April 1, 2004

Dear Senator:

The Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) is a coalition of national consumer, advocacy, provider and professional organizations headquartered in Washington, DC. We work together to advocate for national public policy that ensures the self determination, independence, empowerment, integration and inclusion of children and adults with disabilities in all aspects of society. The CCD TANF Task Force seeks to ensure that families that include persons with disabilities are afforded equal opportunities and appropriate accommodations under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant.

We are writing to urge your support for an amendment sponsored by Senators Smith and Jeffords to address the needs of TANF recipients with disabilities. The amendment will improve the ability of states to help recipients with disabilities successfully move from welfare toward work while making necessary accommodations for their disabilities.

The Smith-Jeffords amendment builds on current provisions in the Personal Responsibility and Individual Development for Everyone (PRIDE) Act by allowing states the option of counting individuals participating in rehabilitative services beyond six months, as long as the individual also participates in at least one-half of the required core work activity hours. This will allow states to create a progression of work activity combined with rehabilitative services over time that will assist in moving the family from welfare to work at a pace that will lead to success for that family. The provision is also designed to encourage states to develop collaborative relationships with other governmental and private agencies with expertise in disability determination or designing appropriate service plans for people with disabilities. It is our experience that many states already have such collaborative efforts in place.

The PRIDE Act currently allows states to count rehabilitative services as a work activity for up to six months, as long as some core work activity is combined with the rehabilitation services during the second three-month period. While a definite improvement over the three months of rehabilitation services contained in the House-passed bill, six months is inadequate for many recipients with disabilities to find and sustain employment, and, in light of proposed increases in state participation rates, will discourage states from designing programs and requirements that work for people with the most severe barriers.

Under current law, states have the flexibility to ensure that a parent with a disability, including a substance abuse problem, receives the rehabilitative services she needs in order to move toward work. In recent years, increasing numbers of states have used this flexibility as they realized that some parents would need more specialized help if they were going to

successfully leave TANF. It is essential that this year’s TANF reauthorization bill encourage, rather than discourage or even halt, the programs now underway in many states that are helping some parents with disabilities to move to greater independence. For example, the Vermont Vocational Rehabilitation agency recently reported that, working in conjunction with the state’s TANF agency, it had assisted 109 TANF recipients with disabilities to achieve successful employment (defined as stable in their jobs for 90 days). Only 14 of the 109 TANF recipients with disabilities (or 12.8 percent) achieved stable employment in six months or less. If the proposed language in the Senate TANF bill had been in effect, 95 of the 109 TANF recipients with disabilities would not have received the rehabilitative services they needed to become successfully employed.

We urge you to support this very important amendment.

Sincerely,

American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)
American Association on Mental Retardation
American Congress of Community Supports and Employment Services (ACCSES)
American Counseling Association
American Dance Therapy Association.
American Network of Community Options and Resources
American Occupational Therapy Association
American Psychological Association
APSE: The Network on Employment
Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs
Association of University Centers on Disabilities (formerly AAUAP)
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
Brain Injury Association of America
Council for Exceptional Children (CEC)
CEC’s Division for Early Childhood
Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation
Easter Seals
Helen Keller National Center
Learning Disabilities Association of America
National Alliance to End Homelessness
National Association of Protection and Advocacy Systems
National Association of Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers
National Association of Social Workers
National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors
National Coalition of Deaf-Blindness
National Mental Health Association
School Social Work Association of America
Spina Bifida Association of America
TASH
Title II Community AIDS National Network (TIICANN)
The Arc of the United States
The National Rehabilitation Association
United Cerebral Palsy
United Spinal Association