Too often, federal or state government has assumed the role of deciding what is in a family's best interests. In dictating what is acceptable behavior, we have set expectations that are low, and recipients have followed our direction. The result has been a breakdown of self-esteem and little progress in leaving the welfare rolls.

People who feel powerless, without control over their own lives, who perceive themselves at the mercy of the system, will not fulfill their potential. Turning around government's role, and recipient's expectations is a challenge that we must embrace if we are to strengthen Michigan's families.

In turning the corner from governmental restrictions to family goals we must give people the opportunity to determine what they need to make their lives more meaningful and their families self-supportive. Government must then do everything it can to support those decisions and provide the tools needed, where appropriate, to help families succeed.

Whenever possible, we expect those who receive help from DSS, except when it is physically or medically impossible, to do something in return for public assistance received. By working, recipients provide benefits to the community and are more likely to prepare to leave the public assistance rolls. Options can include a range of possibilities from classroom training to community service projects, but in all cases, at least 20 hours per week will the time sought.

Employment and completing educational training should always be the top priorities. Those who have the training and skills but cannot find jobs will perform public service which helps the community in return for DSS help. Community service projects enable those looking for work to increase their skills, their self-esteem, and their visibility in the market place.

The following section identifies a number of recommendations that focus on assisting both recipients and non-recipients to assume personal responsibility for their actions. It proposes changes that will give families the boost they may need to regain control over their lives.

The social contract will be the most important change for Michigan families that has been proposed in decades. It will broaden opportunities for people to make contributions to their families and communities in exchange for public assistance. It sets a clear expectation that each person who is able, will do something constructive that can better his or her chances of leaving public assistance. It allows the family to determine what it should do, not what government thinks it should be doing. It allows the family tremendous flexibility in exchange for a promise to participate. There is no limit to the creativity that recipients can pursue as they develop their own social contracts.

The state in return will provide public assistance and the supportive services needed to assist the recipient make the need for assistance as short as possible. While it is not government's role to create jobs, as a government we must work with and encourage the development of jobs in the private sector and help individuals attain the skills needed to secure those jobs. County Social Services directors and their staff will play a key role in this strategy as they help to develop community-service options for people to fulfill their contracts.

Business will play a key role in helping to train and employ individuals leaving the public assistance rolls. Communities will be a major factor in helping develop meaningful community service opportunities that can lead to employment. We also will be working with the local government through joint activities with the Michigan Municipal League, Michigan Association of Counties, and the Michigan Township Association.

But if a family does not live up to its commitment, it will be assigned to a project or educational opportunity in order for all members to continue receiving assistance. Failing to cooperate with a mandatory assignment will result in progressively more severe sanctions.

We will also address two areas of personal responsibility that contribute heavily to dependence on public assistance; school attendance problems and teen pregnancy.

Too often, the importance of education is not instilled in children by their families. Good attendance habits are important to learning and critical to success later in life. To motivate families to help their children develop good attendance habits, we will be pursuing the Higher AIMS program already introduced by the legislature. This program does not discriminate between the poor and the non-poor. It provides an incentive or dis-incentive to a family based on the attendance practices of their elementary school children.

Teen pregnancy and single parenthood are two more factors that can lead to long-term dependence on public assistance. Unplanned pregnancies happen for many reasons: ignorance should never be one of them. As a society we must do a better job of providing information about sexual activity to our teens. The financial and human cost of children having children is too high.

As we expect our public assistance recipients to assume more personal responsibility for their actions, we must make sure that those who are not in need do not deplete the resources needed by those who are trying. We will increase our efforts in the fraud-control area through a federal program. This program allows us to improve our recovery of overpayments to recipients who have willfully misrepresented themselves to the state to secure assistance.