1003-1 PRINCIPLES
Work Services provides initial and ongoing case management for clients working towards self-sufficiency from ATAP.
Work is always better than
welfare
Work is the foundation for a better life. Welfare provides
only temporary, inadequate financial support. A job is
the beginning, a better job is the next step, and a better
life is the ultimate goal. Even low wage work will provide
a better opportunity for advancement than welfare ever
can.
Time-Limited Benefits demand
urgency in the client services
Clients have a lifetime limit of five years of public assistance
to cover any and all periods of family crises or stretches
of unemployment. Every month that a client receives benefits
is one they won't have the option of using when they may
need it in the future. The time-limited nature of assistance
demands that processes and activities designed to serve
Temporary Assistance clients reflects the urgency introduced
by time limits. Good Work Services case management is
critical to honoring the urgency of the mission. It keeps
clients from falling through the cracks by ensuring that
effective plans are developed, necessary supports are
provided and activities are assigned so clients use their
time to quickly achieve self-sufficiency.
A focus on client strengths,
and accountability create a high expectation and high
performance environment.
Overall, the focus needs to be more on what clients can
do than on what they can't do. From the initial contact,
clients need to understand that they are expected to become
self-sufficient and that they have a limited amount of
time to do so. Clients are held strictly accountable for
participating and doing all they can to progress in their
plans. Failure to participate or without good cause will
result in a reduction in or loss of their benefits.
A focus on program strengths
and accountability creates a high expectation and high
performance environment for you.
Clients are not the only ones challenged to make
progress under a performance-based system. A continuous
improvement approach is a critical part of program accountability
and performance as well. While clients are held accountable
for making progress in their Family Self Sufficiency Plan,
DPA
and work services providers are held accountable for ensuring
that policies, procedures and services are client-centered,
support performance expectations and promote positive
outcomes for clients.
Every client can become more
self-sufficient.
A high expectations environment does not mean that every
single client will move into full0time work. However,
it does assume that every single client will become more
self-sufficient as they participate in the work services
activities. There will be clients with formidable barriers
and some of these challenges may be beyond the scope of
the Work First approach to address. A relentless focus
on what the client can do, rather than an exhaustive analysis
of all the things the client can't do, will help ensure
that every client moves as far as possible toward self-sufficiency
Local ownership and collaborative
approaches create better results for clients.
DPA recognizes
that what works well in one area or office may not be
the best approach in another. The more local service providers
and DPA
staff work together to create the best approach for each
area and each client, the better the performance outcomes.
Collaboration is a tool to achieve better results for
clients. While DPA
is responsible for providing specific benefits for a time-limited
period to eligible Alaskans, these same Alaskans are likely
to remain in their communities past the five-year limit.
The pressing question is whether they will remain as families
needing continued assistance (with no clear source for
such help) or as families who have achieved a level of
self-sufficiency through work.
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