Family Welfare Reform Act of 1987

Family Welfare Reform Act of 1987 - Declares that, hereafter, the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program (part A of title IV of the Social Security Act ) shall be known as the Family Support Program (FSP) and the aid paid to needy families with dependent children shall be called family support supplements.

Title I: National Education, Training, and Work (Network) Program - Amends the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program to require States to establish an education, training, and work program (Program) which helps needy children and parents avoid long-term welfare dependence. Requires private sector involvement in planning and Program design to assure that participants are trained for jobs that will actually be available in the community.

Requires adult recipients of family support supplements to participate in the Program if it is available in the political subdivision where he or she resides and State resources otherwise permit. Directs the State to fully inform such recipients of the opportunities offered under the Program. Lists recipients who are exempt from mandatory participation in the Program, including individuals who: (1) are ill, incapacitated, pregnant, or age 60 or older; (2) are needed at home due to the illness or incapacity of another family member; (3) work 20 or more hours a week; (4) are children under age 16 or attending, full time, an elementary, secondary, or vocational school, except in the case of certain minor parents; or (5) care for a child under age three, but such exception shall apply to only one parent in two-parent families. Prohibits States from requiring the participation of a parent or relative of a child under age six unless day or infant care is guaranteed by the State and participation is on a part-time basis. Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to permit States to require the participation of a parent or relative of a child who has attained age one but not age three if infant care is guaranteed by the State, within certain dollar limitations, and participation is on a part-time basis and emphasizes education and training. Provides that if the caretaker relative or dependent child is attending a school or a course of vocational or technical training designed to lead to employment when he or she would otherwise commence participation in the Program, such attendance may constitute satisfactory participation in the Program, though the costs of such schooling or training shall not be covered by the FSP.

Directs States to give priority in Program participation to families: (1) with teenage parents and parents who were under age 18 when their first child was born; (2) that have been receiving family support supplements continuously for two or more years; (3) with parents who lack a high school diploma or its equivalent; and (4) whose youngest child is within two years of being ineligible for family support supplements.

Requires States to make an initial assessment of the educational, child care, and other supportive service needs as well as the skills, prior work experience, and employability of each Program participant and on that basis negotiate a family support plan with each participant which, to the maximum extent possible, reflects the participant's preferences. Requires each participant to then negotiate a contract with the State which specifies the duration of his or her participation as well as the activities the State will conduct and services it will provide in the course of such participation. Directs the State to assign a case manager to each participating family who is responsible for: (1) obtaining, on the family's behalf, any other services which may assure the family's effective participation; (2) monitoring a participant's progress; and (3) periodically reviewing and renegotiating the family support plan and the participant's contract with the State.

Requires State Programs to provide a broad range of services and activities.

Authorizes any State to institute a work supplementation program under which such State reserves sums which would otherwise be payable to program participants as family support supplements and uses such sums instead to subsidize jobs for such participants.

Authorizes any State to establish a community work experience program to provide experience and training for individuals who have not been employed during the preceding six months and are not otherwise able to obtain employment. Limits such programs to projects which serve a useful public purpose utilizing, if possible, the participant's prior training, experience, and skills. Prohibits Program participants from filling established unfilled position vacancies. Limits community work program participants to work or training (or both) for up to six months or unpaid work experience or training for up to three months. Requires that: (1) a reassessment be made and a new employability plan developed for participants who do not obtain employment after participation in a community work program; and (2) other Program activities be coordinated with the community work program so that job placement has priority over participation in such program.

Prohibits an individual from participating in job search without participating in one or more other Program services or activities if job search has continued for eight weeks or longer without the individual obtaining a job.

Provides that when a mandatory Program participant fails without good cause to comply with any requirement imposed on his or her participation in such Program: (1) such participant's needs shall not be taken into account in determining the family support supplement; and (2) if such participant's spouse is not participating in the Program, the spouse's need shall not be taken into account in determining the family support supplement. Continues sanctions for a minimum of three months if the participant failed to comply on a previous occasion. Directs States, after three months of a participant's noncompliance, to remind the participant in writing of his or her option to end the sanction. Prohibits a State from requiring an individual to accept a Program position which would result in a loss of income to such individual or his or her family.

Sets the Federal matching rate at 90 percent of the expenditures for education and training under the Program to the extent such expenditures do not exceed allotments to the State under part C (Work Incentive Programs) of title IV of the Act for FY 1987, 65 percent of such expenditures which do exceed FY 1987 allotments, and 50 percent of the administrative costs of such Program.

