16 WELFARE PROGRAMS

The Department's public assistance programs provide financial assistance to California residents who are unable to support themselves. This program is comprised of five components:

• California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs)
• Other Assistance Payments, including Foster Care, Adoption Assistance Program, Refugee Cash Assistance, and Food Assistance Programs
• Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Payment Program
• County Administration and Automation Projects
• Disaster Relief

The objectives of this program are to provide temporary financial assistance to eligible needy and dependent persons to enable achievement of self-sufficiency or to provide safe living environments for vulnerable adults and children, and to monitor, administer, and improve the quality of all welfare services.

16.30-CalWORKs:

The CalWORKs program is California's version of the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. CalWORKs is California's largest cash aid program for children and families and is designed to provide temporary assistance to meet basic needs, such as shelter, food, and clothing, in times of crisis, while encouraging personal responsibility. CalWORKs includes specific welfare-to-work requirements and provides supportive services, such as child care, to enable an individual to meet these requirements. Child care services are provided to current and former CalWORKs recipients with children up to the age of 13 through a three-stage system, depending on the recipient's level of self-sufficiency and employment stability. Stage One is administered by the Department of Social Services. The Department of Education administers Stages Two and Three. Parents have the right to choose child care among center-based, family child care home, or license-exempt providers. CalWORKs families are then able to meet both goals of moving from welfare into the work force and engaging children in child care and development services.

16.65-Other Assistance Payments:

The Foster Care program provides support payments for children in out-of-home care. This program is administered by the counties in accordance with regulations, standards, and procedures set by the Department of Social Services as authorized by federal and state law.

The Adoption Assistance Program provides ongoing support for families wanting to adopt children who, because of their ethnic background, race, color, language, physical, mental, emotional or medical handicaps, age, or because they are a sibling, have become difficult to place in adoptive homes. This program encourages adoptions of children who would otherwise remain in long-term foster care by removing financial barriers for these families.

Refugees, asylees, Cuban/Haitian Entrants, certain Amerasians from Vietnam, and victims of a severe form of human trafficking who do not qualify for CalWORKs or Supplemental Security Income may receive assistance through the Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA) program. RCA benefits are available for a maximum period of eight months.

The Food Stamp Program provides for improved levels of nutrition among eligible low-income households by offering them a benefit amount, posted to a debit card, for the purpose of purchasing food. The cost of the benefit value of food stamps to these households is borne entirely by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Food Stamp Employment and Training Program requires certain non-assistance food stamp recipients to participate in employment and training activities.

The Department also administers the state-only California Food Assistance Program to provide food stamps to legal immigrants who meet federal Food Stamp eligibility criteria except for their immigration status.

The Emergency Food Assistance Program provides USDA commodities, as well as surplus fresh fruits and vegetables donated by California farmers and businesses, to local food banks for distribution to the working poor, low-income, unemployed, and homeless persons. This program is supplemented by contributions made by taxpayers to the Emergency Food Assistance Program Fund through a state income tax checkoff.

16.70-Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Payment Program:

The Federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program provides cash grant assistance to aged, blind, or disabled persons who meet the program's income and resource requirements. California supplements the federal SSI payment with a State Supplementary Payment (SSP). The SSI/SSP program is administered by the Federal Social Security Administration which determines eligibility, computes grants, and disburses the combined monthly payment to recipients.

16.75-County Administration and Automation Projects:

Federal, state, and county governments share the cost of operating expenses and the salaries and benefits of county staff who administer public assistance programs. County Administration for CalWORKs is in Program 16.30.

Federal, state, and county funds are used to finance major data automation projects of the Department of Social Services.

16.90-Disaster Relief:

The objective of the Disaster Relief Program is to provide monetary assistance to individuals and families who have suffered losses from a Presidentially-declared disaster when those losses are not covered by other federal, state, or private assistance programs.

25 SOCIAL SERVICES AND LICENSING

The Department of Social Services monitors and oversees the operational program aspects of social services programs through the development of policy, regulations, and procedures for the delivery of services to clients, and the monitoring and evaluation of services delivered.

25.15-In-Home Supportive Services:

The In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program provides services to enable eligible persons to remain safely in their own homes as an alternative to out-of-home care. Eligible persons are aged, blind, or disabled persons who receive public assistance or have low incomes. There are now three programs that provide in-home care: the Personal Care Services Program, the IHSS Plus Waiver Program, and the IHSS-Residual Program.

25.30-Children and Adult Services and Licensing:

The Children's Services component consists of three major areas: Child Welfare Services, Adoptions, and Child Abuse Prevention.

Child Welfare Services provides emergency response and in-home services for abused and neglected children and their families. The program also provides for training and technical assistance for administrators and staff.

The Adoptions Program: (1) provides agency (relinquishment) adoption services through five state offices and twenty-eight licensed county adoption agencies; (2) conducts studies of all independent adoption placements through seven state offices and three county adoption agencies; (3) reimburses licensed private adoption agencies for expenses incurred in placing special needs children; and (4) provides adoptive home recruitment activities through directly provided and contracted services.

The Child Abuse Prevention Program provides child abuse prevention and intervention services through more than 175 projects. The program also provides for training and technical assistance for administrators and staff.

The Department also has County Services Block Grant funding which includes Adult Protective Services. In this program, counties provide appropriate Adult Protective Services to California's functionally impaired dependent adults and the aged who live in their own homes.

The Community Care Licensing Division provides preventive and protective services to all persons in community care facilities by ensuring that licensed facilities meet established health and safety standards.

25.35-Special Programs:

The Department has several special programs that include the following: Specialized Services, Access Assistance to the Deaf, and Refugee Assistance Services.

35 DISABILITY EVALUATION AND OTHER SERVICES

The objective of this program is to determine an applicant's medical and/or vocational eligibility for disability benefits and provide administrative services to other agencies.

35.15-Disability Evaluation:

The Disability Evaluation Program determines the medical, vocational, and/or functional eligibility of California residents applying for benefits under Title II (Disability Insurance), Title XVI (Supplemental Security Income), and Title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act. Eligibility is determined by the severity of the individual's physical and/or mental impairment(s) and overall ability to engage in substantial gainful employment.

35.25-Services to Other Agencies:

In addition to providing support services for its programs, the Department of Social Services provides general administrative services, such as personnel and accounting to the State Council on Developmental Disabilities and the Health and Human Services Agency. The Department provides services to the Medi-Cal Program in the form of state hearings and public information services. The Department also provides state hearings services to the Department of Child Support Services.

60 ADMINISTRATION

The objective of the Administration program is to provide overall management, planning, policy development, and administrative support services to other departmental programs.