State proposes one-year maternity leave for welfare moms

DHS officials say the change will be better for the mothers, the newborns and the taxpayers, who are expected to save $4.3 million a year by not having to pick up day care payments.

“Research has shown that mothers who can stay home longer can bond a little better with their child, and these are folks who probably have some other challenges in their lives, so we look at it as a good thing financially and socially,” said DHS spokeswoman Michelle Mowery Johnson.

The change is scheduled to go into effect in April. It would exempt mothers for one year from the work, job training and school requirements of the welfare program. The exemption is currently four months.

The exempted period will not count toward the limits of 18 consecutive months and 60 total months allowable for welfare assistance.

DHS estimates 2,400 mothers will be eligible for the work exemption, with about half of them expected to stay home.

The one-year work exemption puts Tennessee in line with 25 other states and the District of Columbia, according to DHS deputy commissioner Ed Lake. Several states have longer exemption periods.

Families First, the state’s welfare program, pays an average of $4,000 per year to keep a welfare child in day care.

The policy change is getting favorable reviews from welfare advocates and some Republicans who were vocal about requiring work during the 1996 welfare reform debate.

“It allows more mothers to be home longer at very early ages when moms are really needed,” said Linda Moynihan, executive director of the Tennessee Conference on Social Welfare.

One Republican leader in the Senate, who was around during the 1996 fight to require strict work requirements, said he supports the change being made by the administration of Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen.

“As long as the ultimate goal is to let the mother stay at home during those development years, I’m not going to fault it,” said Sen. Ron Ramsey of Blountville, chairman of the Senate Republican Caucus. “But I never want to go back to the point where we don’t require work for welfare.”

Sen. Jeff Miller, R-Cleveland, said he sees both sides of the issue but leans toward supporting the new policy.

“I can see where we don’t want to compromise trying to get people into the work force, but it’s beneficial for the mother and child to be together more and have a nurturing relationship, and the state does need to cut back and save money,” Miller said.

When Tennessee changed its welfare program in 1996, its rules were among the most restrictive in the nation, requiring 40 hours of a combination of work, job training or school per week, compared with the national requirement of 30 hours per week.

At the time, Gov. Don Sundquist’s administration believed it was reasonable to require mothers of newborns to return to work after 16 weeks, which is in line with state employee maternity benefits.

Studies by the University of Tennessee have shown that children have not been harmed by welfare requirements that sent mothers out of the home for 40 hours a week, Lake said.