By Laura Bauer, The Kansas City Star- 1/22/12- While reducing child poverty is one of the main goals of Gov. Brownback, the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services (SRS) has made changes to food stamp policy. These changes, effective since Oct.1, eliminate food stamps for hundreds of low-income U.S. children whose parents are undocumented immigrants and reduce benefits for many more households. “I wonder if [the Governor] understands the ramifications of this policy, if he understands what’s happening to the children,” said Sister Therese Bangert of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth.

The new policy changed the way SRS counts a household income to determine eligibility for benefits. The new formula includes the entire income of all members of a household whereas, before, SRS considered only a portion, especially when household members did not provide documentation of U.S. residency. SRS director of communication, Angela Rocha, said that the previous policy gave more benefits to households with undocumented immigrants than to those with all U.S. citizens.

Pedro moved to Kansas City 13 years ago. While he has had the same job for 11years, sometimes he struggles to pay bills. As an undocumented immigrant, he does not deserve assistance, he understands that. “I’ve never asked for anything for myself… I just work hard,” said Pedro. He makes $1600 a month. This all the income his family has (2 adults and 3 children). Before the policy change, Pedro’s two U.S. –born children were eligible for $280 monthly food stamps. This is because SRS would count only a portion of the $1600 income corresponding to two-fifths or $640 (those receiving benefits divided by the total people in the household). Similarly, a family of five U.S. citizens with a total income of $1,600 would also qualify. With the new policy, SRS counts all the income for all household members but does not count the three non-citizen members to calculate eligibility. So, for Pedro’s children, SRS calculates food stamp eligibility counting the $1,600 income as though the two U.S. citizens (children) were the only people in the household. At that income level, the two children do not qualify to receive any food stamps. He only applied for benefits last year, when his wife lost her job. His eyes fill with tears as he describes his struggle to provide for his family. “But I ask myself, ‘What is better, my kids having food or paying the bills?’ ”

Like Pedro, many parents are just worried for their kids, explains Lydia Diebolt of Centro Hispano Resource Center in Lawrence. A survey conducted by the Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas revealed that the policy change is impacting a great proportion of the families they serve: Of 87 families, 56 said their benefits had been reduced or canceled. Food stamps used to help families in dire need, explained Elena Morales of El Centro in Kansas City, KS. “These food stamps were making a difference for families to be able to provide nutritional food for their children, or food at all. … This policy not only hurts these families, it hurts us, too, especially because we’re talking about U.S. citizen children,” Morales said.

These policy changes have raised criticism from legislators, advocates, community agencies, food pantries, and churches across Kansas. Child advocates affirm that the new policy is hurting families and could prevent U.S. children of the food they need to lead healthy lives. Jan Lewis, president and CEO of Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas, said that while the new policy attempts to bring equity to the system, “the pendulum may have swung a little too far the other way.”

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a federal program, but each state regulates it. Kansas is one of only four states opting to account for all income for all family members. The other states are Arizona, Utah and Nebraska. Stacy Dean, vice president for food assistance policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington said that, in Kansas, this policy increases the problem of food insecurity. “This is not a time, with this economy, when we should be withdrawing help from struggling families with children,” Dean said. Also, Melinda Lewis, a public policy consultant for El Centro, understands the need to be fair but doesn’t think the change is. “We don’t want a policy that would put U.S. families at a disadvantage,” Lewis said. “So let’s find a solution. Put a cap on benefits so mixed-status families could never get more than a U.S. family.”

With the new policy, 1,042 households no longer receive food stamps across Kansas, but SRS does not know how many children live in those households. Yet, estimates reveal that more than 2,000 children stopped receiving these benefits. For Shannon Cotsoradis, president and CEO of Kansas Action for Children, “the bottom line here is we have children who are going to bed hungry at night.”

Courtesy of the Kansas City Star

Original Article: KS: Kansas slashes food aid for children of illegal immigrants

Link: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/21/3384400/kansas-slashes-food-aid-for-children.html#storylink=cpy