THE
IMPACT OF WELFARE REFORM IN
Cleveland,
Ohio 44115
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TRANSCRIPT
OF PUBLIC HEARING
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APPEARANCES:
Brian Davis, Moderator
Minister Dolores Pasley,
Father's House Ministries
Ruth Gray, Empowerment
Center of Greater Cleveland
Dr. Michael Seidman,
MetroHealth Clement Center
George Zeller, The
Council of Economic Opportunities
Dr. Marey
Joyce Green, American Association of University Women
Maria Smith, Esq., The
Legal Aid Society of
MR.
DAVIS:
My name is Brian Davis. I'm
the Executive Director of the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless.
I'm going to try to move us through this process this morning.
We have a huge number of speakers.
So, we have Matt here, who is going to keep time for each of the
presentations and the time for community participation.
Jossette here is going to take the notes
from the community participation part.
I wanted to start out -- we were here about five or six years ago at
the beginning of Welfare Reform, and I wanted to start out with a little
analogy of why we're here.
Imagine running through the center of the hall here, train tracks with
a train barreling down here, which is Welfare Reform as we know it. That is
the changes that took place over the last five years with regard to cash
assistance to families.
And then running on a perpendicular track over here in front is the
economy, another train. And those
two trains are going to collide real quick here, if
they haven't already collided in many families' lives.
We had a worsening economy. We
had decreases in jobs. We had a
perfect storm for poverty on this track.
And then on the track in the middle, we had dramatic changes in the
safety net; so that, basically, the safety net was ripped apart.
And, so, that's why we are here today, just trying to get a message
back to the people who started that train in the middle on its track, the
people who started Welfare Reform six, seven years ago on its track barreling
down toward the economic woe train that's coming the other way.
So, we're here to take your comments about the changes in Welfare
Reform and add those to the list that we have, that we've collected over the
last five or six years and deliver that message to our federal delegation.
We
know that welfare touches the county, the city, and the state.
And they are responsible for implementing some of this.
But the people who started this are in
So,
while this train called Welfare Reform is coming down, and it may be throwing
a lot of people off of that train, and some people consider that good, it's
still on a collision course with the economy and the reality that exists in
most families' lives.
Who
we are is a group of agencies and community
activists that got together over the last six or eight months to put this
together. They include groups
like, The Coalition for the Homeless, Stop Targeting Ohio's Poor, The
Empowerment Center of Greater Cleveland, The May Dugan Center, Father's House
Ministries, The Merrick House, and The Council of Economic Opportunities of
Greater Cleveland, and The Women for Racial and Economic Equality, and Women
Speak Out for Peace and Justice.
And
we've been getting together to talk, to plan this forum for the last six
months. The intention is here to
listen to panelists -- is to listen to panelists on six distinct areas.
And then afterwards, we're going to have questions or comments from the
audience. And we'll have seven
minutes of questions. And we
would like you to try and keep in that area that we're focusing on for this
panel.
Priscilla
and Tim are going to be in charge of the microphones.
So, if you have a question just raise your hand, and they'll bring the
microphone to you, or you can step up to the microphone.
We're
going to take notes on your comments and add them to the recommendations for
delivery to the federal officials. So,
we are going to put your comments in and your recommendations for how to
change the Welfare Reform to benefit the community.
So we are looking for your input.
This is not a finalized agenda that we have passed out here.
Just
for housekeeping purposes, the restrooms are down the hall past the ATM
machine through two glass doors. There
is a men's room and women's room there.
When
you speak, if you could identify yourself before you start speaking.
We have a Court Reporter here, who's going to take down all the
information, as well. And, so, if
you could identify yourself before you start speaking, that would be very
helpful to the process.
We
have a huge number of people, so we really need to really stay on time.
So, you know, it's not that we're being rude or anything, but we need
you to get to your questions, your comments quickly, and we'll put those on
and move on to the next person, because we have a huge agenda.
We
also want to acknowledge that Marty Gelfand from
Congressman Kucinich's office is here. And
he will certainly take what he hears from you today back to the congressman.
Because
as we all know, Welfare Reform has still not been settled, and we've been
operating under a continuing resolution to continue Welfare Reform.
But there should be probably a big debate about it either next year or
the year after. So, he will take
what he hears today back to the congressman.
And we will also
deliver your comments, either through postcards that are out -- that were
given to you when you signed in. And
you can drop those in the box out there.
They are both to Senator Voinovich and to the Speaker of the House,
Dennis Hastert. He dictates what
goes
on in the House. So we are
delivering postcards from
Our first panelist today is Minister Dolores Pasley,
Jolanda Peebles, and Ikel
Maxwell. And just a brief
synopsis, Minister Pasley is with the Light of the
Ikel Maxwell is a mother of two children.
