April 12, 2006

Brown honored for looking out for all of Washington’s children

OLYMPIA – The Children’s Alliance recently named Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, a “Champion for Children” for the 2006 legislative session.

Brown was recognized specifically for her hard work to preserve the child safety net for families sanctioned in the WorkFirst program. The efforts succeeded when Gov. Chris Gregoire announced Feb. 28 a delay in implementing full-family sanctions.

The term full-family sanction refers to a termination of a family grant when a WorkFirst recipient refuses to engage in the required work. The sanctions do not necessarily succeed in moving families off welfare and into employment, Brown said.

“Studies show that sanctioned families are less likely to find work than other welfare families. Full-family sanctions don’t encourage compliance with the rules; they result in terminated benefits and can ultimately harm children.”

Implementing full-family sanctions would be more costly than continuing current practice when the costs of foster care, emergency shelters and health care services are considered.

The Children’s Alliance is a Seattle-based child advocacy group that focuses on policy issues such as foster care, early learning, health, hunger, juvenile justice and child abuse.

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