Classes start at 8 a.m. today. The problem for caseworkers is how to know whether Watson and other recipients like her are disabled or only in need of a strong push to become independent. Each missed appointment requires a follow-up. State officials and welfare experts say they believe that those who do get cut from the rolls represent the two extremes of the welfare population. At one end are people who are able to find jobs, or have other income, and simply choose not to comply.
Officials say they are unlikely to be in desperate straits.
A Minnesota study of sanctioned families found they were twice as likely as other welfare recipients to report mental health problems and four times as likely to report substance abuse. These were the families that authors of welfare reform assumed would be lingering on the rolls for years, the people most likely to be affected by a five-year lifetime limit on benefits included in the 1996 federal law. Instead, they are often the ones being kicked off the rolls now, because they are unable or unwilling to meet requirements. At the same time, sanctions have worked for some recipients. There was a letter with my check.