She has attended Cleveland Public Schools, and she is currently program
director of Turner-Maxwell Family Recovery Project, which is a program of
Father's House Ministries, and she is also a grandmother.
And then, Jolanda Peebles is an employed
mother of three children. And she
also attended the Cleveland Public Schools.
And their topic to start out is, children in the home versus in foster
and adoption services. As we know
there has been a huge increase in the
number of children in the foster care system. So we will start off with Minister –
MS.
PASLEY: Thank
you very much, Brian. Good
morning every one. I'm not going
to take much of your time, but I'm just going to start in with the things that
I have here. And there is always
so much when you're talking about children.
And especially when we talk about the things that are going on in
August, 2003, mother wants her children back.
County places children up for adoption without notice.
Victoria Davis wants her three children back.
Even her former foster mother can't understand why the county won't
release them.
September, 2003, county ruined my life.
Marilyn Claudio had a job at Amerisuites
six months ago. She lost her job,
about to be evicted, and now facing a misdemeanor charge.
Why? Because Cleveland
Police, a social worker, and Juvenile Judge Janet Burney now decided that she
was unfit and removed her five daughters after a friend called the Department
of Children
Services
for assistance for the family.
October, 2003, "It is not fair what they have done to me," a
mother cries. County rips
children from a mother's arms. Ms.
Rojas was asked if she would have sought help now.
She said, "No. They
never meant to help me," she stated.
Rojas had sought assistance after going to a social worker.
She was told that she had three minutes to say goodbye to her children.
Instead of getting help, she found herself alone without her family.
November, 2003, for six years Augusta and Christian Turner along with
their family friends have fought endlessly to get their children back.
They waited silently as their children's room went silent, still in
place. What started out as a cry
for help has turned out to be a community's worst nightmare.
Sharon Sumlin, mother of five which
included a set of triplets, still fights to get her children back.
Four were taken straight from the hospital immediately after birth,
even though she never had been accused of abuse or neglect; never given an
opportunity to bring her babies home. Today
she is here, still fighting to get them back.
September, 2003, article by The Caring Place.
"It is estimated that some 48,503 children have been seized from
their parents, even though they have not abused or neglected them," as of
1999, the latest year that any statistics were taken.
Child protection has become a $13 billion a year industry that is being
paid with our tax dollars. And
the industry is rife with corruption.
These
are only the tip of the iceberg in comparison, but echoes newspaper and
community articles nationwide.
Here
in Cuyahoga County Welfare Reform has hurt and devastated our community at
large, and most important, our children.
As a result, our children are the new mental health clientele.
ADOPTOHIO
states that at any give date 22,000 children are living in foster families or
in out-of-home placement settings.
Shop by Internet. Yes, you
can shop for children on the web, faces and all.
If you're not satisfied, just turn them in and get you a new one.
The average child in foster care has been moved at least three to four
times, and some as many as 23 times.
Welfare
reform, services to biological parents. Cash
assistance, a total of three years for life.
Cash assistance average family of five, roughly
$579, for a family of five. After
three years of assistance, a parent must work or volunteer 20 to 40 hours just
to receive food stamps and health care. Once
a year emergency assistance to be used for utilities, clothes, vouchers,
appliances, or one-time rent assistance.
After
12 weeks or three months after giving birth, a mother must return back to the
volunteer or work services, and bus tickets may be given.
Neglect
now includes, if a family is found to be behind in their rent, facing
eviction, lost their lights or gas, if separate beds and rooms are not
adequate to the family size, this is acceptable to having children removed.
This is unacceptable to God, and it's unacceptable to us as free Americans citizens. Welfare Reform has accelerated a Gestapo-type
invasion
on our families. And
Again,
I have just stated that because I wanted to be able to summarize the thoughts.
As I mentioned, you can now go to the Internet and shop for kids.
It
was my understanding that one of the county commissioners got on TV and was
saying that the reason why they are excited about doing this, because now they
can ship -- people are able to shop for kids over the Internet, and we can
ship them anywhere in the United States.
Again,
Today,
I have two panelists here. They
are going to give you an example of what is happening when they come into your
home and take your children even though -- and foster care, you have to
understand, and adoption was never meant for children who had families.
They were meant for children who had either been neglected or abused;
the extreme -- and who did not have homes.
But
we are saying that it has gone widespread.
It's ripping through our community.
Again,
we have Ms. Ikel Maxwell and Jolanda
Peebles, who has five kids -- in correction -- six kids, in correction to what
Brian said -- and they will come now.
MS.
PEEBLES: Good
morning.
