Audit: STEP strolling backward
by Amritha Alladi - News Star (excerpt)

A program administered by the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services to empower families receiving cash assistance from the state has failed to meet its primary purpose of helping recipients who go through the program obtain employment, a performance audit report states.

Only 25 percent of the clients in the department's Strategies to Empower People program obtained employment in fiscal 2011, compared to the 40 percent goal the agency targets.

The report, issued by Louisiana Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera this month, noted that this same program far exceeded its goal in fiscal 2008, when 61 percent left the program with employment.