TRYING TO BREAK FREE FROM SYSTEM NOT EASY (WELFARE-TO-WORK, FOURTH OF FIVE PARTS)

Lack of transportation and adequate child care act as barriers to welfare recipients seeking gainful employment. This is according to the preliminary findings of a community analysis recently completed by Boston consulting firm Mt. Auburn Associates.

The company conducted the analysis of Cape Girardeau County to help the Welfare Reform Task Force devise a community strategy to help people affected by changes in the welfare system. The company was commissioned by the Department of Social Services Family Investment Trust to provide the task force with recommendations in its final report.

A draft of that report is expected to be completed next month.

Peter Kwass, a principal with Mt. Auburn Associates, said public assistance recipients generally don't have and cannot afford reliable transportation or child care. This can make it nearly impossible for them to retain any job, especially many of the higher-paying manufacturing jobs, which are located mainly in rural Cape Girardeau County, he said.

"Job training, family support, child care, transportation -- these are concrete barriers they face everyday," he said. "In Cape, there is also not a strong focus on housing."

About half of the public assistance recipients interviewed for the report said family responsibilities would prevent them from taking certain types of jobs, and almost all said limitations in child care availability and affordability was a major barrier.

Noted child care gaps included: care for children with medical problems; after-school, evening and weekend child care; infant child care; and high-quality, licensed child care.

Supplemental aid is available to pay a portion of child care expenses through the Division of Family Services Income Maintenance Program for eligible parents who are working, at school or pursuing other types of job training. The program allows parents to choose three different types of providers: Licensed contracted day care centers, licensed family or group homes, and registered providers.

The first two groups are state-monitored, but the third falls more in the category of a traditional "baby sitter."

But some recipients said they can't afford to pay a licensed provider, even with child care payment assistance. For example, Michelle, who asked that her real name not be used, has one infant and one preschool-aged child. She said she pays a friend to watch her children while she works as a cashier because she can't find an affordable licensed provider to watch her children during the evening and on weekends.

"Sure, I'd like to have them going to a real daycare, but, number one, I can't afford what they want you to pay, and number two, they are never open when I need them," she said. "It'd be different if I was trying to go out and party -- I'm trying to go to work."

Although child care appeared to be an important issue to the recipients interviewed for the report, transportation was even more so. Recipients interviewed for the report said they often have to rely on friends and family members to get to and from work.

The alternatives, cab coupons or carpooling with co-workers, is too expensive to maintain, they said.

"Among those indicating what form of assistance would be most helpful in finding and keeping a job, more indicated transportation than any other form of assistance. Some recipients noted, in particular, the difficulty of getting to child care and then to work in a timely manner without a car," the report said.

There have been at least two transportation studies conducted in the county in the past year to discern the feasibility of a bus system or another type of public transit, but to date no decisions or recommendations have been made.

Monday: Collaborative efforts of human and social service network and faith community will play important role in meeting future needs.