Public Benefits Advocacy in Broward
Sometimes we get examples of particularly effective advocacy and like to pass the same along to spotlight the good work being done. This time, we have a docket of successes from Delores Gilmore, an advocate at the Legal Aid Service of Broward County.
Client had a 9 month old child and was working at Target and she was homeless. She had been receiving a welfare check but left the system for a job. This means that she could access certain support dollars that had been allocated for people such as her to ensure that they were able to retain their job. The client applied for assistance with housing and needed help with her security deposit. She was turned away flat and denied. After review of her case I found out that she was still receiving about $80 in welfare money each month due to her low pay. There is a provision in TANF that allows for a “cash severance” of $1,000 if the client stops her $80 welfare check and promises not to request welfare for in the least 3 months. After some time I was able to assist this client with support service assistance from WorkForce One in the amount of $800 and with WorkForce One and Department of Children Families to ensure that she received the cash severance benefit of $1,000. All the while the client was working, looking for a place to live and dealing with her homelessness. Now she has secured a place to live and continues to work. She has promised to go back to WorkForce One for assistance with training as soon as she gets things settled. More after the break!
Client is homeless with 4 children. The local homeless shelter had put her up temporarily in a small house. Client has ovarian cancer, cancer of the eye and a host of back and leg problems. She was being sanctioned (her benefits terminated) by WorkForce One for not appearing in person at the One Stop to speak to their resident nurse. When clients are sick and unable to participate they must have a doctor’s form filled out and submitted every 3 months to the One Stop and they are put into a deferred status. WorkForce One has hired a full time nurse to deal with the welfare participants who are deferred. This client was required to walk in the least a half of a mile to get to a bus, bring along her 4 kids (it was summer time) the day after Tropical Storm Fay hit. I was able to get the sanction lifted and the client’s status put into “exempt from participation” due to the severity of her illness.
Client has 5 children. Client has exhausted her welfare time limits. Current law only allows a 2 year stay on welfare with a lifetime limit of 5 years. This law changed in 1996 over 10 years ago. The client has not requested assistance since 2002 but due to the current economic issues has lost her job. She went to Department of Children and Families requesting a “hardship extension” of her lifetime maximum. There is a provision for such cases in the law and local policy and procedure. This client was denied assistance at Department of Children and Families when she came to me. I gave her instructions as to the procedure which she followed carefully but was once again denied assistance. WorkForce One contacted me and told me they could not give her a hardship extension interview because her time limits were up. I have since received confirmation from Department of Children and Families as well as WorkForce One that Legal Aid is right. It appears that neither agency fully understood the rule which definitely is a problem given the present economic issues. This case is still open, but I expect resolution any day. The client will receive back benefits to the first of December when the money is finally released.
I have a client who is very ill with a blood disorder, thyroid goiter and pulmonary respiratory problems. She has a 2 year old daughter who has Brachial Plexus Palsy. She escaped domestic violence in October and hid out in an abandoned house for a while because she had no where to go. When she was found out and forced to leave a cousin let her move in with her. However, the cousin is a crack addict and the client gets up in the morning to find that the cousin has sold the meat the client bought with her food stamps for drugs. The client tried to tell the One Stop counselor that she is dealing with all these issues and that she wanted to go to work and that she wanted to participate with the program but was ignored by the counselor and now has her childcare terminated and she is about to be sanctioned (have her benefits terminated) by the One Stop. I am in the process of requesting a two week deferral for the client to deal with these issues and expect to get it. However, the counselor should have provided the client with a decent assessment when the client came to her and made arrangements for the client to participate when she could. There are quite a few areas in the law as well as policy and procedure that could have allowed the client time off from participation without having termination of her benefits looming over her head. I just found out yesterday that the client has found a place to live. She is counting on her Earned Income Tax refund to get her through until she can get a job. This case is on-going and current.
Client is working part time and looking for assistance with vocational education. The client wanted to go to culinary school. The client attended the WIA orientation (Workforce Innovation Act – WIA that provides training dollars to the working poor). The counselor she met with told her to go to the Central office (from Hollywood to Fort Lauderdale) to get training dollars, that they (the south office) were out of money. This is ridiculous since WorkForce One does not have any contractors. If one office has money they all have money. After some calls on my end the client was sent back to the South One Stop and she is now in school.