Wednesday, April 07, 1999
Families struggle despite working parent
BY TERRY FLYNN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON — A working parent does not mean an escape from poverty for 80,000 Kentucky families, especially in the eastern portion of the state, according to a report released today by a Washington, D.C., research organization.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan policy institute, points out that work, not welfare, is the main source of income for the majority of poor Kentucky families with children. And its says about one-fourth of those families include a full-time, year-round worker.
The findings of the report come as no surprise to Angie Halpin, 30, a married Kenton County mother of three who lives day to day trying to make ends meet while her husband works nearly every day.
“One of our biggest problems is not being able to afford child care,” Ms. Halpin said Tuesday. “I had to quit a job I really cared about because I had to take care of my children.”
In Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties, poverty and unemployment rates are among the lowest in the state, but agencies that work with the poor emphasize that there are many families in Northern Kentucky living at the poverty level despite a working parent.
Mrs. Halpin said she worked at New Perceptions Inc. in Edgewood but when her two older children, 11-year-old Christopher and 6-year-old Taylor, were out of school for the summer, she faced a child-care crisis.
“Child care for Christopher would cost me $430 every two weeks, and I was earning $461 every two weeks,” she said. “I had to leave a job that was really meaningful.”
Her husband, Steven, works as a server at Mike Fink Restaurant in Covington, and she said the family subsists on his tips because his minimal salary goes to pay for health insurance.
Even when tips are really good, he can count on only about $20,000 a year. The federal poverty level for a family of four in 1998 was $16,655.
“This is a critical population we need to address,” said Tom Lottman, associate executive director of Children Inc., a nonprofit agency in Covington. “For example, about 75 percent of the children in the Covington Public Schools quality for free breakfast and lunch, and certainly there are families in that group with a working parent.”
Christina Smith FitzPatrick, an analyst and author of the report, said that while the common assumption is that “families are poor because the parents don't work, these (report) statistics show this belief is false. Many parents work and play by the rules and can't make ends meet.”
Wonda Winkler, director of special projects for the Brighton Center in Newport, said the center's staff sees a “significant number of families with income coming in but still needing support.”
Brighton Center operates a training facility that teaches skills to enable people at the poverty level to get entry-level jobs that pay $8-$9 an hour. It then provides follow-up services to help them move up the employment ladder.
The report, titled “Poverty Despite Work in Kentucky,” points out that leaving welfare does not automatically mean leaving poverty.
While Kentucky's welfare caseload has declined almost 40 percent since a peak in 1993, 59 percent of those leaving welfare for work in 1998 earned less that $7 an hour.
“Some people are worse off after leaving welfare,” said Linda Young, executive director of the Welcome House homeless shelter in Covington. “Getting off welfare doesn't immediately put people above poverty. Many people still need help as they improve their working situation.”
The report says Kentucky places a heavy tax burden on the poor by imposing a tax on families making as little as $5,000 a year. A two-parent family of four with poverty-level income paid $550 in income taxes in 1998, the highest in the country.
Ms. FitzPatrick concludes that Kentucky should implement an earned income tax credit to help lift working families out of poverty.
She points out that affordable child-care assistance is one of the most significant hurdles facing parents who are entering or attempting to remain in the work force.
That's something obviously not lost on Ms. Halpin.
“If there were some affordable child care, especially for Christopher, who has learning disabilities, I would be able to return to work,” she said.
Mr. Lottman said one of the most critical issues for poor working parents is a need to increase eligibility for state child care.
“And not just any child care, but quality child care,” he said. “A consistent program with quality, trained staff to support the child's development.”
Said Ms. Winkler: “The biggest motivator and concern for parents is the welfare of their children. They want to be certain that services like health care and child care are available.”
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