Editor’s note: In September, the Caledonian-Record published an exclusive series by AP award-winning writer Bethany Knight of Glover on poverty and cash welfare benefits in the Northeast Kingdom. The Caledonian-Record and Knight have generously allowed VTDigger to republish an edited version of the series.
In a negative stereotype, a welfare mom taps on an iPhone, careful not to chip her manicure, while buying lobster at Price Chopper with her EBT card.
State Sen. Jane Kitchel, D-Caledonia, a former Vermont welfare commissioner, admits she has questioned EBT purchases.
“I saw someone buying a whole lot of bottled water, when the public water supply is adequate,” she said. Knowing state assistance is limited and bottled water is expensive, Kitchel started to judge, “but then I thought, maybe there is a reason, like their water is contaminated?”
The Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) block grant program sends federal money to states for various benefits, including cash welfare for needy families with children. In Vermont, TANF is called Reach Up. In Vermont Reach Up and food stamps benefits, called 3SquaresVT, are disbursed through electronic benefit cards, Vermont’s EBT. The card system is administered by JPMorgan.
On the first of the month, the state loads cards with assistance dollars. Reach Up grants can be withdrawn at an ATM for whatever purpose. Food money is restricted to shopping in certain stores for allowed items, but Vermont’s elderly and disabled are allowed to turn their 3SquaresVT benefit into cash at an ATM.
“Yes, there are some people who abuse the system,” says Joe Patrissi, Northeast Kingdom Community Action executive director. “And there are a lot who don’t.”
Recipients and program administrators agree: Sometimes benefits are abused.
“Yes, there are some people who abuse the system,” says Joe Patrissi, Northeast Kingdom Community Action executive director. “And there are a lot who don’t.”
“Do they buy beer and cigarettes?” asks Paul Dragon, Vermont’s Reach Up director. “I have no doubt that is happening.” Participants acknowledge they use their grants for cigarettes.
Reach Up case managers watch for misuse and say they are quick to report and fine offending participants. Sanctions reduce monthly grants and sanctioned families can have grants “vendored.” Vendored payments keep money out of the abuser’s hands, with payments made directly to the landlord, utility company and others. Abusers can also be required to perform additional community service.
“If bills are not being paid, case managers say, ‘I’m going to vendor these payments,'” says Dragon. However, one of the program goals is for people to learn fiscal management skills, and he points out this won’t happen if all payments are vendored.
Mandatory reporters of suspected child abuse and neglect, state and NEKCA case managers inform the Office of Child Protective Services if they believe a Reach Up grant is being used for something other than the intended household operations. Fraudulent claims, such as not reporting a working member of the household when applying for assistance, is also punishable.
All case managers interviewed acknowledge reporting participants to Child Protective Services.
“The kids are the silent victims,” of such benefit abuse, says Jan Rossier, NEKCA’s St. Johnsbury director at Lincoln School. Some parents “are creative, crafty survivors. They barter or sell their food card.”
Detecting abuse
The Department of Children and Families has a team of full-time fraud investigators, called the Program Integrity Unit, working to “improve program integrity and reduce misspent dollars in the Economic Services Division’s major benefit programs.”
The Program Integrity Unit cross-checks data with several sources, looking for red flags around eligibility and benefit levels. Department of Labor data is mined monthly to review reported wages. Quarterly reviews on all Vermonters receiving assistance are run through the Public Assistance Reporting Information System (PARIS), checking for double dipping of Medicaid, food assistance or Reach Up dollars in other states.
Reports of suspected fraud from case managers or the general public are also investigated. Looking at Reach Up payouts, child-care subsidies and both General Assistance and Emergency Assistance, investigators search for misuse of funds and redundancy within benefits programs.
In a January 2011 report to the Vermont Legislature, DCF reported on the early efforts of six newly hired investigators, 50 percent funded by the federal government. With just six months of data, officials projected the investigators’ efforts would pay the six positions, as they had uncovered $390,000 in “overpayments resulting from both fraudulent actions and errors.”