AUDIENCE:
Good morning.
MS.
PEEBLES:
Interestingly enough, I did get a chance to watch 43 Block this morning
where William Denihan of the Mental Board of
Health Advocacy Coalition states that there needs to be an increase of funding
to serve mentally ill, people with mental health problems and issues.
As a mother or any mother, whether you're lying in the hospital or at
home, waiting for someone to come and take your children, I think as a human
being you are entitled to have mental health issues.
Any mother who loves their children would not be mentally stable if you
come and remove their children from a hospital bed.
Speaking as a former ward of the county myself, and as a mom with
children in foster care, I would like to say that the system is unfair.
And, in addition to Ms. Pasley's
information about children being on the website for sale, or for adoption,
there is also a party where they get a group of children to go and meet
perspective adoptive parents. And
they walk by them, like, "I don't like this one," or, "I want
this one," or, "I want that one."
What happens to the child standing in the corner who already feels
unwanted because someone may have told them that, "Your mother doesn't
want you"? And someone just
walks by and picks the newborn baby. What
happens to them? What happens to
children that are unadoptable because of their
age; because they can't be told that you're the mother -- or the adoptive
parent is the mother, because they can't change their last name, and the child
might put up a fight, because he already knows who his biological parent is
and wants to fight to go home.
And
even though the system was intended to intervene a family crisis, what happens
when the social workers doesn't like you and just wants to keep your children
in adoption or foster care for general purposes or to satisfy his own personal
opinion of you? And that's all I
have to say.
MS.
MAXWELL:
Good morning. My name is Ikel
Maxwell. And I'm going to be
quite terse -- the problem that I have with welfare reform, I had custody of
my granddaughter for 10 years, ever since she was eight months old.
The social worker came into my home and said, "Ms. Maxwell, what
are the ways that you discipline
I
was told that if I did not sign those papers that day, they were going to take
her out of my home, and I would never have her again.
And
so they are having these -- I think that the best thing for Welfare Reform is
when they are having those staff meetings that they should be taped.
Because they tell you to do things in there that's illegal.
They tell you to sign the paper, and when you sign this paper it means
that you're present; it doesn't mean that you agree with anything.
What they do after the meeting is over with -- everything that they
have said in that meeting, they tell you that you have agreed with.
And you say, "I don't agree."
They say, "You signed the paper, and because you signed the paper,
you agree."
They
also stated that with
And
that's exactly what has happened. Not
that I have done anything. I have
not abused my granddaughter.
The doctors came to my hearing, three
principals of
And
today, I still don't have
And
I think things should be changed; that if we have not done anything, you
should not be able to take our children.
Those
are some of the things that I have experienced.
Thank you very much.
MR.
DAVIS:
Okay. We have about four
minutes for questions. We are a
little behind, so, any questions or comments that you want to put regarding
foster care, adoption?
MS.
BROWN:
Good morning.
AUDIENCE:
Good morning.
MS.
BROWN: I
just want to kind of give a scenario to reiterate what was spoken by the
speaker. A friend of mine came to
me four years ago and she had went to her religious
institution to ask for help for her oldest daughter, who was diagnosed with
ADHD. The mother having been --
having a slight developmental delay, reached out to the religious institution
in trying to get help, called some Social Services and Human Service in order
to receive help. And they came to
the church and snatched the kids from her at the church, four years ago.
She
had a case file review. They put
down it was abuse and neglect, because her oldest daughter was thin and she
was having problems with failure to why she wouldn't eat.
She would keep the food in her mouth, and then she would not swallow
it.
As a result after one year, she was supposed to have a case file
review. She never had one.
She received staffing for the last four years.
Now, we're talking about people that have no income.
She's on social security disability, and she did not have proper
representation; had been moved back and forth with the court system with a
public defender. And as a result,
some friends pulled together and gave her some money to hire an attorney.
In
the midst of it, she became pregnant; and, while they're staffing myself
at County Human Services, they snatched the child, the infant.
It was
three days old. With no
investigation, with no representation, but with the support of the community
and her friends and hiring legal assistance -- private legal assistance, it
has been a four-year battle, but my personal friend has finally received her
children back.
MR.
DAVIS: What
was your name, ma'am? Do you want
to put that on the record?
MS.
BROWN:
I'm Holly Brown from LeBron House.
MR.
DAVIS:
So say your name before you ask the questions, please.
MS.
OTIS:
My name is Sabrina Otis. In
October of 2001, my kids were taken by the Department of Children and Family
Services. On January 28th I got
them back, of 2002. And I want to
tell everybody something; that you know how
MR.
DAVIS:
One more. We have time for
one more. Right
back there. Say your name
before you --
MR.
