Increase sought for aid to dependent children

The monthly payment for families qualifying for the Aid to Dependent Children Program (ADC) would increase under a bill heard March 5 by the Health and Human Services Committee.

Under LB508, sponsored by Lincoln Sen. Kathy Campbell, the payment for qualifying families would change from an amount not to exceed $300 a month for a two-person family plus an additional $75 per month for each additional family member, to a payment based on a percent of the standard of need.

The percentages maximum would be:
• 60 percent for fiscal years 2013-14 and 2014-15;
• 65 percent for FY2016-17; and
• not less than 70 percent for FY2017-18 and thereafter.

The standard of need increases every two years by a percentage based upon the cost of living, Campbell said, but the maximum ADC payment as not changed in over 30 years. As a result, monthly ADC payments are “completely out of sync” with the actual cost of living, she said.

Campbell said she introduced the measure in an attempt to prevent the unnecessary entry of Nebraska children into the child welfare system, which she said often results from parents in poverty being unable to meet children’s basic needs.

“We want all Nebraska families to succeed,” she said.

Alicia Carter, a single mother of two children from Douglas County, testified in favor of the bill, saying an increase in ADC payments would relieve stress on struggling families and help them achieve self-sufficiency.

“I hate being on welfare,” Carter said.

Aubrey Mancuso of Voices for Children in Nebraska also testified in support of the bill. Nebraska’s ADC rates are among the lowest in the nation, she said, and fall far below both the minimum wage and the federal poverty level.

“ADC has not been able to keep up with the needs of children in our state,” Mancuso said.

Thomas Pristow, director of the Division of Children and Family Services for the state Department of Health and Human Services, testified in opposition.

He said TANF – as the ADC program is known at the federal level – is a block grant and not an entitlement program. While acknowledging that an ADC increase would be a “best practices model,” Pristow said the department is concerned about the fiscal impact of such an increase.

“The general concept is to make sure the funding stream is sufficient to do the programming that I have,” he said.

The committee took no immediate action on the bill.