ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, February 2, 1996               TAG: 9602020018
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: B-4  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press 

COMPUTER PROBLEMS COULD HAMPER WELFARE REFORM

The Allen administration has frozen development of a statewide computer system meant to allow Virginia social service agencies to track hundreds of thousands of clients.

The state spent four years and $17 million developing the system, which administration officials concluded will not work.

``It has been clear to us we can't get to where we want to get to from where we are right now,'' said Acting Social Services Commissioner Clarence H. Carter. ``The only responsible thing to do ... is freeze going forward on this.''

The decision followed a report from a private consultant, Carter said.

The move surprised local agencies and lawmakers, who are clamoring for emergency financing to keep a pilot version of the program operating.

Program manager Kathleen A. Henley said the state hesitates to expand the system because it is seeking to turn over some social service functions to private business and expects major changes from the federal overhaul of Medicaid and Medicare.

Meanwhile, the state Department of Social Services has ordered an audit to determine why the program has drifted at least two years behind schedule and bloated in total cost from a projected $54 million to $85 million.

``The bottom line is we have invested a great deal of time and money in this, and we have to have some kind of more sophisticated automation than we currently have,'' said Suzanne Chis, director of social services for Alexandria, one of four areas in the pilot program.

Without the improvements, officials said, local caseworkers face tough challenges in phasing in Virginia's welfare overhaul, which requires them to track reams of new information involving recipients' work, earnings and welfare histories.

Officials say the unwieldy computer program is occupying too much of the mainframe computer system that the state dedicates to social services and other agencies, including the one that runs state elections.

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