STOKES: My
name is Willie Stokes. You're
fighting a battle with the county, okay.
There's a conflict of interest that the judge, the prosecutor, and your
public defender, it is all in the county.
I
have custody of my kids, because I went straight to the commissioners.
The problem is those workers over at 3555, they're the Gestapo.
You got to go downtown and you have to tell those commissioners that
you want your babies back. Because
it's a conflict of interest. That's
the only thing you have to tell them is that that judge sitting up there on
the county bench, that prosecutor, is a county
worker, and the only thing you want is your baby back.
It took me 15 months to get my babies back.
I will tell you like this, the county is doing a total recall, and you
can get your babies back.
MS.
PEEBLES: Excuse
me. I would like to comment to
what you just said about contacting the county commissioner.
That doesn't always work. When
you contact the county commissioner -- I wrote the county commissioner about
my six babies. I went to the
county commissioner. I begged and
pleaded with the -- with the county commissioner.
And because the social worker got on the phone and told the county
commissioner what he wanted him to hear:
"Oh, we can't help you, because the social worker said this, the
social worker said that." The
social worker is not God, and his mouth is not a prayer book.
I understand what you're saying, but that doesn't work for everyone. I'm glad it worked for you.
MR.
STOKES:
Keep going.
MS.
PEEBLES: I will
for my six babies. A lot of
people definitely will keep going.
MS.
PASLEY:
I just want to say one thing from the panel here, is that there has to
be laws in place that people are responsive, like your county commissioner.
They have to have laws, that this is not allowable.
It shouldn't be, if you go there, you go there, run all around here.
It shouldn't be like this.
This
is a free
These
are laws. These are federal laws
that were given to us as Americans.
So, it's not a matter of we should run here and run there.
This is America. Something
has to be changed. We can no
longer let it go the way it is.
MS.
COOPER:
And another thing is, too, that we have a problem with the county being
able to come into a home without a warrant and go through your home.
We have our civil rights, correct, and we should have a hearing.
But we do have some rights, and they're just not being followed
through.
MR.
DAVIS: We're
going to move to the next panelist, who will talk about the dramatic cuts to
the social service network. We
have Ruth Gray of the Empowerment Center of Greater Cleveland.
And then a specialist's, India Adams, who is a
mother. If
she could come up here.
Just
let me give you a brief background. Ruth
Gray is the executive director of The Empowerment Center, which formerly was
Welfare Rights, and she has four children, and she returned to school and got
her an associate's degree from
And
India Adams is a working teen mother, who is going to both day school and
night school to receive her high school diploma.
And the way we've structured this, is that we have one person who works
in the community on welfare issues, and then one person who has direct
experience. So you can hear both
sides of the issue.
MS.
GRAY:
Good morning. To add to
what Brian said, I raised three children and during that period of time when I
was a young girl -- I'm not going to say how old I was -- but I was a young
mom, a very young mom, and I found the need to go on welfare.
That's pre-Welfare Reform years. And
as a result of welfare, I was able to go back to school full-time and take
care of my children; then get an associate's degree; then a bachelor's degree,
and now I have a master's degree. So
I know the struggle.
But
I didn't have to go for 30 hours to get a check.
I didn't have those stresses on me that the families have today.
I want to take just a few moments to discuss the impact that Welfare
Reform has had on the health and social service network.
But before I get started, I need to say something to you in reference
to what Welfare Reform is really all about.
Welfare
Reform is, and has always been, a platform for racism and sexism.
And if you challenge what I say, then you go back to 1994, you go back
into the rooms of Congress, and you listen to Charles Murray and his
colleagues talk about women; talk about woman being incompetent; talk about
our illegitimate children and the need to get them off welfare.
Listen to what they have to say. And
it has never, ever, ever, ever, and if you ever say -- it has never been, ever
been to lift people out of poverty. It
has been to push people off of public assistance; to push people in low-paying
wage jobs, to make the fat cats rich off of backs of the poor.
If
you don't believe me, you go down to the
It
angers me. It just, really, it
angers me. And I'm being told one
minute, and I got two minutes more to go.
But
I want to tell you this: When we
implemented Welfare Reform here in
By
2000, October of 2000, thousands, thousands of
By
2001, administrators of Cuyahoga, the state, and the federal government had to
say to those social service agencies, there's no more money.
People were kicked off of Welfare.
The cash assistance, still needing child care, still in need of health
care, still in need of medical care, still in need for housing, and there was
no more money to help provide for basic essential needs.
It
is criminal what has happened in
Did
anyone give us an additional $87 billion because our children are hungry and
we have no place at the inn to lay our heads?
