Angela Wilks makes a grim prediction about what will happen when Gov. Tommy Thompson follows through on his plan to put Wisconsin's 53,000 welfare mothers to work.
"There's going to be stealing, killing. Women are going to do whatever it takes to support their children," said Wilks, 23, who doesn't think the program will provide enough benefits.The Legislature approved the plan Thursday and Thompson said he would sign it next month.
"Finally, we are caring enough about these children and families to free them from the welfare trap, instead of just handing them a check once a month and walking away," said Thompson, a welfare reform advocate who has touted Wisconsin Works, or "W-2," as a model for the nation.
The program passed with broad support from both Republicans and Democrats in Wisconsin despite protests and criticism that requiring people to work in sub-minimum wage jobs to receive welfare benefits amounts to "slave labor."
Under the plan, women must work 28 to 40 hours a week for:
- Assistance finding a job. If a market-wage job isn't available, employers will be subsidized to hire the women. Training would be available.
- Enrollment in a health maintenance organization, with co-payments based on the woman's income.
- Child-care benefits of up to $100 a week per child.
- Food stamps dependent on the number of children.
The goal is to put all able-bodied welfare mothers to work by 2000. It will replace Aid to Families with Dependent Children starting in July 1997, if Thompson gets approval from Congress to use AFDC money for the new program.
Mark Greenberg, senior staff attorney for the Center for Law and Social Policy in Washington, D.C., said the program is the first of its kind.
"No other state program to date says that it will only provide aid in return for work," Greenberg said.
W-2 would cost $1.06 billion in 1997-98, $66 million more than the welfare programs it would replace, the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance said.
Wilks, who has a 9-month-old son, questions W-2's child-care provisions. She worked as a custodian for Milwaukee Public Schools, then went on AFDC last year because she couldn't afford child care.
"How are you going to find a decent baby-sitter?" she asked. "If you're not there for your baby, they'll say child neglect."
W-2 is the latest in a series of welfare reforms by Thompson, chairman of the National Governors' Association.
Among the state programs are Learnfare, which reduces benefits for families when youngsters skip school; Bridefare, which encourages teenage mothers to marry; two-tier welfare, which pays new arrivals the benefit level of their home state; and a variety of job training programs.
Wisconsin's welfare caseloads have gone down from nearly 95,000 in 1986 to 65,000 today.