After abortion law signing, focus turns to long-ignored childcare program

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — As Republicans showered praise for their soon-to-be-passed bill restricting abortions beyond the 6th week of pregnancy Thursday, there was a lot of talk of the value of life in the chambers of Tallahassee.

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“It feels as if we just broke down a wall, that we’re able to save more lives,” Rep. Doug Bankson, R-Apopka, said shortly before the official vote.

For now, abortions will remain legal up to 15 weeks as the Florida Supreme Court considers permanently allowing the ban passed last year. Lawmakers also provided $25 million to non-medical “crisis pregnancy centers” and expanded access to children’s healthcare.

However, the package of votes did not touch a program thousands of low-income Floridians rely on to help them cover basic necessities: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funding, also known as TANF, which hasn’t been updated in decades.

Read: Florida House passes bill to expand KidCare

TANF provides monthly cash payments to families who qualify. The first child qualifies for up to $180 per month, and each additional child receives around $60.

Parents must work or be disabled to be on the program and be lawful Florida residents. They must also meet income restrictions.

In the wake of the pro-life vote, policy analysts are renewing their criticism over the lack of action by lawmakers as the program no longer covers the cost of diapers.

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“Florida has not updated its TANF payment levels since 1992, which means that people in the program are really unable to meet even the most basic needs of their children,” the Florida Policy Institute’s Cindy Huddleston said. “That is a program that we really need to start looking at more carefully.”

Huddleston described the current situation as dire: many desperate families cannot qualify for TANF because they make too much money, even though they struggle to pay rent. Many of the families that do qualify aren’t in public housing.

She said the system also punishes families with more than one child due to outdated and inaccurate stories about “welfare queens” who have more children to receive more assistance.

Read: State attorney Monique Worrell meets with local law enforcement for training sessions

“I think analysis over time have shown that those stereotypes are untrue, and it’s something that other states have been recognizing,” she said, mentioning Florida was one of only a handful of states that still had shrinking payments on its books.

Florida recently adopted changes to payments it gives foster families, who now can receive more than $500 per month for caring for someone else’s child for up to six months, or approximately three times more than it pays for someone to care for their own child.

As one of the few lawmakers with background knowledge of TANF, State Representative Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, said conversations about modernizing the payment structure are few and far between, even though the program solely benefited hard-working families.

“Florida has a lot of broken and safety nets that are underfunded, devalued, and way too low to match the current cost of living,” she said. “We have always been met with resistance, and so I’m hopeful that the next leadership will be more open to these conversations, and I think part of it is breaking the stigma and breaking the misconceptions.”

Read: Despite staffing shortages, state plans takeover of county child services

WFTV contacted most Republican lawmakers in Central Florida. Of the offices that picked up the phone, few had heard of TANF, though several aides dove into research upon hearing about the program and its deficiencies.

Freshman Rep. Paula Stark, R-St. Cloud said a TANF bill had been introduced but appeared dead in its committee. She said she would contact its sponsor to discuss the issue and was interested in working to shore up the program.

“Anything that helps children be successful and healthy is worth looking at,” she said. “That’s always something that we can bring back to the table and see if there’s (a) discussion for it.”

Rep. Randy Fine, R-Brevard, said he had never looked deeply into TANF, but lawmakers had taken a step in the right direction by expanding KidCare this year.

“You made like, one more dollar and then you lost your health insurance. We’ve tried to smooth that out,” he said. “If you’re doing your part, if you’re working and you’re working hard, the state wants to be there to help you with your children.”

Video: Gov. Ron DeSantis signs 6-week abortion ban Just hours after it passed the Florida House of Representatives, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced he’d signed SB 300, the “Heartbeat Protection Act.” (Q McCray, WFTV.com)

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