Amends part A (General Provisions) of title XI of the Act to authorize up to five States to conduct demonstration projects testing whether eliminating durational standards, used in defining unemployment for family support supplement eligibility purposes, and requiring parents to accept reasonable job offers while preserving their eligibility for supplement payments would encourage their entrance into the permanent work force and thereby reduce FSP costs. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to States to assist in financing such projects.

Amends part C (Work Incentive Program) of title IV of the Act to create a new part C entitled "Education, Training, and Work Program." Requires that each State FSP plan contain specified provisions and assurances, including assurances that: (1) Program activities are coordinated and not duplicative of existing activities; and (2) local governments and the private sector are involved in Program planning and design so that participants are trained for jobs that are likely to be available in the community. Requires that Program activities be coordinated with Job Training Partnership Act programs and any relevant employment, training, and education programs available in the State. Requires that the proposed State plan be made available to the public and the State job training coordinating council for review and comments before being submitted to the Secretary of Labor. Authorizes the State job training coordinating council to appeal to the State Governor for acceptance of its recommendations when they differ from proposed State plan provisions.

Sets forth the range of services and activities which State Programs may provide, including: (1) high school or equivalent education; (2) remedial education; (3) job search, training, and placement services; (4) counseling, information, and referral for participants experiencing personal and family problems which may be affecting their ability to work; and (5) supportive services. Gives any participant lacking a high school diploma the opportunity to participate in a program addressing the education needs identified in the participant's initial assessment without interference from required participation in other programs and activities. Requires that children in participating families be encouraged to engage in the education or training activities available under the Program and be provided with additional services and incentives designed to keep them in school and help them obtain marketable job skills. Deems an individual who attends an accredited postsecondary institution to be satisfactorily participating in the Program for so long as such individual is making satisfactory progress in a vocational or undergraduate education or training program consistent with his or her employment goals.

Requires each work assignment to be consistent with the physical capacity, skills, experience, health, family responsibilities, and place of residence of each participant. Prohibits work assignments which displace a currently employed worker or position, impair existing contracts for services or collective bargaining agreements, fill the job of a worker who has been laid off or fired, or infringe on the promotional opportunities of a currently employed worker. Requires that the wage rate for any position to which a participant is assigned be at least equal to the highest of the applicable Federal or State minimum wage or the pay rates of individuals employed in the same or similar occupations by the same employer. Establishes a grievance procedure for complaints about the Program which are received from participants, subgrantees, subcontractors, and other interested persons.

Requires the Secretary to: (1) issue performance standards, within one year of this Act's enactment, for the Programs; (2) develop a legislative proposal for modifying the Federal AFDC matching rate so that it reflects the relative effectiveness of the various States in carrying out the Programs; (3) provide for the continuing evaluation of State Programs and the conduct of research on making such Programs more effective; and (4) establish uniform reporting requirements requiring each State to periodically furnish specified Program information to the Secretary.

Sets forth transitional provisions. Requires each State, within six months of this Act's enactment, to: (1) evaluate its welfare population demographics, giving particular attention to the demands of the State labor market, the training needed to meet those demands, and necessary changes in current service delivery systems; and (2) submit such evaluation to the Secretary. Authorizes appropriations under part C for FY 1988 and 1989.

Authorizes States to provide individuals who have been Program participants for at least six months and have been unable to secure unsubsidized employment with transitional subsidized employment with a public or nonprofit private employer for a period which does not exceed six months, unless an extension is determined to be necessary in a review and modification of the family support plan.

Amends title XI (General Provisions) of the Act to authorize States to conduct demonstration projects testing: (1) financial incentives and interdisciplinary approaches to reducing school dropouts, encouraging skill development, and avoiding the welfare dependence of children receiving family support supplements; (2) the effect of in-home early childhood development and pre-school center-based development programs on families receiving family support supplement payments and participating in this Act's Program; (3) the effectiveness of private organizations and nonprofit community development corporations in creating employment opportunities for supplement recipients; and (4) more effective methods of ensuring long-term family self-sufficiency through community-based comprehensive family support services. Requires each State to institute a program providing grants for training child care personnel. Authorizes States to institute a program providing grants to: (1) local nonprofit child care programs to establish or renovate child care centers and family day care homes; or (2) local child care agencies to recruit, train, and provide other essential supports to new family day care providers. Authorizes appropriations for such demonstration and grant programs.

