Four years ago, Orintha Petrimoulx was holding down two jobs and working her way off welfare. An unexpected pregnancy and premature birth left her without employment and a new, full-time role as caretaker for her special-needs son.Now, the single mother of two provides for her family on $489 a month in cash assistance and dreams of the day when she can be self-sufficient.
She says two bills moving through the Michigan legislature could crush those dreams.
“It’s really concerning,” she said. “I was hoping to be able to get out on my own within a year, but if this goes through, I won’t even be able to pay my bills.”
State legislators are looking to trim the budget for the Department of Human Services by enforcing a tight 48-month limit on cash assistance for families, saving the state $60 million.
If it passes, Petrimoulx would lose all of her cash benefits.
Local low-income advocates and families contend that the $60 million savings isn’t worth the havoc these changes will wreak on the most vulnerable in the community.
“The repercussions of this decision are enormous,” said Jackie Doig, senior staff attorney at the Center for Civil Justice in Saginaw. “It will mean a complete loss of cash assistance to some of the most vulnerable families, particularly in families where a parent has to stay home to care for a child with disabilities.”
www.mlive.com/news/bay-city/index.ssf/2011/05/budget-saving_changes_to_welfa.html
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