European transplants: Some ideas are taking root

In high schools across Minnesota and 20 other states, hundreds of students are participating in German-style apprenticeship programs.

In schools and nurseries in 30 states, 3- and 4-year-olds are attending public preschools that look a lot like les ecole maternal -- the French public preschools.

And pregnant women at risk of poor deliveries are getting home nurse visits and prenatal care in cities from Baltimore to San Diego, sparked in part by health officials' visits to France.

Across the United States, European-style family benefits have taken root. They aren't clones of the originals or big state-run programs. They are small-scale pilot programs -- which is typically how social programs get started in this country.

"With this last wave of health care reform, and the current grappling with our welfare system, there is an increased interest in how other industrialized countries support families," said Susan Baker Watts, director of the French American Foundation, which has brought dozens of U.S. policymakers, including Hillary Rodham Clinton, to France to study children's programs.

"We've noticed more and more organizations like the National Governors Association, National Association of Perinatal Workers, the National Association of Children's Hospitals are inviting us to their conferences.

"I think people are reaching the point where they see our system isn't providing the services needed by families."

Flexibility for states

Under the welfare bill being considered by Congress, every state would be able to redesign its welfare system. Washington would give states block grants with few federal rules attached, instead of a guaranteed amount of money for all eligible citizens. It would mean less money but more program flexibility for states.

As U.S. governors and lawmakers prepare to redesign their welfare systems, some policymakers are looking to Europe for ideas on how to train unskilled workers and how to help families on welfare find jobs and keep them, said Ray Scheppach, executive director of the National Governors Association.

"We do look to Europe," said Scheppach. "We've had groups go over there -- state people, governors -- looking for new ideas. I'd say they are way ahead of us in education and training the labor force.

"In family policy, the child-care area is one they've taken leadership on," he said. "And it's one reason I think governors have been pushing for more federal funding [for child care]. You can't ask a woman with young children to work unless you can provide child care and health care for those children. I think the Europeans have been leaders in the child-care systems."

But Scheppach is very critical of overall welfare spending in Europe, which he says has created an enormous burden on business and the economy.

"They can't compete anymore because they have such high wages," he said. "They're being priced out of the market. [Worker] productivity has hit the skids."

Borrowed bits

Borrowing social programs from Europe is nothing new in the United States. Kindergarten is an import from Germany. The Social Security Act of 1935 was based on the European system. And when Congress considered health care reform in 1993, Germany and Canada were key models.

But if you tell most Americans that European-style social programs are becoming part of the U.S. landscape, they'll say "No way!"

Nevertheless, their seeds can be found in Minnesota's back yard. For example:

Child allowances:

A 1994 Minnesota law gives families with incomes of up to $30,000 a tax credit of up to $720 for a parent who stays at home to care for a child up to 1 year old. This looks a lot like a child allowance, albeit through the tax code. So does the $500 tax credit being advocated by lawmakers such as U.S. Sen. Rod Grams, IR-Anoka.

Guaranteed child support:

A Congressional bill, authored by Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) and co-sponsored by 70 lawmakers, would have established a national child support assurance for all children whose absent parent can't or won't pay support. The 1994 measure was defeated, but at least five other bills before Congress today call for making it easier for states to experiment with guaranteed child support programs, said Paula Roberts, senior policy analyst at the Center for Law and Social Policy in Washington.

Meanwhile several states are experimenting with guaranteed child support in pilot programs designed mainly to divert families from welfare, said Roberts. They include New York, Iowa and Virginia. The Minnesota welfare bill signed by Gov. Arne Carlson last year calls for experimenting with guaranteed child support in one Minnesota county, contingent on federal funding.

Targeted health care to pregnant women and babies:

In a small office near the Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis, health and social workers chart the location of pregnant women in the neighborhood. The women will be visited by a nurse and frequently by a peer counselor in an attempt to make sure that babies are born healthy, and that moms are prepared for them. Such mother-infant health programs are parts of health care projects across the country, said Baker.

Apprenticeships:

About 300 Minnesota students, from Fridley to Cloquet, are participating in apprentice programs modeled after the European system. Minnesota education officials estimate that number will climb to 1,000 within two years.

Another 20 states are testing the model; many on a far bigger scale, said Hermann Schmidt, president of Germany's Federal Institute of Vocational Training, who sits on the board of directors of the Maine program.

The list could go on, and will, as U.S. policymakers look to European models for solutions to U.S. problems.

"There are ways to make these things mesh with our institutional setup, so they're not so foreign," said Sandy Korenman, a public policy professor at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. "For example, to help parents with child-care costs we could make our child-care tax credit a refundable credit so that people of all incomes could benefit from it. You can put a U.S. spin on these things."

Bridging strategies

If Minnesota redesigns its welfare system this year, it won't give family benefits to everyone, as in Europe, said John Petraborg, deputy commissioner of the state Department of Health and Human Services. It's too expensive.

But Minnesota is, and has been, been looking at ways to help families other than those on welfare or the poorest of the poor, he said. And that's a shift. The idea is to prevent families from going on welfare.

"We're looking at things that bridge the two strategies," Petraborg said. "For example, MNCare [MinnesotaCare, Minnesota's health insurance for low-income people] provides health insurance to working families whose income is above traditional welfare programs. We have found that actually prevents people from going on AFDC. The other one is child-care strategies. Minnesota puts a lot of money into child care for nonwelfare families. It's part of a clear strategy to keep those families working.

"Help collecting child support is another important example. It's available to anyone with a need, for a $25 application fee. This is something that started with AFDC families and has become universal.

"All of these are examples of us moving outside the traditional welfare boundaries," said Petraborg. "They're not universal like the European strategies. And they're not as tightly means-tested [targeted only at the poor] as our old strategies. We need to use as many tools in our toolbox as we can."

Joey McLeister

Public health nurse Hazel Tanner listens to the heartbeat of Jahkye Malik McClarron, Wendi Landry's 6-week-old son, during a post-birth home visit earlier this month.

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