Welfare Reform for Addiction Professionals

Module Three:  TANF Issues for Treatment Professionals (25 Minutes)

The purpose of this module is to discuss some of the major issues that addiction treatment professionals are likely to encounter when dealing with addiction treatment clients who are also TANF recipients, as well as possible strategies for addressing these issues.

Involvement With Multiple Systems. Addiction treatment professionals who have significant numbers of female clients are very likely to have female clients who are parents. If these women also have low incomes, they are likely to be involved with the welfare reform system. If they are low-income parents with serious substance-related problems, they are likely also to be involved with child welfare. They may have coexisting substance-related and mental health problems, as well as have children with serious and unmet developmental needs. It is challenging for both the counselor and the client to respond to all of these problems simultaneously.

The Counselor's Perspective. At the beginning of this course, we introduced you to the concept of the four clocks that critically affect the lives of your substance-abusing parents: the substance abuse clock, the welfare reform clock, the child welfare clock, and the child development clock. Treatment professionals must work within resources and constraints, as do their clients. Although providers are not able to change the treatment systems or funding mechanisms, they can strengthen and expand strategies and approaches with clients based on improved knowledge about what is available and maximize their skills to make use of what is available.