It is criminal. And you've
got to get mad. You got to stand
up, and you got to say Welfare Reform is not working, and it must be fixed.
It
just hurts me as I walk -- go to work everyday and I see the lines out on 33rd
and Euclid, of the children and moms waiting, sitting on the floor in the
cold, trying to get in so they can get some money to pay their gas bill.
It's
just criminal. It's inhumane, and
it's an attack on basic human rights, basic human rights.
I'm
not going to go any further. I
always do this. I make these
speeches, and I never get to get through them.
Because I believe, though, God put me here to say what I needed to say.
And I hope I touched your hearts enough so that before you leave this
room, you'll write on that card what needs to be said.
And you'll take action by calling your legislators and coming together
with us to fight. Because
it's time that we demand what is right.
We don't ask for it; we demand it.
I'm
going to have
MS.
ADAMS:
Hello. Good morning.
My name is India Adams. I'm
a teenage mother with a son named Joevonta Adams.
I
had my son at the age of 15. At
this time I was staying with my mother and my five siblings.
Since I was not 18 at the time, my mother was receiving the welfare
benefits for me and my son.
I
continued with my education and attended
When
I reached the age of 18, I was going to East High during the day and James
Adams at night. I wouldn't have
gotten this far if I hadn't had help from my LEAP worker.
My mother stopped receiving benefits for me and my son at my 18th
birthday. At this time I started
looking for my own place to live, because there was not enough room for me and
my son at my mother's house.
I
found an apartment at the Carter Manor. I
also received a new welfare case worker, which at this time she informed me
that the LEAP Program had been discontinued.
This was a surprise and terrible news, because they were helping me
with the waivers for my classes and child care.
I
am now 19 years old. I am
attending the
I
am still a single parent now with a four-year-old son.
I'm now in the 12th grade, and still need more credits from night
school to graduate. Without the
waivers from the LEAP Program, it is difficult to get the credits to graduate.
Because
now that I am on my way, I have to pay the bills and still support my son.
I have also been informed that I have used 29 months of my 36 months
allowed for welfare assistance.
Even
though I have only been receiving benefits on my own since two months after my
18th birthday, they are continuing the time from my mother who was receiving
my benefits for my son and me.
I
will be cut off of assistance as of June of 2004.
My case worker's supervisor, Ms. Bailey, also stated to me that as of
January, 2004, I will be needing 30 more hours a
week to receive my welfare benefits.
I
do not understand the policies and why I will not receive any more help.
I have only used one year of benefits.
I can't finish school if I don't have assistance with my child care,
housing, clothes, food, and school for my son and myself.
If
they cut my benefits, I won't be able to provide for my son and me without
dropping out of school and finding a job.
Dropping out now will keep me in a low-paying job, which will keep me
dependent on someone else at all times.
All
I'm saying is everyone deserves a fair chance.
And I believe I did not receive one.
All I'm asking for is a little help to receive and achieve the goals
that I have established for myself. And
that is to finish high school; to go to college, and become an RN, and to
raise a healthy and educated son.
Thank you for listening to my story, and God
bless you all.
MR.
DAVIS:
We have about five minutes, if we could hear comments or additions to
the agenda that you want to hear from. And
we'll try to get other people who didn't speak through the day.
MS.
GEATHERS: Hello,
I'm Kathleen Geathers.
The first issue I take is that it's
not Welfare Reform, it's an attack on women and children.
And we should stop being the people who say Welfare Reform is a sledge
hammer to the poor.
Also
when people -- our own people with a dime more in their pockets look down on
people who happen to be on welfare.
Welfare
is equated with ignorance. They
have no respect for the humanity in that poor person who is struggling.
And I was thinking this morning of a family that the 10-year-old child
was going to be kicked out of school permanently, that this was a pediatric
worker, white, who was going to allow that child to be kicked out.
Her mother was psychotic and trying to get on welfare and had these
children. And she said, "You
want them?" I took them.
Let me tell you today, none of those children has had problems.
They're all working, contributing citizens of society.
The eldest child was a straight-A student and wrote a letter every year
for her to get a scholarship. She
is a Ph.D. and teaching at the
They
need to learn that intelligence is probably better off with the poor than these
high-powered people who are so arrogant and
self-centered and have a dollar in their pocket.
MS. OWENS: My name is Ms. Owens. I'm a mother of nine, and I certainly am a recipient of welfare. I have always had the work ethic. And I know how -- when you mention that you receive public assistance, there is this stigma. You're looked down upon. You're immediately classified.
I
have, like I said, nine children, and they are really the most important thing
I've done in my life.
I
have a daughter that now has cancer. She
is going to law school, and she is working very hard.
