Unemployed Life: How to Get a Live Person at DCF after 1 Month

After one month of being unemployed I felt like I accomplished something.  Strange feeling actually.  I am now officially a statistic that has been counted.  By this point I have received unemployment benefits, a whopping less than minimum wage check after 30 years of paying taxes.   And still I have not received any welfare benefits.  My daughter with a serious medical condition remains with no insurance, and the bulk of the unemployment check goes towards food, not bills.

I had gone to the DCF website numerous times, but all it says is processing.  I tried to call the DCF phone number (866) 762-2237, but I could only get recorded messages and no option for a live person.  I desperately needed to talk to someone at DCF so I could find out what was lacking to process my claim.  But the government employed geniuses stay walled up in the tower never seeing daylight and never getting contact from the outside world.

It was around this time I got a letter from Workforce Central Florida.  I went online and took the orientation and required PowerPoint presentations about the resources they offer.  They offer reeducation, for a cost, to help you get a job.  The problem is if you don’t have a job you can’t afford the reeducation.

By this time I am getting desperate so I decide to go down to the local office for Workforce Central Florida.  Now in my understanding the State of Florida has mandated that Workforce be established in all counties of the state to help the unemployed get jobs.  But it is up to the individual counties to decide how to run their offices.  I live in Orange County, this is a fairly large county since Orlando is in it.  A friend of mine lives in a rural county and told me that if I go down to a Workforce center they have recruiters there and the hold classes there too.  That may be true in his small middle of nowhere county but not in Orange County.

I walk into the Workforce office.  It is a big open room with computers lining the walls.  They made me sign a list and wait.  Then they told me to go to computer number 1.  There was no more conversation than that.  No recruiters, no classes.  The computer would only go the Workforce website.  In Orange County, Workforce Central Florida offices are internet cafes for people who don’t have computer or who have never touched a computer before in their life.  Absolutely no help at all for me except for one thing.  I decided to ask the “receptionist” if there is any other way to get a hold of a live person at DCF.  God BLESS that woman.  She told me that there is an office, but it goes by another name.  The DCF “welfare” office is called Access Community Center.  In Orlando it is located here.

So I go down to the Access Community Center where the woman I dealt with was very helpful and very friendly.  She told me how to get a live person on the phone too.  So when you call DCF at (866)762-2237 and want a live person here is what you need to do.  When prompted to make a choice press #, #, 3, 0.  If you do this in that orders it will place you on hold for a person.