Daniels revives agency mistakenly canceled
Gov. Mitch Daniels has signed an order restoring Indiana's largest state agency, the human services department, after it was accidentally eliminated due to a mistake in a new state law.
Family and Social Services Administration
Articles
Indiana welfare workers indicted for stealing $191K
U.S. Attorney Joe Hogsett said Tuesday the three created 126 benefit cards in the names of welfare clients and used them to withdraw money at bank machines, buy retail goods and sell them from 2008 until April 2010.
State slow to move to money-saving home health care
Indiana taxpayers are paying about $300 million a year in nursing home costs despite a state law that would allow the state to save millions while keeping many elderly and disabled Hoosiers in their homes or with family members.
Indiana Medicaid cuts likely to be followed by more
The Office of Medicaid Policy and Planning has approved a series of emergency rules that it expects to save a total of $4.1 million over the next six months, but that will make up for only a small portion of the $31.4 million shortfall the agency anticipates for the fiscal year.
Growing state welfare rolls require more workers
Secretary Michael Gargano of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration asked the State Budget Committee this week to raise the funding for local welfare offices by 58 percent for the fiscal year that begins next July 1—and more for the following year.
State will preserve payments for foster, adopted kids
A lawsuit settlement will bar the Department of Child Services from making a proposed 10 percent reduction in daily payments to caregivers.
Daniels appoints new social services chief
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels has accepted the resignation of Family and Social Services Administration Secretary Anne Murphy and has appointed the agency’s chief of staff, Michael Gargano, to replace her.
State therapists brace for new structural changes
Some say lower-quality service would result from Family and Social Services Administration changes that require independent therapists to work for agencies.
Indiana agency paying law firm $5.25M to sue IBM
Barnes & Thornburg of Indianapolis was hired despite several conflicts of interest arising from the fact that it also represents former IBM partners involved in the welfare deal.
FSSA secretary gets green light to take new job
Family and Social Services Administration Secretary Anne Murphy can take a private-sector job helping a hospital network cope with the federal health care overhaul she opposed as a public official, the state ethics commission said Thursday.
FSSA names interim chief for welfare division
A personnel consultant who helped Indiana's human services agency develop its "hybrid system" of face-to-face case worker contact with automated welfare intake is now running the agency's main welfare division.
Indiana child care agencies protest cost of new rules
An effort to shift some foster care costs to the federal government would throw up more red tape and make it harder for caretakers and providers to get services for troubled children, a coalition of child care agencies said Friday.
Indiana welfare chief says hybrid system succeeding
The secretary of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration said error rates are down and the percentage of new applications for food stamps, Medicaid and other benefits on backlog has fallen by 83 percent in two two regions.
Estimate puts Indiana health overhaul costs at $3.1B
Family and Social Services Administration Secretary Anne Murphy and acting Insurance Commissioner Stephen Robertson have sent
Gov. Mitch Daniels a letter that now estimates the overhaul will cost Indiana $235 million more than the previous estimate
in May.
Indiana changes food stamp policy that drew fire
Indiana will no longer reduce a state grocery benefit paid to hundreds of developmentally disabled people simply because they
receive food stamps
Indiana: IBM welfare intake work flawed from start
The state is suing IBM for more than $1.3 billion, claiming the company breached one of the biggest outsourcing deals in state
history. IBM wants Indiana to pay $52.8 million it says it’s owed in deferred payments and equipment costs.
Indiana accused of cutting aid to food stamp users
Indiana Family and Social Services Administration attorneys do not believe federal law was broken when officials balanced
food stamp
payments against a state-run supplemental aid program.
Program to help foster kids ease into adulthood
The Indiana Supreme Court says youth who outgrow foster care are at risk of homelessness, unemployment, substance abuse, criminal
involvement and mental health issues.
Autistic Indiana man sues social services agency
Lawsuit alleges Indiana’s social services agency illegally counts food stamps as income, resulting in a reduction of state
benefits paid to developmentally disabled people in a Medicaid waiver program.
Shifts at state hospitals to cut 500-plus jobs
The Logansport State Hospital will have 355 workers laid off and 80 vacant positions eliminated under the plan, while 106
people will lose jobs at the Richmond State Hospital.