Intake Practices in Local Public Assistance Agencies

THE PROCESS of taking applications for assistance for the needy aged, the needy blind, and dependent children and of determining eligibility today has a meaning quite different from that of 8 or 10 years ago. With the rapid expansion in these programs made possible by the Federal Social Security Act have come many changes in methods of administration. Broader and more flexible policies and procedures have been and are being developed for effective operation of the public assistance program. The fact that in March 1941 there were more than twice as many persons receiving aid to the blind, three times as many families receiving aid to dependent children, and almost twenty times as many persons receiving old-age assistance as there were in March 1933 gives some idea of the impact of public assistance upon State and local welfare agencies. Even in States where there had been statutory provision for these types of assistance prior to the passage of the act, the early programs reached only a small portion of the persons for whom they were intended. Participation was not always mandatory; often the counties could choose not to provide assistance. With the added resources available to the States and local agencies, all political subdivisions in States with approved plans now participate in making provision for these types of assistance. A significant factor affecting administration of public assistance since the passage of the Social Security Act has been the placing of responsibility for supervision of the public assistance programs upon a single State agency. In the earlier programs , State supervision existed in only a small number of States in which there was State financial participation. Formerly each local agency had its own policies and practices, and controls for seeing that those who applied for assistance received equitable consideration were either nonexistent or generally inadequate. Opportunities existed for discrimination in the consideration of applications within the same State and even within the same county. Applicants denied assistance had no recourse. The fact that a single State agency now administers or supervises the administration of public assistance within each State and that the agency must meet certain requirements in order to qualify under the provisions of the act is resulting in changing concepts of the program. In contrast to the old poor-law traditions, the concept of assistance as a right, available on fulfillment of certain conditions of eligibility, is developing. Policies and …