Georgia has shifted federal welfare money away from programs meant to help recipients find jobs to child-protection programs and other areas, according to a recent report.
The state agency responsible for running the welfare program, however, says it has chosen the right priorities and points to new programs to help people that have left the rolls keep their jobs.
Between 2002 and 2007, welfare spending on "work-related programs" fell from $141.6 million to $103.2 million, a drop of more than a quarter, according to the report issued by the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, a non-partisan, progressive think tank.
Meanwhile, the state budgeted $218.5 million on child protective services and similar programs for the fiscal year ending June 30, up from $102.2 million five years ago, the report states.
That suggests the Department of Human Resources, which runs welfare in Georgia, is using the federal money to make up for funding shortfalls in areas where the state should be picking up the tab, said Alan Essig, executive director of the institute.
"The question is, are we giving up some federal funding that could be used to help people become employable to plug holes in the budget?" Essig said.
That could have long-term effects, Essig said, in the form of lost chances to address a pressing problem in Georgia.
"The state is missing an opportunity to develop an antipoverty program," he said.
But the Division of Family and Children Services, the DHR agency responsible for welfare, said the money is being shifted around because of a dramatic drop in the number of people receiving help from the program in recent years.
The report itself points out that the number of adult welfare recipients has fallen by nearly 90 percent and the number of children getting help from the program has dropped by 60 percent.
That reduction has allowed the state to move around money from the program, formally known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, to fund other needs, said Cliff O'Connor, deputy director of DFCS.
"We thought it was a reasonable choice on our part to redirect some of the TANF funding to child welfare services," O'Connor said. " ... We make the decisions based upon what information we have and based on what we think are the most pressing priorities."
O'Connor also pointed out his agency has begun new programs to help TANF recipients stay employed even after they leave the rolls.
In the past year or so, he said, the state has begun giving some cash assistance to people even after they began working and also provides one-time assistance to former welfare recipients for problems such as car trouble that might interfere with their getting to work.
Full text available at the Savannah Morning News
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