The United States government acknowledges that all its citizens have a right to access the basic needs of survival including shelter, food and healthcare in order to live decent lives. To make this possible for the poor, the government established a transfer program known as the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) which was later changed to the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) after the 1996 welfare reforms (Moffitt, 2008). Through the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 other welfare reforms introduced include increased state powers to provide benefits through the TANF; work requirements for people receiving benefits; conditions for reducing single motherhood though encouraging marriage and minimizing non-marital births and; introduction of lifetime time limits for those receiving benefits (Moffitt, 2008). Following these welfare reforms, states have put in place various welfare programs that offer different welfare benefits to residents. This paper will examine the welfare benefits offered in Alaska and compare them with those in Arizona with a view to giving a glimpse of the welfare status in the different states of the United States of America.
The state of Alaska provides welfare benefits to its residents through six major welfare programs namely: Medicaid; Chronic & Acute Medical Assistance; Temporary Assistance Program; Adult Public Assistance; Food Stamps and; General Relief assistance (Alaska Department of Health & Social Services, 2012). To begin with, the Medicaid program offers healthcare benefits which encompass paying medical bills for children, families, pregnant women, people with disabilities and the elderly.
Secondly, the Chronic & Acute Medi...
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...State of Arizona (2011), these services assist in family selection and placement as well as child supervision. Through this program, cases of child neglect are reduced.
Works Cited
Alaska Department of Health & Social Services (2012). Application for Services. Retrieved from http://dhss.alaska.gov/dpa/Documents/dpa/forms/gen50b-packet.pdf
Alaska Office of the Governor and Department of Health &Social Services (2011). Alaska State Plan for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program. Retrieved from http://dhss.alaska.gov/dpa/Documents/dpa/programs/atap/PDF/TANF_State_Plan_FY2010-2011_rev%206.2.11.pdf
Moffitt, R. (2008). A Primer on U.S. Welfare Reform. Focus, 26 (1), 15-26.
State of Arizona (2011). State Plan for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Retrieved from https://www.azdes.gov/InternetFiles/Reports/pdf/tanf_state_plan_august_2011.pdf
This mini-paper will discuss the social welfare system. The mini-paper includes a discussion of welfare Policy, residual and institutional approach, and what is Social Welfare and Social Security. Midgely, (2009), pointed out that social welfare systems deliver services that facilitate and empower our society, especially to those persons who require assistance in meeting their basic human needs. The goal of social welfare is to provide social services to citizens from diverse cultures, and examples include Medicare, Medicaid, and food benefits. Midgley,( 2009).
In the summer of 1996, Congress finally passed and the President signed the "Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996", transforming the nation's welfare system. The passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act sets the stage for ongoing reconstruction of welfare systems on a state-by-state basis. The combined programs will increase from nearly $100 billion this year to $130 billion per year in 6 years. Programs included are for food stamps, SSI, child nutrition, foster care, the bloss grant program for child- care, and the new block grant to take the place of AFDC. All of those programs will seek $700 billion over the next 6 years, from the taxpayers of America. This program in its reformed mode will cost $55 billion less than it was assumed to cost if there were no changes and the entitlements were left alone. The current welfare system has failed the very families it was intended to serve. If the present welfare system was working so well we would not be here today.
Welfare is a federally funded program that provides health care, food stamps, child care assistance, unemployment, cash aid, and housing that is under the umbrella of TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families). Per Welfare Information, eligibility is determined by net income, family size, and any crisis situation such as: pregnancy, homelessness, and unemployment. TANF also requires the recipient to obtain employment within two years of receiving help (2014). A majority of the monies that support Welfare come from taxes paid by the working class and donations from private companie...
In today’s America, there are many people who would either be disgusted at the very mention of Welfare or be highly grateful for its existence. I believe that in order for welfare to be more effective in America, there must be reform. From the time of its inceptions in 1935, welfare has lent a helping hand to many in crisis (Constitution Rights Foundation). However, at present many programs within the system are being abused and the people who are in real need are being cheated out of assistance. The year after the creation of welfare unemployment was just about twenty percent (Unemployment Statistics). The need for basic resources to survive was unparallel. Today, many people face the same needs as many did during the 30s. Some issues with
Food stamps are used to purchase food from local grocery stores, supermarkets or shelters that serves meals. The government provides the participants an Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) that delivers the benefits on a plastic card. The amount that the card is loaded with depends ultimately on the number of people in the household and how much income you provide. Usually people who qualify for food stamps are low-income households. 76 percent of food stamp participant’s households include an elderly person, child or disabled individual (Department of Agriculture U.S).
