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Closing site won't hurt poor, DCF says

The state agency reasons that most people who need its services can still go online even though many of them don't have computers.

By COLLEEN JENKINS
Published October 21, 2005

DADE CITY - The closing of the Department of Children and Families office in Dade City won't hurt east Pasco County's poor, a DCF official said Thursday, because people these days typically have Internet access.

"I would think most people now know somebody that has a computer or has access to a computer that would be more than willing to help," spokesman Andy Ritter said of the department's push to get all clients to apply for benefits online.

According to the most recent census data, more than 70 percent of U.S. families below the federal poverty line do not have Internet access in their homes. And 46 percent of families in Lacoochee and 23 percent of families in the Tommytown area live in poverty.

Also, none of the eight low-income housing complexes in Dade City and Lacoochee have public computer access.

Ritter said that the county's 87 "community partners" will provide enough access points for the people who need help plugging into DCF's services, usually through the use of a computer at the partner site. Those sites include hospitals and nursing homes.

"We'll make sure that the state's most vulnerable citizens don't get left behind," he said. "We're here to help."

Except 85 of those partners don't want their names released to the general public. The other two are in west Pasco. Only one community partner is in Trilby, none are in Lacoochee and 18 are in Dade City.

And Thursday, two potential community partners being courted by the department said they don't have the manpower to help disadvantaged residents fill out the online applications for food stamps, Medicaid or temporary cash assistance.

Pasco Health Department director Dr. Marc Yacht said he is open to providing space in the county's health clinics, including one in Dade City, for DCF to set up computers. But he worries the elderly or illiterate won't be able to figure things out alone.

"We all want to do it cheaper, we all want to streamline," Yacht said. "But we don't want to compromise critical services to families.

"Somebody better be there to help (DCF clients). And I don't have somebody to help them."

DCF also has courted the county's libraries. The Hugh Embry branch in downtown Dade City would likely feel the most impact once the DCF office on State Road 52 closes in February.

Angelo Liranzo, public service librarian, said the branch's staff already provides the DCF Web address to library computer users who ask.

"We're more than happy to get them pointed in the right direction," he said. But "we don't help people fill out forms."

Since learning of DCF's plans to shut its doors in Dade City and send its 29 employees there to New Port Richey, several community leaders have expressed concern about whether the county's poorest areas will be adequately served.

DCF officials, meanwhile, are saying the bulk of their clients - the working poor - will now have a more convenient, more self-efficient method of applying for benefits.

The consolidation also will save taxpayers money, enabling DCF workers to process cases faster because the data already will exist electronically, said Jacob Serrano, a senior human services program specialist for DCF in Tampa.

Serrano said he wasn't privy to why DCF officials decided to close the Dade City office. But he pointed to efforts to get the word out about the online application and submission process, which began July 1.

A radio and TV marketing campaign is in the works, as is a continuing push to recruit more community partners willing to house a DCF computer. Each partner will decide its level of assistance, Serrano said.

Department officials will consider posting workers at some of the community sites or opening satellite offices where intake specialists could accept applications and conduct short interviews with clients.

"It's the population and the workload that will determine where we have satellite offices," Serrano said. "It's not that we're going to completely abandon" east Pasco.

Colleen Jenkins covers social services in Pasco County. She can be reached at 727 869-6236 or cjenkins@sptimes.com

[Last modified October 21, 2005, 02:15:38]