She has three children. I
asked her not to have any. I know
how hard it is. Since these
changes have occurred, she now has cancer.
She is boarderline, living right on the
edge. She's working so hard.
She's working and going to school and has three very minor children.
What
I see and what I hear from people on the buses wherever I go, especially young
black women, they say, "It feels like modern day slavery."
And they said what I feel, but I never verbalized it.
Again,
I have always had the work ethic that I teach my children, the work ethic.
But it's very, very hard now. It's
very, very hard.
And
my daughter's doctor told her be very careful.
Try not to be stressed. As
a mother when you have young children, you care when you have to leave them
with others, whether they're going to be beaten or abused.
That's already stress right there.
When you have no one that you can be positive.
I
think that child abuse is at an all-time high now.
I think that stress is at an all-time high.
When I heard of the young mother who killed her children as well as
herself -- and this is happening more and more often now.
My
daughter's car was just repossessed. She's
struggling hard, because it's hard to get back and forth to school.
It was illegally repossessed. She's
poor, and people think they can do these things to the poor people.
She has no where to stay.
I'm
hearing things like, if you don't have -- if your utilities are off, you'll be
kicked out of certain programs that can help you.
You get less help, if you don't have utilities, you know; if you're
going through a crisis.
It's
not as easy as people think. You
apply for vouchers and things, you are quite often
turned down. They say, "You
don't have a legitimate need." I
said, "Go ask for a state hearing."
I'm telling people all the time, I say, you know, "Hang in there.
It's going to be okay." What
I, myself, wonder, I'm saying it to people all the time,
it's going to be okay. It's going
to be okay. What I see the reform
has caused is a whole lot of apathy among people and a feeling of -- they're
trying, they're going -- they're going to school.
But let me tell you, it's hard. It's
hard when you got young children. And
I see the stress in the young women and the young mothers.
And
they become not to view children as an asset, they
begin to view their own children as a liability.
And we get our citizens to come, the young, the people of this country,
they come from the young where the legislators don't value the children.
And they had put all of these demands and rules and regulations upon
the mothers. They cause the
mothers -- because the mothers have all of these things, to now view their own
children as liabilities instead of assets.
This is terrible.
MR.
DAVIS:
Okay. We're going to move
on. We are going to switch things
around a little bit. Right now
we're going to have the Follow the Law or Nullify the Time Limits panelists
come up right now.
So
Maria Smith and Carolyn Singleton, if you could come forward.
Just
while they are getting ready, we put out registration forms, and we asked when
you came in to -- we asked you if you were registered.
So we urge you to register to vote.
Make sure you show up for voting, and tell all your family and friends
to vote. This is critical to the
change in welfare, is to make sure everyone is voting, to understand these
issues.
Maria
Smith is an attorney with the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland.
She is on the board of the Ida B. Wells Foundation and the Interreligious
Task Force on
Carolyn
Singleton is a mother of three. She
attended Cleveland Public Schools. And
she has worked hard all her life, both raising her children and running her
own office-cleaning business. She
is artistically inclined, and she likes to paint and draw.
So,
Maria Smith.
MS.
SMITH:
Thank you for giving me the privilege to be here with you this morning.
I want to start by reading you Article 25 from the "Universal
Declaration of Human Rights."
"Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the
health and well being of himself and his family" -- excuse the gender
problem in this -- "including, food, clothing, housing, and medical care,
and necessary social services and the right to security in the event of
unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age, or other lack of
livelihood in circumstances beyond his control."
That was adopted
How
far we are from our human rights.
The
reason why I asked Brian to mention that
I had lived in Brazil and Nicaragua is because
Welfare Reform, as it was called in this country, were called
structural adjustments in Latin America, all throughout the east when we were
present. And in
And one of the things that the Welfare Reform -- and when we say,
"it's failed," we see that it's doing
exactly what was intended to do, correct.
Is that in
AUDIENCE:
Take away the child.
MS.
SMITH:
It means that the slave owner had no obligation to provide for the
health, the safety, the education of the child.
And the mother who, with all of her labor,
belonged to the slave owner, had no way to provide for her child.
That's what we have in Welfare Reform.
When we have a 36 month time limit -- and that means, if you have a
child born after your 36 months has run up, you have no way of providing for
the child.
The
case that I brought for my client, and the case that we're in the midst of,
Ms. Singleton and I, it's very similar, and there
are some differences.
Ms.
Diane Ricks' case is the one that -- I am not -- welfare or public assistance
is not my area. I do mostly
housing, so I treaded into this reluctantly.
Actually my client had come to me with a housing problem, and this kind
of bubbled up beside it. You
know, if you have one problem, you also have 20 others, because they're all
connected.
