STATE OF THE STATE

Illinois gears up to retool its social welfare system

by Jennifer Davis

Delivering welfare-to-work rather than just welfare means a different set of rules.

On the first of this month, welfare as we've known it for half a century disappeared. Federal reforms approved last year transferred to the states responsibility for providing assistance to the needy beginning July 1.

But that date inaugurated an even bigger challenge for this state. It was also the day Illinois officially embarked on the most sweeping governmental reorganization since the early 1900s. The doors opened on the new Department of Human Services, which will oversee the overhaul of Illinois' welfare programs.

Howard Peters III was tapped to head the new agency, and in May the feds and lawmakers signed off on a welfare plan. Officially, everything is in place. In reality, though, change will take a while longer.

"You cannot have the notion that a transformation will come about in 24 hours — that from the last day of June to the first day of July this manifestation will take place," says Peters, Edgar's former deputy chief of staff.

Indeed, Peters has his work cut out for him. His new department has absorbed three major state agencies — the departments of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, and Rehabilitation Services — along with programs from the departments of Public Aid, Public Health and Children and Family Services.

With a budget of $4.3 billion and some 20,000 employees, Human Services is now the state's largest agency. It is responsible for 1.8 million clients, and will manage the new welfare program and oversee a host of other human services.

And it plans to do so in a fundamentally different way. "We are now saying to people who once did intake for Public Aid, 'Your job only begins with discussions about that person's eligibility [for welfare],'" says Peters. "In the past, that was basically the end product. Now [we believe] the real work is helping that person develop the motivation, the expectation that they work and to help them identify work opportunities. The question really will be: Why? Why is this family not self-reliant? We'll then focus on the whats. What are the things it will take to assist them?"

What will make the agency's efforts successful? Peters says a change in mind-set. Still, the department faces a number of obstacles. It must retrain 5,500 caseworkers to do their jobs differently, then retool its technology for tracking clients.

In an effort to streamline services, the plan calls for creating "one-stop shopping" for those clients. Welfare families will share one caseworker, not dozens. The caseworker will file that family's information once, not several times to several agencies.

The state already has explored ways to implement one-stop shopping through joint state and local federations set up in Springfield, Waukegan, Grand Boulevard-Chicago, DuPage County and a combined pilot project encompassing the state's seven southernmost counties. Those five federations have been offering services on a limited basis.

Further, the new agency must get a new computer system up and running. Eventually, that will be the cornerstone of "one-stop shopping," providing case workers with consistent client data. It will allow them access to information about clients' relatives and provide a unified view of a family. The system is partially in place at the five federation pilot sites and another key piece will be installed this fall.

In the past, the state's social service system was clogged with paperwork. A client could fill out forms at several agencies set up to address different needs. It was a system that even Gov. Jim Edgar admits encompassed "separate and overlapping bureaucracies that sometimes duplicate each other."

"It's not that we don't track the benefits our clients receive now," says Jim Dimas, the computer system's coordinator. "The irony is we have 14 different client information systems tracking them. It's just that none of those systems talk to each other."

Within three years, the department hopes to have its computer system fully functioning statewide. But first, thousands of employees will have to be trained to use it. Many of these employees "haven't experienced too many changes over the past 20 years," says Dimas. "And we've changed their whole world for them, basically, overnight."

Once completed, however, the new computer system should simplify life

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for everyone — clients, caseworkers and service providers alike. A caseworker sitting at his or her desk can connect a client with a service provider, even schedule an appointment. Private sector service providers also will eventually have access to the same system, allowing them to input services provided to an individual. That would automatically fulfill federal reporting requirements and should speed reimbursements.

Getting to that goal, however, will take lots of money — $50-$60 million, officials estimate. The General Assembly appropriated $4.6 million, which the department hopes will be enough to bring the five pilot federations online. Human Services asked for $7 million, but may be able to make up at least some of the difference with federal dollars.

A 55-page reorganization report spells out the department's plans. By July 1 Human Services would have:

• Welform reform in place.

• State and community services integrated in at least one or two communities, with more to come.

• Employees who know their work locations and to whom they report.

• Key administrative and support functions consolidated.

But these things can't be rushed, officials say. "It's really important to think of this as a thoughtful, interactive rollout that you test and put in place," says B.J. Walker, Edgar's assistant for Human Services Reform and one of those involved in training employees.

Delivering a different product — in this case welfare-to-work rather than just welfare — means a different set of rules.

As Walker jokes, "If you go out of the business of making cars and begin making airplanes, it's all transportation, it's true, but it's also a fundamentally different business. We've come out of a system in human services that for the last 50 years has been a factory model."

A factory model, she adds, that evolved into a fragmented system of several overlapping agencies. Breaking down and rebuilding takes time. �

Welfare reform: A look at the Illinois plan

Implementing welfare reform is only part of the new Department of Human Services' role. But it's a big part. And, for now, it's the highest priority.

On July 1, the day the department officially opened its doors, welfare changed throughout the country. New federal rules established guidelines: Two years to find work; five years of help total. States can, and some have, set stricter time-lines.

Illinois has adopted the two- year/five-year rule. But state officials have yet to figure out who will qualify for an exemption from the time limit. The federal government allows states to exempt 20 percent of their welfare population. Illinois has several years to set up exemption guidelines and will likely use that time.

"The state wants some experience in implementing [welfare reform] . before deciding whom to exempt," says Dean Schott, spokesman for the Illinois Department of Public Aid, the predecessor agency that administered welfare programs.

Here are other highlights:

• There will be $100 million in new money for subsidized child care, an amount $30 million higher than Gov. Edgar had originally proposed. That brings the state's total child care subsidy to $380 million. Officials estimate it should be enough to serve 150,000 children compared to 99,000 last fiscal year.

"One of the keys to making welfare reform work is ensuring that parents have somewhere safe for their children while they work or seek a job," says Republican state Sen. Dave Syverson of Rockford, the chief Senate negotiator on the new welfare plan.

• The agreement between lawmakers and Gov. Edgar also includes a provision requiring welfare recipients who relocate from another state that pays lower benefits to receive the lower payments for a year.

• The plan provides $10 million to help an estimated 4,000 elderly but not disabled legal immigrants who will lose their Supplemental Security Income under the federal welfare law passed last year.

• Eliminated from the final draft was a proposal to give families at risk of joining the welfare rolls a one-time cash advance.

Further, for the fiscal year that began July 1, the new department will have available $ 100 million for job training programs for welfare recipients, and another $ 150 million to help people with disabilities find work.

But this is just part of the picture, says Ann Patia of Human Services, There is $475 million for job training spread over several agencies that Human Services will pursue more aggressively for welfare clients, she says.

In 1997, the state had about 205,000 families on welfare. About 36,000 people in those families were earning some income. In 1998, the state expects that about 190,000 to 195,000 families will be receiving aid, and officials hope at least 48,000 people will be working.

"Those are estimates we feel very comfortable with," says Patia, who stresses that as more people move into work and off welfare, there will be more money freed up to redirect into job training programs.

Meanwhile, Syverson says of the new welfare plan: "The thing is, it is a work in progress. Much more needs to be done.

"I know from the time we have spent with Director Peters and Gov. Edgar's staff that they are interested in the same results we are: helping tens of thousands of individuals find good, meaningful, well-paying jobs and move from welfare to work."

Jennifer Davis

Illinois Issues July/August 1997 / 7