Title II: Day Care, Transportation, and Other Work-Related Expenses - Requires States to either: (1) provide day care for dependent children and incapacitated individuals living in the same home as a dependent child; or (2) reimburse the caretaker relative for the cost of such care, if and to the extent such care is directly related to an individual's participation in the Program, reasonably necessary for such participation, and cost-effective. Requires entities providing such care to ensure parental access and post in clear public view the telephone number for filing complaints regarding child care quality or health or safety violations. Provides coverage for certain transportation and other work-related costs. Continues day care coverage for at least one year after a family's eligibility for support supplements ceases, but permits States to reduce such coverage on the basis of a family's ability to pay and exclude it altogether when the family's income equals or exceeds 150 percent of the Federal poverty level. Authorizes State demonstration projects testing: (1) whether the employment of parents receiving family support supplements as day care providers for children receiving such aid will make additional day care services available while creating employment opportunities for such parents; and (2) the effect of increasing the maximum excludable value of automobiles for FSP eligibility purposes. Directs States to regularly assess the availability and reliability of child care services available to Program participants, and when necessary, develop new child care resources and coordinate FSP child care with other child care programs. Authorizes States to use FSP child care funds to supplement early childhood development programs.

Title III: Real Work Incentives - Excludes, in determining a family's eligibility for supplement payments: (1) the earned income of students who are not full-time employees; (2) $100 plus 25 percent of any family member's monthly earned income; (3) $50 of monthly child support payments; and (4) earned income credits payable to the family under the Internal Revenue Code. Authorizes States to disregard certain of the income of dependent children or minor parents applying for family support supplements if the dependent children are full-time students or the income is derived from a Job Training Partnership Act program. Prohibits application of the $100 and 25 percent earned income exclusion in the case of individuals who, without good cause: (1) terminate their employment or reduce their income; (2) refuse a bona fide offer of employment; or (3) fail to make a timely report of their monthly earned income. Authorizes States to increase the amount of an individual's earned income excluded under this Act in making family support supplement eligibility determinations.

Title IV: Transitional Services for Families; Extension of Medicaid Eligibility - Extends a family's eligibility for coverage under title XIX (Medicaid) of the Act when the family becomes ineligible for family support supplements due to the caretaker's employment and such family has received supplements in at least three of the preceding six months. Increases the period of extended Medicaid coverage, from four to six months, for families who lose supplement eligibility as the result of the collection or increased collection of child or spousal support under part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) of title IV of the Act.

Title V: Child Support Enforcement Amendments - Amends part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) of title IV of the Act to direct States to establish binding guidelines for child support award amounts. (Currently, such guidelines need not be binding.) Creates a rebuttable presumption in any judicial or administrative proceeding that the child support award which results from the application of such guidelines is correct. Requires States to review and, if necessary, update such guidelines once every three years and review and update all child support orders at least once every two years to ensure that they continue to comply with child support award guidelines. Requires States to abide by State due process requirements when updating child support awards.

Directs States to: (1) determine the paternity of every child within the State whose family receives family support supplements as soon as possible after the child's birth but in no event later than its 18th birthday; and (2) require the parties in a contested paternity case to submit to genetic tests upon the request of a party in such case, using a 95 percent probability index from blood tests as a rebuttable presumption of paternity. Encourages States to establish and implement simple civil processes for voluntarily acknowledging paternity and a civil procedure for establishing paternity in contested cases. Sets performance standards for paternity determinations from FY 1989 through 1993. Alters the formula for determining the incentive payment to be paid to a State for its child support collection efforts to take into account cases in which a child's paternity has been established but support collection has not begun or amounts to less than $100 a month.

Amends part A (General Provisions) of title XI of the Act to authorize States to conduct demonstration projects identifying and testing possible solutions to problems arising in connection with visitation by absent parents and child custody. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to States to assist in financing such projects. Requires the Department of Health and Human Services to establish time limits within which a State must respond to requests for assistance in locating absent parents or establishing paternity, and begin proceedings to establish child support awards. Requires States to have an operational automatic data processing and information retrieval system for the child support enforcement and establishment of paternity determination process by October 1, 1992. Excludes the cost of certain interstate child support enforcement projects from the computation of the incentive payment to a State for its child support collection efforts.

Lowers the Federal matching rate for part D expenses to 66 percent for States which are not fully in compliance with the Child Support Enforcement Amendments of 1984 at any time after the expiration of six months after this Act's enactment. Requires States, with specified exceptions, to immediately withhold court-ordered child support from the wages of parents residing in the State.

Establishes a commission to examine the problems of interstate child support enforcement and develop a new model interstate law to facilitate and strengthen such enforcement. Requires such commission to report its findings to the President and the Congress within one year of this Act's enactment. Authorizes appropriations.

Directs the Secretary to conduct a study of the patterns of expenditures on children in two-parent families, in single-parent families following divorce, and in single-parent families in which the parents were never married, giving particular attention to the relative standards-of-living in households in which both parents and all of the children do not live together. Directs the Secretary to report to the Congress on such study within two years of this Act's enactment. Authorizes appropriations for such study.

