Department of Human Services
 Last weekís column was about the trends nationally away from the old style Welfare and even the more modern Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) cash assistance programs, and the increased usage in other public assistance programs. The same holds true for El Paso County.
On any given day there are over 39,000 households, or one in six, receiving some service from the El Paso County Department of Human Services (DHS). These include grandparents receiving a few dollars to help raise grandchildren, single parents receiving child care subsidies so they can work, parents who receive food stamps when work slows down and of course Medicaid and TANF.
The direct public assistance piece is only a portion of the services that DHS provides. They also have responsibility for Child Welfare (including foster care and adoption), Child Support Collections, Adult Protection (usually elderly), LEAP (utility payment assistance), and they are the only agency authorized to qualify people and authorize payment for Medicaid.
In 2007 the department averaged over 3,150 applications for financial and medical assistance per month, or about 150 per day. Not all of which are approved, but all applications must be received, entered into the computer and interviews conducted. They made over 10,340 referrals to other public and private agencies and collected over 40 million in child support payments.
The proper level of funding is always an issue when it comes to DHS. With local general fund contributions of 9.5 million, their adopted budget was 41.8 million in 2008, compared to 8.5 million in general fund dollars and a total of 91.4 million in 1995 (the last full year of the old style welfare). One problem has been the state formula for allocating federal pass through funds. With almost the exact same case load as El Paso County, Denver was awarded 25.5 million more in 2008. Through the years the formula has rewarded those who overspend and penalized those who live within their budgets. There is talk of shifting to an outcome based revenue distribution, rewarding those that have done a good job. Currently it is a fight for every dollar and many of those dollars are available only with matching funds from the county. Hence, the statements that every dollar we cut out of DHS actually reduces the dollars available for use in El Paso County by six to seven dollars. Which brings us back to the proper funding discussion.
The National Association of Counties recently awarded the Center on Fathering the ìActs of Caring Awardî, as well as the ìActs of Caring Legacy Awardî. About 4 years ago a friend of mine who is a single custodial father introduced me to the Center on Fathering where he volunteered as one of the mentors. This is a grant funded program (no local general fund dollars) where they instruct men who have little to no life experience on what a father should be and do for his children. The majority of these men are young, some married, some not, but all are fathers with responsibilities. The hope is, if they are coached on how to step up to the plate and take responsibility we can break the cycle of government dependence.
CONTACT THE WRITER • HISEY4CD4@MSN.COM
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