And
so, I brought this case because my client, Ms. Ricks, had been attempting to
do one simple thing with her self-sufficiency plan.
She was trying to get herself in the proper classes -- sorry, I'm
running over -- so that she could get the nursing certificate that she needed
to get employment. She was
receiving public assistance not because she didn't have a job.
She had a job the whole time she was on public assistance.
Because the jobs she had were not sufficient; did not provide a living
wage. This wasn't about getting
someone to work. She was working.
She couldn't live.
Anyway,
her 36 months and her self-sufficiency plan, it never came to fruition, that
the classes she needed, that her self-sufficiency plan got her in the classes
she needed to get the certificate that she needed so that the nursing home
that wanted to hire her, at a job at $11 an hour, could actually hire her.
Even
though the law provides that -- the federal statute -- within 90 days of state
options, the state is required to make employment assessments, that was not
done in Ms. Ricks' case.
What
the plan was supposed to include and the testing that was supposed to be
provided, when someone doesn't have a GED, not done.
Court of Common Pleas agreed with me, and they issued a very simple
statement saying that, "The State had failed to fulfill Ohio Revised Code
5107.41.
That was a very small victory, but a hollow victory.
Because without nullifying the 36 months that Ms. Ricks received
before, at any time she is still subject to the problem of not being able to
rely on the safety net that public assistance can provide.
Why
is it that my client if they failed to do what's in the plan, they will be
sanctioned, but when state agencies fail to do what's in the law, there is no
sanction? Why?
MS.
SINGLETON: Hi.
I'm really touched that a lot of you all cared like you do.
I never knew that. I met
Maria going through an eviction process with my CMHA.
And at the same time I was going through with the welfare, I almost
started a business. I tried to
beat the system and start my own business, but it really didn't work, I guess
because of the pressure that was put on me.
They said, "You have to do this, you have to do that."
I don't have my GED. I
tried to go to school. I told my
worker I wanted to go to school, and she told me, "No."
She said, "Your schooling does not require the hours that it
consists of." So, I asked
her, "Well, why would I do free work?
Why can't I do both? Why
can't you pay for day care and I go to school and work?"
She said, "No, you have to do free work."
So
I done that, I did the whole 36 months. Now,
I'm kicked off. I don't receive
any public assistance. I have
three kids. I really don't know
where I'm going, but I have faith in the Lord that I'm going to make it,
because I've always been a striver. I'm
very smart, but it's okay. I say,
well, maybe I didn't know you all cared like this, I really didn't.
So, hopefully this will help somebody in the future to establish what
I'm trying to do today. Thank
you.
MR.
DAVIS: Comments,
questions, things you want to add? Say
your name before you speak.
MS.
MICKEY: My
name is Joan Mickey, and I'm affiliated with various groups around the city.
I'm really here because of my own feelings about these issues.
After listening to all the comments that have been made so far, it's
really, really quite clear that who the new
casualties are in this so-called war on poverty, again, people who have been
identified as having one need or another and now there is a war to fight those
conditions which has created this need. The
people, themselves, continue to become the victims in those battles.
And we're certainly not any closer to winning the war on poverty than
we ever were.
And
the struggle now is with the way language is used to rally media to the one
side that is most favorable to the powers that be, creating further boogie men
in the form of people who are, quote, unquote, "welfare recipients."
The
people who solve life's problems, the people who find solutions to medical
problems, who find solutions to engineering problems, et cetera, don't come
from one sector of society. But
they come from every sector of society within which those who dwell therein
are able to develop and be.
And
we are now seeing the evidence of the fact that our system no longer wants to
support us who are at the lowest rung. But
we have the strongest voice, and we must use it to cry out.
We
want to stop the change from welfare to this business, foster care.
This is another case of language being used deceitfully and
treacherously.
There is no care in the system in which you take babies from one family
and reward another family with the very same funds that were intended for the
original family.
I,
myself, would be such a victim had I been mothering my children in these
perilous times. And I'm still a
victim, even though my children are no longer minors.
I'm a victim as an elder. Long
time just taken to discover -- it's a soul of me, an artist, a philosopher, a
teacher, and I don't have the means to pursue these grand means of
communicating to my people that this is the way out.
But I will, too, find a way. And
that's why I'm here.
MS.
HILL:
My name is Karen Hill, and I'm a single mom.
I'm getting upset because I'm going through a thing.
I can speak from both sides, where I was working I didn't have to
worry about anything. I
didn't have any kids.
So,
when it came about a long time ago about this Welfare Reform, I believed that
these mothers were supposed to work, were supposed to get a job.
Now, I'm at the other end of the stick.