Requires the Secretary to make grants to States for demonstration projects under which absent parents who owe child support, but whose income is insufficient to pay such support, are encouraged to participate in work, education, and training activities available in the State. Directs the Secretary to collect and maintain up-to-date child support enforcement data. Requires the Secretary of Labor to make the name, social security number, current address, and place of employment of any specified individual available to the Parent Locator Service and State child support enforcement agencies which request such information.

Title VI: Pro-Family Welfare Policies - Requires States to pay family support supplements with respect to dependent children of unemployed parents in two-parent families. Includes within the definition "quarter of work," for the purpose of determining a family's eligibility for assistance, the parent's: (1) full-time attendance as an elementary or secondary school student; (2) full-time attendance in a vocational or technical training course; and (3) participation in a Job Training Partnership Act education or training program. Directs the Comptroller General to conduct a study of State FSP administration in cases involving unemployed parents and recommend changes to the Congress, within six months of this Act's enactment, which would make such administration less cumbersome and prone to error.

Directs States to assign an individual case manager to each family receiving family support supplements which is headed by a minor parent. Requires unmarried minor parents to live with a parent, legal guardian, other adult relative, or in a foster home, maternity home, or other supportive living arrangement, unless the State determines that, given specified circumstances, it is impossible or inappropriate for them to do so. Treats the minor parent and minor parent's children as a family separate from the parent and parent's children with whom the minor parent resides in determining the minor parent's eligibility for supplement payments.

Authorizes States to condition a minor parent's eligibility on his or her: (1) part-time school attendance; or (2) training in parenting and family living skills. Repeals the requirement that part of the income of the parent of a minor parent with whom such minor parent resides be attributed to the dependent child in a minor parent family.

Title VII: Benefit Improvements - Directs each State to re-evaluate annually its FSP need and payment standard, giving particular attention to whether the amount it has assumed to be necessary for shelter is adequate. Sets forth reporting requirements.

Increases by 25 percent the Federal share of family support supplements which represent an increase in the supplement level in effect on September 30, 1988. Requires the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a study of a new national system of welfare benefits for low-income families with children giving particular attention to what an appropriate national minimum benefit might be and how it should be calculated. Directs the Academy to report its recommendations to the Secretary (for prompt transmittal to the Congress) within two years of this Act's enactment.

Title VIII: Miscellaneous Provisions - Establishes a Commission on the Coordination of Family Support and Food Stamp Policies to conduct a study and make recommendations to the President and the Congress within one year of this Act's enactment regarding the coordination of the food stamp program under the Food Stamp Act of 1977 and the Family Support Program. Directs the Secretary to establish uniform reporting requirements requiring each State to periodically furnish the Secretary with information regarding FSP implementation.

Amends title XX (Block Grants to States for Social Services) to require each State to submit an annual report to the Secretary containing specified information regarding the use of such funds.

Directs the Secretary to convene an Interagency Panel to design, implement, and monitor a series of implementation and evaluation studies to assess the methods and effects of the programs initiated under this Act. Requires the Panel to report to the President and the Congress annually over the five year period beginning with this Act's enactment on such studies.

Establishes a program providing grants to States selected to conduct demonstration projects testing whether FSP housing costs can be reduced by constructing and rehabilitating permanent housing for rental to FSP families who would otherwise require FSP emergency assistance in the form of temporary housing. Provides that, to be eligible for selection as one of three States authorized to conduct such a project, a State must: (1) be currently providing FSP emergency housing assistance; (2) have an acute need for Federal assistance by virtue of the large number of homeless FSP families, and shortages of low-income housing, in the jurisdiction(s) where such project would be conducted; and (3) submit a plan to achieve significant cost saving over a ten-year period through the conduct of such project.

Requires that such grants be used to provide permanent housing which is: (1) owned by the State, an instrumentality of the State, or a nonprofit organization; (2) available to families who have been unable to find decent housing at rents that can be paid with FSP aid for shelter; and (3) located in jurisdictions experiencing a critical shortage of such housing. Requires that: (1) the most costly temporary housing be retired from use in the emergency assistance program as permanent housing becomes available for occupancy, unless temporary housing is demonstrably needed; and (2) the costs of providing permanent housing be lower than costs which would be incurred if, instead, the State made FSP emergency assistance payments providing temporary housing.

Sets the State contribution for the cost of constructing or rehabilitating such housing at not less than the current State FSP share increased by ten percent. Authorizes appropriations for the grant program for each of the first five fiscal years following FY 1987.