“We don’t treat sanctions as a punishment. It is a way to work with people,” says Eric Bach, Reach Up team leader.
Repayment plans are made with each overpaid recipient, with full recovery of funds expected within three years or until claims are repaid. Welfare fraud is a felony and conviction results in prison time.
Reach Up participants can also get in trouble for not meeting federal program requirements. Noncompliant recipients who do not meet the work requirement receive sanctions, or cuts to their grants: the first month $75, second $100 and third, $125, up to a maximum reduction of $225.
Unable to estimate the number of sanctioned families in the Northeast Kingdom, St. Johnsbury Reach Up team leader Eric Bach says, “It comes and goes. They’re not commonplace,” noting the problem is often “with the same families coming through because they aren’t meeting the requirements, were fired or quit.”
“Our goal is not to keep them on sanction,” he says, “as it counts against us as well, in federal funding.”
Bach says his team works with families to get sanctions reversed and removed; sometimes enlisting doctors to document an individual’s inability to work.
“We don’t treat sanctions as a punishment. It is a way to work with people,” he says, though he cautions staff to not throw all their energy into one family that refuses to cooperate.
Determination varies
Crystal Beaucage, 25, of Gilman, a Reach Up recipient, has a friend in New Hampshire who abuses the system. “She has three kids and gets assistance, telling them she lives alone.”
Not true, Beaucage says. “A man lives with her and he works.”
“Yes, I know there are people who abuse it,” she says, “and people like that don’t deserve it. But don’t take the help away from the people who don’t abuse!”
Would Crystal Beaucage spend some of her $770 monthly grant on tattoos or bingo?
“I am not going to take money away from my kids,” she says adamantly. When her husband asked her to put money on his prison telephone account, so he could call her she refused. “I told him to write me a letter.”
“The state of Vermont is helping me take care of my three children. I had no car, no food, no nothing,” the young mother of three says, remembering the day she applied for state assistance.
“I love working at NEKCA. I’m not just sitting home. I volunteer, and not just to collect my benefit.”
Not everyone at the St. Johnsbury Lincoln School worksite where between 30 and 50 Reach Up participants attend daily, is as determined as Crystal Beaucage.
“I can’t think of a soul who wants a job,” says a young mother at the worksite.
Pressed to defend her opinion, she thinks again. “Well, maybe two. Some just show up every couple of weeks, to suit their needs. They are users, of people and programs.”
Another participant chimes in, “No one gets fired. I’ve even seen them do something criminal, and all they get is warnings. Getting them interested is like pulling alligator teeth.”
“People know how to beat the requirements,” he contends. “They get a job, work for a month, quit and the clock starts over. Or they get their grant and move to Cabot, where there’s no worksite or transportation.”
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What welfare money won’t buy
•Food assistance benefits in Vermont, called 3SquaresVT, cannot buy nonfood items, such as diapers, tobacco, soap, toothpaste, alcohol and pet toys or food. Store cash registers are programmed to reject these items.
• Most fuel assistance benefits paid in the Northeast Kingdom are sent directly to suppliers. Any fraud found within the program, including a benefit wrongly issued because of client or department error, is recouped.
• Welfare benefits EBT transactions are illegal at casinos, liquor stores and adult-entertainment establishments, per federal law enacted in February.
Some states have gone further:
• California bans the use of cards in adult-entertainment businesses, bail-bond locations, night clubs/saloons/taverns, bingo halls, race tracks, gun and ammunition stores, cruise ships, psychic readers, smoking shops, cannabis shops, tattoo and piercing parlors and spas or massage salons.
• Massachusetts and Michigan prohibit buying lottery tickets with EBT.
Bethany Knight of Glover is a former newspaper reporter, magazine editor, college journalism instructor, gubernatorial speech writer and health care executive. She co-authored five reports on Vermont issues produced by the Ethan Allen Institute. A licensed nursing home administrator, Knight’s books for caregivers are sold by Hartman Publishing. Her first novel, “On the Edge of Tickle,” can be found at www.smashwords.com.
