Analysis As new cutbacks hit poor, church and state debate where the buck
will stop
By ARTHUR JONES
NCR Staff Washington
If there's not a war against the poor, there's certainly a drastic
increase in attacks the poor are facing from one quarter or another, according
to reports from three sources dealing with child poverty, homelessness and
church social concerns programs.
First, the nation's youngest poor children are increasing -- in 20
years the figure has almost doubled, from 3.5 million to 6.1 million, the
National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University's School of
Public Health reported Dec. 11. According to the report, currently 25 percent
of all American children live in families with incomes below the poverty
line.
The same day the Columbia University statistics were made public,
the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty reported that U.S. cities
are increasingly criminalizing homelessness, with 38 percent of cities engaged
in crackdowns; 54 percent had recent "police sweeps" of the homeless, and 77
percent of surveyed cities have ordinances to restrict begging (see sidebar).
Meanwhile, in Maryland, in an omen of the problems to be faced when state
governments begin to respond to federal welfare cutbacks, the organizations of
mainline and inner-city churches are objecting to Gov. Parris N. Glendening's
attempt to place churches on the frontline of dealing with poverty problems
previously handled by the state.
"We're willing to help within our resources," said Kevin Appleby,
associate social concerns director at the Maryland State Catholic Conference.
"We don't want families to be harmed but we object to the fact that the
government is passing the buck."
In Maryland as in other states across the nation, legislatures and
governors are now faced with the consequences of the welfare reforms signed
into law in August by President Clinton.
Under Maryland's Welfare Innovation Act of 1996, basically that
state's welfare plan, the state will "fully sanction" -- remove from welfare
rolls -- families that don't comply with the work requirement.
They won't lose food stamps or medical coverage but they will lose
their entire cash grant. Fully sanctioned, they'll be provided with only
transitional assistance, which the legislation says has to be paid to a
nonprofit organization. Glendening wants churches to be the nonprofit
organizations to receive the funds.
The bill states that the nonprofit organizations receiving the
money will provide services to the family -- housing, counseling and the like
-- to get them back on track. The Central Maryland Ecumenical Leadership Group,
meeting with the governor Dec. 10, resisted that approach. The group includes
the mainline churches, peace churches and the Jewish community.
"We opposed the underlying policy that brought about these
compromises," said Appleby, "and now the state is trying to get churches to
carry the ball -- and a lot of these families are your toughest cases with
multiple problems."
Glendening rejected as unworkable the churches' suggestion that
the state abandon its welfare-to-work program.
Said Appleby of the Catholic Conference, "We're already strapped
and we want the really hard cases referred to family services or drug
counseling and for the state to work with them."
On Dec. 13, Glendening was meeting with the Interdenominational
Ministerial Alliance, predominantly the black churches in the state's cities, a
group that argues that the welfare legislation is punitive.
"Obviously," Appleby told NCR, "our mission is to help the
poor, and we want to make welfare reform work. But under Maryland proposals the
state is asking churches to go above and beyond current mission to replace
government in its role as chief caretaker of the poor. We look at government as
the safety net with churches meeting the needs of people who fall through the
gaps, and we've been doing that well for decades. Now, in the view of many, the
government is expecting churches to be the safety net."
Meanwhile, the National Center for Children in Poverty states that
its 20 year review (see charts) showing one in four young children already
living in poverty or extreme poverty "provides facts that can replace partisan
rhetoric and contradict many of the stereotypes that have confused the welfare
reform debate."
National Catholic Reporter, December 27,
1996/January 3, 1997
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