Authorizes the Secretary to approve, as alternatives to the Family Support Program: (1) a five-year demonstration project testing New York State's Child Support Supplement Program; and (2) a five-year demonstration project testing Washington State's Family Independence Program.

Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to establish an interagency working group to conduct a study and report to the Congress within six months of this Act's enactment on the housing problems faced by FSP families.

Provides that in determining a family's support supplement level the needs of a family member who is a drug addict or alcoholic shall not be taken into account if such individual terminates his or her enrollment in a treatment program before such treatment is completed and does not resume treatment.

Amends part A (General Provisions) of title XI of the Act to include American Samoa in the Family Support Program. Limits Federal funding for American Samoa's program to $1,000,000 for any fiscal year. Increases the total amount of Federal payments which may be made to Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands in any fiscal year under titles I (Grants to States for Old-Age Assistance for the Aged), X (Grants for States for Aid to the Blind), XIV (Grants to States for Aid to the Permanently and Totally Disabled), XVI (Grants to States for Aid to the Aged, Blind, or Disabled), and parts A (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) and E (Foster Care and Adoption Assistance) of title IV of the Act.

Title IX: Funding Provisions - Amends the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984 to extend for three years the authority of the Internal Revenue Service to offset against any refund of Federal taxes the amount of certain non-tax debts owed to Federal agencies. (The extension would make the offset provisions applicable to refunds payable before January 1, 1991.) Expresses the congressional intent that such offset provisions extend to all Federal agencies and not be construed as exempting any debts. Directs the Comptroller General to report to the Congress by April 1, 1989, on a study into the operation and effectiveness of such offset provisions.

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude the expenses of overnight camps from the income tax credit for employment-related dependent care expenses. Reduces the dependent care tax credit available to individuals whose income exceeds $65,000. Eliminates such credit when an individual's income equals or exceeds $95,000.

Prohibits tax credits or deductions for expenditures made in connection with a trade or business consisting of criminal activities.

Title X: Food Stamp Program - Food Stamp Family Welfare Reform Act of 1987 - Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to make food stamp program (program) eligibility permanent for households made up solely of members who receive aid to dependent children, supplemental security income assistance or aid to the aged, blind, or disabled under the provisions of the Social Security Act.

Excludes from income for purposes of program eligibility: (1) educational assistance for training programs and secondary school equivalency programs; (2) child support payments received under the aid to families with dependent children program (AFDC); (3) certain agricultural commodity two-party payments; (4) advance earned income tax credit payments; and (5) dependent care payments received under specified employment and training programs.

Sets maximum monthly dependent care deductions at $200 for each dependent under two years old and $175 for each other dependent. (Current deduction is $160 per month regardless of age.)

Provides for annualizing self-employment farm income and expenses.

Prohibits the use of post self-employment farm income as an indicator of anticipated income if income changes have occurred or are anticipated.

Excludes certain property (including land, equipment, and supplies) from financial resources determinations for one year after a person ceases to be self-employed in farming.

Permits higher education students living in households receiving food stamps to retain their program benefits under specified conditions.

Sets maximum monthly dependent care reimbursements for employment and training program participants at $200 for each dependent under two years old and $175 for each other dependent. Increases individual maximum transportation and related reimbursable employment and training costs. Revises performance standards criteria, including the requirement that the Office of Technology Assessment develop model performance standards. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to develop an incentives payment proposal.

Authorizes: (1) outreach activities for farm households; and (2) special training for personnel who certify farm households. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to publish training materials annually.

Requires State food stamp offices and points of issuance to be open sufficient hours and at sufficient locations to ensure access by participants who work or study.

Requires State agencies to insure that each participating household receive a notice of expiration prior to the start of the last month of certification. Requires coordination of applications for program and AFDC benefits.

Authorizes a five-year Family Independence Demonstration Project in the State of Washington as an alternative to providing benefits under the food stamp program. Sets forth Project provisions, including: (1) a combination of AFDC and program benefits into a basic cash grant; (2) assistance to the homeless; (3) minimum cash assistance for food at not less than program equivalents; (4) outreach services; (5) employment and training requirements; (6) assurances that the State will permit continued program participation; (7) audit and congressional reporting requirements by the Comptroller General of the United States; (8) a Project evaluation requirement by the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Health and Human Services; and (9) the ineligibility of persons receiving only child care or medical benefits under the Project from receiving Project food assistance (although they may continue to receive program benefits).

Authorizes up to ten State projects under the terms and conditions of the Washington Project, except that such projects could not replace food stamps with cash payments.

Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to issue implementing rules by January 1, 1988.

Provides for the severability of amendments under this Title.

Sets forth effective dates.