices, including the handling of denials for some benefits and appeals for others. The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration is forging ahead by testing a new ‘hybrid’ plan in some places. In the meantime, dozens of counties still operate with vestiges of the aborted modernization attempt — and with one of the two disputed practices…”

• As demand for state aid grows, counties’ human services toil, By Allison Sherry, March 29, 2010, Denver Post: “Cindy Flores cupped her face in her hands and started talking about her problems to the one person required to listen. Her sister had been helping her buy food, and she was running low. She had an eviction notice in her purse. Child care would be helpful as she looks for work. Adams County Human Services worker Alicia Mascarenas met Flores’ eyes and then shifted her attention to the computer screen. ‘So you don’t have a job now?’ she said. Flores shook her head and looked at the floor. ‘My company went bankrupt,’ she said. As Colorado nears 17 straight months of year-over-year job losses, county human services workers continue to cope with growing caseloads - and the hard tales that accompany each one. In most metro area counties, and even some rural ones, workers have caseloads of more than 500 people. Statewide, food-stamp cases jumped to 173,361 in February from almost 165,000 in November. Those on Medicaid jumped to 501,000 from 487,000 between October and February…”
• Report: Pantries, soup kitchens faced hunger spike in 2009, By Catherine Candisky, March 31, 2010, Columbus Dispatch: “If you gathered everyone in the state who got help at a soup kitchen or food pantry in any given week last year, they would fill Ohio Stadium more than twice. Every week in 2009, 225,700 Ohioans sought emergency food assistance, a jump of 18 percent from three years earlier. A report released yesterday by the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks shows the recession’s devastating impact on Ohio families. In all, more than 1.4 million people statewide received food assistance at least once last year, and often more frequently. The spike seems to be attributed to those seeking help for the first time, usually after losing a job and running through any money they might have set aside…”

• Study: Homelessness up sharply in Minn., By Toni Randolph, March 31, 2010, Minnesota Public Radio: “The number of homeless people in Minnesota has risen sharply over the past three years, according to a study released Wednesday by the Wilder Foundation. The study counted 9,452 homeless people in Minnesota during a one-day survey conducted last October. That’s up 22 percent from 2006 levels. The uptick follows a six-year period of relative stability in the homeless numbers…”
• Ranks of homeless rising in Minnesota, By Warren Wolfe, March 30, 2010, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribunre: “Homelessness in Minnesota rose 22 percent in the past three years, reaching the highest level in at least two decades, according to initial findings from a statewide survey by Wilder Research of St. Paul. Analysts blamed the weak economy. There were 9,452 men, women and children in shelters, transitional housing and on the streets during the one-day survey conducted last October, up from 7,751 in 2006, according to findings being made public Wednesday…”

Foster parents would get less cash under proposed Indiana cuts, By Charles D. Wilson and Carly Everson, March 29, 2010, Zanesville Times Recorder: “Indiana is trying to shift hundreds of foster children with medical, emotional or behavioral problems into cheaper care for children without special needs, a move that cuts payments to families who care for the state’s most challenged children. The change would give foster families less money to pay for therapy, food and clothing and other costs. And some fear that fewer families could volunteer for the job in the future because they’d have to cover the bills themselves. Foster parents who provide homes for special-needs children are paid up to $100 a day. Under the state’s new plan, many would receive $25 or less…”