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AB 371 CalWORKs Family Unity Act
PURPOSE
The CalWORKs Family Unity Act of 2015 will
support family unity among low-income families
with children by repealing current law that
penalizes two-parent families in the California
Work Opportunity and Responsibility for Kids
(CalWORKs) program who work for low wages and
clarifying exceptions to the CalWORKs work
requirement for relative caregivers.
SUMMARY
Today, nearly 1 in 4 children live in poverty in
California. The California Work Opportunity and
Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program was
established over 15 years ago to protect children
living in poverty and provide assistance to families
so that children can be cared for by their own
family while supporting parents to prepare for,
secure or maintain work. The CalWORKs program
requires eligible adults in the household to be
employed or participate in employment training
(welfare-to-work) while offering limited supports,
including child care and transportation.
After a decade of cuts, in addition to significant
reductions in funding for caseworkers and
childcare, the program’s capacity to offer
permanent solutions to poverty for our poorest
kids is limited. As a result, many families are
experiencing the real and dangerous consequences
of deep poverty. As of January 2015, the maximum
grant for a family of three is $638 a month, which
is less than 42% of the federal poverty level, but
many families receive less. In fact, on average, cash
grants under the program are less than what a
family received in 1988.
Maintaining family unity is not always in the best
interest of children, especially when abuse,
violence or drug abuse is involved. However, for
many children familial relationships can act as an
important tool to prevent or ameliorate the toxic
stress of deep poverty. This is why it is more
important than ever that, in addition to working
toward long and short-term solutions to deep
poverty among children, we need to change
current laws that are discouraging family unity for
children supported through the CalWORKs system
and that reflect the realities of today’s economy.
CURRENT LAW
The current CalWORKs program maintains
provisions that are outdated holdovers from the
old Aid to Family with Dependent Children
Program (AFDC), known as deprivation tests. The
deprivation test requires a family to show absence
of parental support in addition to proving that they
have met income and asset tests in order to
receive assistance through the program. This rules
most harmful impact is that it results in a denial of
aid to two-parent families when parents are
employed, regardless of whether or not their
income and assets qualify them for aid. California
is one of only 9 states that maintain the
deprivation tests.
SOLUTION
AB 371 will remove the deprivation test in
CalWORKs which will not only even the rules for
two-parent households but also simplify the
CalWORKs program eligibility requirements and
align them with CalFresh and Medi-Cal.
SUPPORT
Western Center on Law & Poverty
The Coalition of California Welfare Rights
Organizations
STAFF CONTACT
Elena Santamaria
Elena.Santamaria@asm.ca.gov
916.319.2022