Computer glitch leaks personal info of state welfare clients
Indiana officials say the personal data of welfare clients has been shared with others in a security breach potentially affecting more than 187,000 people.
Family and Social Services Administration
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New state child services chief aims to cut burnout
Mary Beth Bonaventura takes over an agency marked by high caseworker turnover and roiled by news investigations into its handling of abuse and neglect cases.
Pence names human services chief, ag director
Gov. Mike Pence on Thursday named Debra Minott, an attorney with health care regulatory experience, to run the Indiana's human services agency while it implements the looming Medicaid expansion. Pence also named Gina Sheets to lead the Agriculture Department.
Lawmakers propose DCS hotline changes, new panels
Indiana lawmakers reviewing the embattled Department of Child Services voted Tuesday to localize more decisions on when to investigate cases of child abuse and neglect and set up a permanent oversight committee at the Statehouse.
GOP govs: Not enough Medicaid ‘flexibility’
The Obama administration is giving states like Indiana a little flexibility in how to expand their Medicaid programs—but nothing like what state officials hoped for after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down part of the law in late June.
Indiana court ruling could affect mentally ill kids
A recent Indiana Court of Appeals opinion could affect how the state Department of Child Services obtains treatment for some children with mental illnesses or developmental disabilities.
Indiana agency restoring $10M for child services
Indiana's child protection agency is restoring about $10 million in funding to boost in-home programs and services, three years after asking providers of those services to cut their rates by 10 percent.
Court: Indiana can’t deny welfare without reason
The Indiana Supreme Court said Thursday that the state Family and Social Services Administration can't deny Medicaid, food stamps or welfare to people without first doing a better job of telling them why.
IBM lawyer: Indiana agency leader sought breach of deal
Indiana is suing IBM for $437 million it paid the company to introduce call centers, document imaging and other automation to applications for food stamps, Medicaid and other public assistance programs.
State AG to challenge order for Daniels to testify
An Indiana judge on Friday ordered Gov. Mitch Daniels to be deposed in two lawsuits over the state's cancellation of a $1.37 billion contract IBM received to modernize the state's welfare system, but the state attorney general said he would challenge the order.
Warnings about broker’s tactics went unheeded
Several state employees openly questioned how John Bales' real estate brokerage did business long before the FBI launched an investigation that led to his indictment.
More Indiana counties to gain automated welfare filing
Nineteen central Indiana counties will gain access to online filing and other automated intake for welfare benefits later this month, leaving Marion County as the only one without access to the automation.
Connected law firm’s deal with Indiana grows
The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration now will pay Barnes & Thornburg up to $8.05 million through next June to represent the administration of Gov. Mitch Daniels in the lawsuit with IBM Corp.
More Indiana welfare requests being submitted online
More than half of the state's new applications for food stamps and other welfare assistance are being submitted online, Indiana social services chief Michael Gargano told lawmakers Tuesday.
State’s high court to hear dispute over welfare denials
The Indiana Supreme Court has agreed to review a court ruling that found the Family and Social Services Administration wrongly cut off recipients' welfare benefits for not cooperating without telling them specifically what they did wrong.
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.
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.