Welfare
Welfare is a government program that provides money, medical care,
food, housing, and other things that people need in order to survive. People
who can receive help from these welfare programs are children, elders,
disabled, and others who cannot support their families on their current
income. Another name for welfare is public assistance.
There are many organizations that supply this public assistance. Such
as Salvation Army and other groups. Public assistance benefits help many
people who live below the poverty line, an income level is established for
families. If your income were below this you would be eligible to receive this
help.
Federal and state governments in the Unites States serve the poor
people through about 60 public assistance programs. Most people receive
help through one of the four major programs. These programs are Medicaid,
Aid to families with dependent Children, Social Security, or Supplemental
Security, or the food stamps program. I will discuss the four programs
individually.
Medicaid provides free medical care to the poor people. Funds vary
from state to state. In some situations, people who may be able to pay daily
needs, but can't afford large medical bills may also be able to receive
Medicaid. Some services paid for are bills such as doctor's visits and nursing
home care. Most Medicaid funding comes from the federal government.
The rest is supplied by the state. Each state runs their own Medicaid
program.
A.F.D.C. provides cash benefits to dependent children and the parents
or the guardians taking care of them. Most families that qualify for A.F.D.C.
have just one parent in the home. About 80 percent of these families are
headed by a woman. A.F.D.C. also pays benefits to two-parent families if
both parents are unemployed. Most A.F.D.C. funding comes from the
federal government. The states provide the rest of the money and administer
the program. The sizes of families' payment vary from state to state.
Next is Social Security Income. This provides financial Aid to people
in need who are at least 65 years old, blind, or disabled. The federal
government finances and administers social security income programs in
most states, though some states supply the federal payment and are able to
Many government and community organizations have worked to fill the need of its citizens through social welfare programs. In fact, the American welfare system was designed to benefit impoverished Americans or those affected by serious medical problems (Wikimedia, 2013). These important welfare systems among others have helped shape the American economy. In creating programs that encourage (or lawfully force) candidates to seek employment after a period, promotes economic growth and development. In the U.S there are two prominent social welfare programs: Social Security and Medicare (Krugman, 2007). These two programs have helped many Americans become secure in basic necessities such as healthcare, food and shelter. In order for change to come, there must be a need; where there is a need there is a community. In order for the welfare system to function and grow, important community organizing can be central to the birth of such systems. We will discuss how welfare systems aid, as well as how community organizing has helped bring about change in the welfare system.
Welfare can be defined as “systems by which government agencies provide economic assistance, goods, and services to persons who are unable to care for themselves” (Issitt). The United States welfare system is an extremely complex and unique entity that encompasses ideas and concepts from an abundance of different places. Many people believe the current system is an excellent resource for the population, while others believe the current welfare system requires reform and budget cuts to become effective.
My speech is about the welfare system, how it works, why people go on it and why some adjustments need to be made.
When considering social welfare in the United States, one can clearly notice that there is a wide range of different policies. According to Howard Jacob Karger and David Stoesz, provided benefits that are intended to meet the essential life needs of individuals (such as active work, revenue, relationships, health care, sustenance, and shelter), (which) are regulated under social welfare policy (2010, p. 3). For the purpose of this paper, we will analyze a specific social welfare policy known as president Obama’s Race to the Top initiative. In general terms, this policy was shaped on four areas of core education reform, which will be discussed later. Even though the main subject is centered on education, this policy clearly has many different focuses. For this reason, we will mainly focus on higher education. This includes the following goals: helping families in the middle class afford college, keeping the cost of college down, building more strength within community colleges, and increasing public participation in government (The White House, n.d.). The most attention will be given to the individual initiatives related to making college more affordable and keeping college costs down.
Welfare should help people in their time of need until they get back on their
bills etc. I feel this only applies to married couples though. For when two individuals
The poor are everywhere it seems. They are on the street corner, in the local 7 Eleven, and in the plaza. Sometimes I get sick of them and even angry with them when they pester me for money. I ask myself, "Is the best way to deal with poor, to give them money from my pocket?" It's obvious that other people have given them money from their pockets at different times. If no one had ever given them money, then these people wouldn't be standing here asking for money. The fact is, many poor people ask for money because they know they can get money that way. For most of the last 70 years our government has indirectly given the poor money from our pockets, through taxes and welfare. Not surprisingly, people have continued to ask for money. For most of those 70 years welfare fed the mentality that the best way to get money was to ask. I believe welfare as it was first started, failed miserably and created millions of dependents in poverty instead of independents above poverty. The welfare reform of 1996, I believe has helped the poor escape from the trap of poverty and is a more beneficial way of dealing with the poor.
