key takeaway
California’s CalWORKs program, while crucial for low-income families with children, penalizes them financially for not meeting work requirements. This is counterproductive as sanctioned families often face the most barriers to employment.
The California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program is a critical component of California’s safety net for families with low incomes. The program helps over 650,000 children and their families, who are predominantly people of color, with modest cash grants, employment assistance, and critical supportive services. However, the program has a problematic history of prioritizing work over family well-being, exemplified by financial penalties against families and counties that don’t meet narrowly defined performance indicators.
For many families, receiving cash assistance is conditional on engaging in employment or other specified “welfare-to-work” activities intended to lead to employment, such as on-the-job training or unpaid work experience. Additionally, families must navigate through various other paperwork-related stipulations, which further exacerbate the barriers to accessing the much-needed aid. Families who do not comply with all the requirements set forth by the state can be subject to a financial sanction that reduces their monthly cash grant.
California’s sanction policy is harsher than what is required by the federal government. The punitive approach to this safety net cash assistance is counterproductive. Research shows that sanctioned recipients are often those who face the most barriers to employment, such as limited education, learning disabilities, limited work history, physical and mental health problems, and a history of domestic violence.1Rachel Kirzner, TANF Sanctions: Their Impact on Earnings, Employment, and Health (Center for Hunger-Free Communities, Drexel University, March 23, 2015). These participants are often not aware of the financial penalties or cannot fully navigate the overly burdensome processes due to limited resources and information.
As states across the country are learning that harsh sanctions do not directly lead to gainful employment and family stability, many have reduced the amount by which cash grants are cut, recognizing that pushing families deeper into poverty only further jeopardizes their well-being. California, which is often at the vanguard of providing cash and safety net support, is unfortunately trailing significantly behind.
How do CalWORKs sanctions impact California families?
CalWORKs families cannot afford to be sanctioned. These artificial barriers put families at risk of falling deeper into poverty. Briana, a Parent Voices California advocate, experienced this reality firsthand. As a mother of four living in Contra Costa County, Briana has been on and off of CalWORKs since the age of 17. Even though her CalWORKs case manager did not help her to utilize the full scope of CalWORKs services (i.e., child care, school tuition assistance), Briana received her certified nursing assistant certification (CNA) and achieved her goal of working in the medical field, which she did for several years. A CNA certification course at Contra Costa College is approximately $322 in fees and CNA students pay over $100 in books, costs that could have been covered by CalWORKs benefits and not paid through Briana’s cash aid.
Special thank you to Briana Burks and Parent Voices California for sharing their testimony from the March 20, 2024, Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 2 on Human Services hearing, as highlighted in this section.
While experiencing postpartum depression following the births of her son and daughter, Briana went back on CalWORKs assistance to help make ends meet. During this time, Briana was sanctioned several times for reasons such as:
- Not having an up-to-date immunization card;
- Not having one of her children’s birth certificates on file;
- Not turning in a check stub (despite the stub already being in the CalWORKs system);
- As well as other reasons unknown to Briana.
These sanctions cost Briana hundreds of dollars, as highlighted in the preceding chart. With the $242 recouped from sanctions, every month, Briana could have paid for:
- Six days of groceries for her family;
- Three-quarters of her monthly utility bill;
- 48 gallons of gas; or
- Funds to support rent and car payments.
Briana’s sanctions coupled with remaining cash aid paying for her CNA certification exacerbated her financial insecurity. At the time that Briana shared her story at a March 2024 Assembly hearing, she was $300 short on her rent and car payment and had $0 left on her EBT card.
Briana’s story is just one example of how CalWORKs sanctions perpetuate the cycle of poverty and are rooted in a racist and sexist history popularized by figures like then California Governor Ronald Reagan that punished Black and other mothers of color, in particular. In the words of Briana: “Our future generations, our grandkids, somebody down the line is gonna need help. And I just want it to be easier for them. We need to defend these programs against cuts, get rid of these unnecessary sanctions, and reimagine CalWORKs into a program that opens those doors to help us get to where we want to go.”
How can policymakers ensure families in need have access to CalWORKs?
The governor’s commitment, outlined in his January budget proposal, to apply to a federal pilot aiming to center family well-being over work requirements offers California a great opportunity to reevaluate its sanction policy. Policymakers can make a significant difference in CalWORKs families’ lives, like Briana’s, by eliminating non-federally required sanctions and minimizing the amount sanctioned families lose each month. Additionally, policymakers should continue investing in CalWORKs and protect the program from harmful cuts. CalWORKs should center the well-being of families by removing barriers instead of amplifying them.