Temporary Aid to Needy Families also known as TANF provides aid such as income, child services, and social services to families in poverty temporarily (36 months max). TANF’s mission is to reduce the dependency of needy parents by promoting job preparation, work and marriage. Medicaid provides health insurance and medical care for poor, needy or disabled people. Texas Supplemental
Department of Homeland Security . "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Process (Through Fiscal Year 2014, 1st Qtr)." 2014.
States and localities became the primary authorities in regard to health and welfare benefits. While the states welcome the increase in policy flexibility, the rising costs of healthcare and welfare put constraints on state budgets. As a result, states and localities are being forced to become more creative. Although Medicaid continues to place an enormous fiscal burden on states, programs like Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) have proven to be successful in terms of appropriately expanding benefits while reducing caseloads (Longest, 2010, pp. 30-33). States continue to serve as the primary distributors of social service benefits, but decreasing federal support, uncertain state economies, and the increasing need to provide long-term care to healthcare recipients are placing overwhelming burdens on states to maintain and expand existing programs.
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program was developed to help needy families become self-sufficient.¹ The TANF program was created by Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996.² TANF was created by The Personal Responsibility and Work Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) out of the preexisting Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program, which itself was created by Congress in 1935 as part of the Social Security Act.² There were some notable differences between the PRWORA and the TANF when it was created, the most noted differences were that the TANF allowed states to use TANF dollars to support child care, for job search support, social services,etc. and there were no requirements on how much could be spent on cash aid directly.² Also, the entitlement aspect of the PRWORA ended and states were not required to serve all eligible families/individuals.²
The prospect of the welfare state in America appears to be bleak and almost useless for many citizens who live below the poverty line. Katz’s description of the welfare state as a system that is “partly public, partly private, partly mixed; incomplete and still not universal; defeating its own objectives” whereas has demonstrates how it has become this way by outlining the history of the welfare state which is shown that it has been produced in layers. The recent outcomes that Katz writes about is the Clinton reform in 1996 where benefits are limited to a period of two years and no one is allowed to collect for more than five years in their lifetime unless they are exempted. A person may only receive an exemption on the grounds of hardship in which states are limited to granting a maximum of 20% of the recipient population. The logic behind this drastic measure was to ensure that recipients would not become dependent upon relief and would encourage them to seek out any form of employment as quickly as possible. State officials have laid claim to this innovation as a strategy that would “save millions of children from poverty.” However, state officials predict otherwise such as an increase in homelessness, a flooding of low-waged workers in the labour market, and decreased purchasing power which means less income from tax collections. The outcomes of this reform appear to be bleak for many Americans who reside below the poverty line. How does a wealthy country like America have such weak welfare system? Drawing upon Katz, I argue that the development of the semi-welfare state is a result of the state taking measures to ensure that the people do not perceive relief as a right and to avoid exploiting the shortfalls of capitalism ...
Medicaid is an assistance program for low-income people regardless of age. A federally mandated program, Medicaid is run by state and local governments under the established federal guidelines. Income and resource levels are the primary means for each state to determine eligibility with the level varying from state to state. Eligibility is also affected by other factors such as age, whether you are pregnant, if you are blind or have other disabilities, and U.S. citizenship or lawful immigration status. Some states req...
sponsored programs, such as Medicaid, that try and offset medical problems of the poor youth,
The programs to help the poor and homeless are few and far between. There are five general programs that assist those who are not able to provide for certain things, such as food, shelter and care for the children. These programs are Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), the Food Stamps programs, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Unemployment Compensation, and General Assistance. These programs are generally harder to get into than what most people think. People must meet strict requirements to be able to receive money from the federal government. For example, a household qualifies for the expedited service of the Food Stamp program, a family must have less than $150 in gross monthly income, be a migrant or seasonal farm worker with resources o...
...ld welfare services: Finding from the illinois alcohol and other drug abuse waiver demonstration. Social Work Research, 30(2), 95-107. Retrieved from http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=9&sid=54392cc5-0150-4def-89f7-b43309bb775f%40sessionmgr198&hid=114&bdata=JmxvZ2luLmFzcCZzaXRlPWVob3N0LWxpdmU%3d#db=aph&AN=21647558
Funding is awarded to support ongoing research programs to identify, prevent and treat child abuse and neglect and to collect and distribute data. Projects that are currently funded are Child Welfare Information Gateway website, the National Resource Center for Child Protective Services, National Quality Improvement Center on Differential Response, annual publication of Child Maltreatment and the initiative on Supporting Evidence-Based Home Visitation to Prevent Child Maltreatment.