I am unemployed. I'm
struggling. I have a child that
is ADHD that's also LD that I took and adopted that I didn't know had all
these kinds of problems -- and medical care and medical costs.
And
like now I'm fighting this, where they want to give me $256 in food stamps.
Here I received them for a month and a half.
I received unemployment of $420. My
rent is $385. They want to drop
my food stamps to $10. I have a
child that's disabled. What am I
to do with $10; buy a loaf of bread, some bologna and milk?
I'm
trying to find a job. Me
having a record from my past is still holding over my head, and I can't deal
with that. You talk about stress.
I know I'm a good person. I
have changed my life around. I am
a HIV/AIDS educator. I am
certified to do a lot of things. But
when they look at my record, it's a totally different thing.
I
don't understand why we have to go though so much and why they want to take
what we have -- what little bit we have and give to other countries.
We're starving over here. I'm
struggling over here. And really
I am so upset and I'm still -- I got an appeal, and they overruled saying, for
my stamps, that they are going to give me $10.
I'm about to fight it again, because I cannot live off of $10, raise a
disabled child and try and be what they want me to be on the little bit of
money that I have.
MR.
SMITH: Hello,
my name is Luther Smith. I am
with many community organizations here. It
is not a question but it's a point of a statement.
To the young people or to any of the other people here who are
recipients of Welfare Reform: Are
you registered and active voters? Because
this is the first avenue of reform.
We can complain. We can
march. We can shout.
But if the people who are elected are the ones who make these
decisions, you have to be a part of that elected vote.
Otherwise, stop complaining and accept what you get.
MS.
HILL:
We can vote all day long. We
can vote all day long, and they are still going to come up with what they want
to come up with. I'm still
voicing my opinion. We need to
get up in somebody's face, so they can see it first hand.
Just like if the president and the rest of them, if something were to
happen to them, you can best believe they are going to do what they need to do
to have their stuff going on. I've
been voting since the dawn of time, and they're still doing what they want to
do.
MR.
DAVIS: We
got to move on to the next panelist.
MS.
ARON:
I just wanted one thing from Maria -- while Maria Smith is here.
Because I think we all know of the unfairness, but where do we go from
here? I guess voting, it sucks a
lot, but we still have to keep trying it.
MR.
DAVIS:
Well, Priscilla is going to address that.
MS.
ARON:
My question is -- to Maria, is there a way with the evidence that we
have, to be able to file -- to put together a class action case?
But we can look at other ways of finding lawyers to volunteer some of
their time. I think you may also
know that Maria worked very hard on children's issues when she was a very
young lawyer.
MS.
SMITH:
I'm getting very old as a lawyer right now.
There was so much more that I could tell you about Ms. Ricks' case, but
what I want to say is that send us your clients.
Because Ms. Singleton and Ms. Ricks are only two of a whole lot of
clients that I had, and I will try to push the envelope a little bit.
And
I was able to get the Court of Common Pleas to say, "Yes, the county
hadn't obeyed the law," and my client should have been reinstated.
But they were very, very, nervous about saying, yes,
we should nullify the 36 months; because for 36 months the county didn't do
what the law required. But if I
keep bringing that same case over and over again, even if we can't do it as a
class action, then the Court can begin to see, what a minute, this isn't just
an aberration, this isn't just one worker who didn't do it right.
This is a systemic thing.
And
so we should -- if you're not getting your GED classes, and you've said to
your worker I need a GED in order to get a job, it's going to be worth it.
If you've been working on -- what I meant to mention about Ms. Rick's
case -- Ms. Orchard testified that's the reason why my client wasn't sent to a
GED class, the class that she wanted to get her nursing certificate was
because she was working. And
anyone that was working and receiving welfare, they didn't provide these
services to.
So again, we need to keep trying to push those envelopes.
And I think that there may be something there in terms of a class or
some other options. All the legal
handles that we would normally think that you have don't apply when you have
this administrative system. They
don't apply in the same way.
But
the more cases we bring, the more we can refine it.
That's what happened when the NAACP started doing their litigations.
So if we strategize it, and we have the clients, we can do it.
And we're not looking for the perfect client to walk through the door.
We're looking for human beings who have an up and a down to their case.
And we can just use the facts the best we can to make their case.
MR.
DAVIS:
Before the break, because the individual has to go to another meeting
after this -- so we're going to move to Family Health Issues when the mother
must work with no health care with Dr. Michael Seidman
and Sabrina Otis.
And the issue is that mothers with young children are being asked to go
into the work force, and what does that do to the family?
So, mothers with children as young as six months old are asked to go
into the workforce as part of Welfare Reform, and what does that do to the
family?
Dr.
Michael Seidman is a physician at