Create a timeline recording the sequence of key dates and important events pertinent for this case.
Nathan Bierwirth, BSW, worked as an employment counselor for Pathfinders Social Services, a nonprofit agency serving the Minneapolis metropolitan area. Pathfinders provided employment services for people leaving welfare, persons with disabilities, the homeless, and immigrants, refugees, and asylees. Part of Nathan’s caseload consisted of newly arrived refugees enrolled in Minnesota’s time-limited Refugee Cash Assistance–Employment Services (RCA-ES) program. Individualized Employment Plans (EPs) helped refugees transition from welfare to employment and self-sufficiency. EPs required a minimum of 35 hours per week of RCA-ES–approved activities, including employment services and formal education (limited to 20 hours per week). Nathan’s client, Ayana Tuma, a refugee from Ethiopia, had no educational or work experience and knew no English. This prevented her from effectively participating in employment service classes, so she enrolled in a full-time English as a Second Language (ESL) program. When Hennepin County audited Pathfinders, clients like Ayana, who exceeded the 20 hour instruction limit, could be sanctioned and even terminated from the program. As the audit approached, Nathan wondered if he should report Ayana’s ESL hours accurately or falsify her Employment Plan.
Establishing a timeline of key dates and important events provides a helpful historical framework for analyzing many case studies. This seems particularly so with this case because of the time-limited nature of the refugee assistance program. Carefully reading through the case reveals the following timeline:
December 2001 Nathan graduated from Goshen College and accepted a position at Pathfinders as an employment counselor.
Early 2003 Tuma family fled Ethiopia.
May 2003 DHS Unit staff participated in Hennepin County’s RCA-ES training.
June 2003 Pathfinders began accepting RCA-ES clients and Audrey received the first RCA client. She permitted this client to enroll in ESL for 32.5 hours per week. Audrey contacted the
Hennepin County RCA administrator to see if this was
acceptable. The administrator informed Audrey that her client
exceeded the maximum amount of educational hours per
week allowed by RCA. Hennepin County terminated
Audrey’s client from RCA.
July 2003 The Tuma family resettled in the U.S. and their eligibility for RCA-ES’s eight-month, time-limited program began. September 2003 The Tuma family enrolled in Minnesota’s RCA-ES program at Pathfinders. This made the Tuma family eligible for only six months of RCA-ES assistance. Nathan met Ibsaa and Ayana.
October 2003 The DHS Unit held their bi-weekly staff meeting. Audrey informed the staff that Hennepin County would soon conduct a routine audit of Pathfinders’ employment service programs. Audrey reminded her staff of RCA’s 20-hour limitation on educational hours for clients and raised the issue of how to report educational hours for clients who genuinely need more than 20 hours of education.
November 2003 Program review begins.
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