The welfare system in the United States has had many problems arise in recent years and there has been nothing done to try and fix these issues. Welfare is supposed to be a financial boost for people who are struggling to survive by themselves. However, there are many people trying to take advantage of the system and use the money provided by the government for certain items that are not necessary to live. The other major problem is with the inefficient government that is so divided ideologically that nothing has been done to repair the system because both parties believe that their ideas are more effective than the others. In order to resolve the ongoing dispute of the welfare system, changes to the process of screening recipients and how the government conducts changes to the system have to be made.
With just food stamps alone, a family of five gets $700 or more a month. However, people who are on food stamps average at least $100 per person alone. Mind you, this is only food stamps. This does not include housing welfare, free college payments, infant assistance, free public schooling, or actual cash from the government. Last year there were a reported 12, 800,000 Americans on welfare. That adds up to a grand total of $131.9 billion dollars used to help them survive. Many people have found it easier to live off of this money rather than go out and get a job. This is known as Abuse of the Welfare System. When I say Abuse of the Welfare System I mean the unlawful use or spending of Governmental funds that are meant to aid those in need.
The United States government’s welfare program is potentially sending the government down the drain. The U.S. alone is in millions of dollars of debt, and the welfare program is not helping to get the country out of debt but further into debt. Over half of the American population is currently receiving some sort of benefit, and not every person receiving these benefits needs the money. We live in a selfish society. A society where we would do anything and everything to gain a little extra money so we will not have to work for it. The welfare system the United States currently runs is not proper or right. The welfare system is corrupted and full with cheats and frauds benefitting from taxpayers money.
they got back on their feet. What it has become is a target for gluttonous
Karen Bridget Murray’s article, “Governing ‘Unwed Mothers’ in Toronto at the Turn of the Twentieth Century”, is a valuable reference into the struggles and triumphs of social welfare for unwed mothers. For me the article highlighted how government ideologies influence social welfare, how important the change from religious reformers practices to social work was and finally how appalling it is that the struggles and barriers these women faced are still relevant to single mothers today.
Critical reflection is useful in helping practitioners bring theory and practice together in a meaningful way and Freire (1972) identifies praxis as a notion that encourages people to perceive, interpret and transform the world around them The report is going to evaluate my study placement at Willenhall advice centre as a advice worker. The placement provided me with opportunity to link theory to practice and challenged my values and attitude towards the benefit system in UK as well as provided me with an understanding of challenges facing the voluntary sector and its workers. It is going to reflect upon the welfare right s practice which Bateman 2006 points out how welfare rights practices aims to increase individuals’ income by way of prescribing information and advice and advocacy on their behalf. Theories sand policies underpinning welfare rights practice is discussed and critically analysed and the effectives of this approach to enabling individuals in the communities. Equality and anti-discriminatory practice is also analysed focusing on how services at the organisation worked towards ageism, disability, racism and gender. Linking theory to practice is important as we can make sense of the situations that we find ourselves in and this also help to shape up our response (beckett 2006). The report will also argue how government policies and funding affects the service provision at WAC as well as the implications this has on workers and service users.
Welfare dependency here in America is an issue that numerous communities across the Nation are faced with and from my point of view it is one of the leading attributes to poverty here in America. My community has continuously lacked consistent income levels to sufficiently live above the poverty line and it has been a never ending cycle. How did so many communities succumb to such harsh living conditions in the most powerful country in the World? This is a question that is asked by many and the other would be how do we break the cycle? There are many attributing factors to this unforgiving reality for countless such as crime, drugs, lower educational outcomes, welfare dependency and the list goes on and on. I would like to zone in and analyze how welfare dependency plays a major role in the never ending cycle of poverty within my community.
Ever since our first colonies came to be we have been supporting those in our society who are unable to work due to age or physical health. Even those who are more than able to work themselves are being helped by our government. Our colonies adopted these ideas from the British Poor Laws.