OHIO Some ex-recipients return to welfare rolls, state says

Many have gotten off the welfare rolls, only to take jobs that don't pay enough to support their families, a local official said.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- A fraction of the thousands of former welfare recipients cut off the rolls two years ago have returned.
Only 94 of the 5,700 Ohio families who ran out of cash benefits under the state's three-year time limit are receiving two more years of aid.
The state says the small number is proof that families have become self-reliant as people moved off welfare and into permanent jobs. Advocates for the poor say there are other, less positive reasons for the low number.
"Going on welfare is humiliating, and some people may have decided 'To hell with that, I'm not going back to that' even though they still need help and may not have jobs," said Alvin Schorr, a professor emeritus of family and child welfare at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
Congress revamped the welfare system in 1996, making it temporary by setting a five-year time limit for cash assistance. There is no time limit for other aid, such as food stamps, medical care and child care.
Limit set
Ohio set a three-year limit but allowed people still in need to return, after two years, to seek two more years of help. The first group of families who reached the limit in October 2000 could reapply for benefits Oct. 1.
Over the next two years, about 20,000 families will be able to reapply.
Those wanting to return to welfare must show they have a specific hardship or tried to find jobs and must meet eligibility requirements each county sets.
The state says nearly half of the returnees came from Summit County, where 46 families were again collecting cash assistance of the 2,000 families eligible to reapply for benefits before the end of the year. Mahoning County had 16 returnees, and Lucas and Lawrence counties had nine each.
Dee Crawford, executive director of Mahoning County Job and Family Services, said the mission of getting people off the welfare rolls has been accomplished.
"But we've increased the number of working poor," she said, noting that people have been forced to take low-wage jobs that don't pay enough to support their families.
Providing services
In turn, the county still must provide services such as transportation and child care, so the client can continue working.
While the number of returnees is low, Crawford said a more accurate picture will be available in February or March, after the seasonal holiday jobs are discontinued.
There have been no returnees in Columbiana County, according to Eileen Dray-Bardon, Job and Family Services executive director.
Thomas Mahoney, director of Trumbull County JFS, said of the 246 people who are eligible in Trumbull, only one has applied for reinstatement.
The state didn't expect many families to return to welfare because there were no indications of mass hardships, said Joel Potts, welfare policy administrator for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
"We didn't see anything that indicated there would be a groundswell of people who were clicking their heals waiting to reapply," Potts said.
He credited counties for working with families to help them become self-reliant years before their time ran out, so that they get off welfare before the deadline.
Reduced cases
The state has steadily reduced the number of welfare cases since March 1992 when the caseload peaked at about 748,000. This September, the caseload was 190,862.
Lynn Williams, an organizer with the Ohio Empowerment Coalition, a Cincinnati-based advocacy group for people in the welfare system, said welfare recipients say they haven't been told they could be eligible for another two years.
Families are confused because eligibility requirements differ among counties, said John Corlett, director of public policy of the Federation for Community Planning, a social policy research and advocacy group in Cleveland.