The issues surrounding welfare and welfare reform are controversial, political, and difficult to resolve. The debate continues today as to who deserves benefits and who does not. In 1933, President Roosevelt created Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) as part of the New Deal. This early form of welfare was available to those who could demonstrate a need and the ability to maintain minimal assets of their own. It specifically targeted aid to single women with children. It was a controversial and highly debated subject. Even now, many years later, Congress continues to debate and reform welfare programs. It still brings with it the same intensity, controversy, and conflicting opinion it did years ago.
Through research, personal interviews, and first-hand knowledge, I will demonstrate how the Welfare Assistance Program in New York State is nothing short of a parasite, which drains its recipients of their dignity, ambition and dreams of a better life while disguising itself as temporary aid to those in need. In order to understand this subject, the best place to start is the beginning of the process. To receive benefits, one must first meet eligibility requirements. These requirements are regularly updated and published by The New York Public Welfare Association (New York Public Welfare Association, 2011). The NYPWA states that a social workers review the income, size of family, and demonstration of need of all its applicants. Factors such as medical emergencies, pregnancy, homelessness, or unemployment are most common need factors seen when reviewing applications.
The screening process is rigorous and applicants must have all supporting documentation to their claims such as paystubs, among other for...
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...hin a year’s time? Time to take a serious look at how we are treating the less fortunate and come up with better programs and assistance than what we have available now. It is painfully obvious that what we have now clearly is not effective. The system itself only demeans and impoverishes its recipients further than they already were before receiving assistance. Oh, wait temporary assistance.
Works Cited
Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2009, December 17). Retrieved from www.bls.gov/oco/ocos305.htm.
New York Public Welfare Association. (2011). Retrieved 12 07, 2011, from Welfare Information: http://www.welfareinfo,org/
Loprest, P. J. (2002). Making the transition from welfare to work; successes but continuing concerns
Weil & K. Feingold (Eds.), Welfare Reform; The Next Act (pp. 17-20). Washington, DC : The Urban Institute Press.
Hays found that initially most welfare workers were optimistic and even excited about the changes. Most workers felt that the Act represented real progress and allowed for positive changes which would positively impact the lives of their clients. Hays spoke to one welfare who said that welfare reform “offered the training and services necessary to 'make our clients' lives better, to make them better mothers, to make them more productive.'” But as she was soon to find out, welfare reform, while it did have a positive impact on the lives of some welfare clients, made the lives of most clients more difficult, not to mention the stress that it caused for the welfare workers who had to deal with the often confusing and illogical new rules.
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.
Jeff Grogger, Lynn A. Karoly, Jeff Grogger. Welfare Reform: Effects of a Decade of Change. New York: Harvard University Press, 2005.
Working money provides more for families than borrowed money. Money cannot continue to be distributed unfairly from productive Americans to Americans who refuse to be constructive. Americans need to concentrate on the long-term effects of welfare. People are depending on the programs available to survive. What are we teaching our future generations, to rely on someone else? According to _ over one hundred and forty million dollars were spent on SNAP/Food Stamps in February 2016 alone; however, this was only in Tennessee. Welfare recipients are taking advantage of many aid and programs that should be profiting other families or children in crisis. Growing up there were five of us in our household. I have no problem with tax dollars being used to help families in a crisis. There were three children, my dad, and step mom; however, my dad was the only source of income for our family; therefore, my dad had to pay not only his expenses, but for four other family members too. Welfare recipients must think about this on only a small spectrum of how this would affect a family
As of 1996, state and local governments were asked to assist many people in gaining their independence after the reform was enacted. (“Welfare Reform”) It is vital to the economy of the United States citizens to have the ability to support themselves as well as their families with no help from the government. Protecting all children and strengthening families were important parts of the reform measure. (“Welfare Reform”) The Welfare Reform Agenda of 2003 was built on the bases of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act. The goals of 2003 were to assist families in achieving financial independence from the government. (“Welfare Reform”) The 2003 agenda imposed a lifetime of 5 years of welfare benefits. (“Revisiting Reform”) The agenda also required able bodied adults must go to work within two years of receiving help from the government. (“Revisiting Reform”) Welfare reform can be described as a governments attempt to alter the welfare policy of the
Hasking, Ron. "Work over Welfare: The Inside Story of the 1996 Welfare Reform Law." Brookings Instituteion Press [Wahington, DC] (2006) 364
It is a commonly known fact that a large percentage of Americans are living on and relying on welfare, which is a government program that provides financial aid to individuals or groups of people who cannot support themselves. Welfare began in the 1930’s during the Great Depression. There are several types of assistance offered by the government, which include healthcare, food stamps, child care assistance, unemployment, cash aid, and housing assistance. The type of welfare and amounts given depend on the individual, and how many children they have. There are many people who honestly need the government assistance, but there are also many who abuse the privilege.
Welfare programs are an important part of American society. Without any type of American welfare, people will starve, children will not receive the proper education, and people will not receive any medical help simply because they do not have the resources available to them. Each of the three aspects of the American welfare system are unique in their own ways because they are funded differently and the benefits are given to different people. While support for these welfare systems has declined in the more recent years, the support for it when it was created was strong.
The myth of “Welfare Queens” is quickly debunked watching Odessa trying to support her four grandchildren on $400 a month and Cheri trying to raise a child and organize a welfare rights group while being unpaid. Odessa Williams, once on welfare in the 60’s, was only allotted $25 more a week for having to feed four other children. That little amount of money is clearly not enough to maintain a household and Odessa results to trash picking as a way to cut down on a shopping budget. On page 64, Zucchino depicts what the typical person receiving welfare benefits looks like—it certainly is not the image Ronald Reagan and the media feeds to the American people. In the state of Pennsylvania, only 32% of recipients were black while 57% were white. The passage describes those using the program AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent
The reality that exists for these individuals is different than that which is assumed by many. People assume that recipients are lazy and that they do not want to work, or that they are very promiscuous women who have children in order to continue receiving help from the government. The realities for these...
...ican welfare system has many flaws and I have identified major problems and possible solutions/policy recommendations. We can’t completely dismiss government assistance because we are a land of the equality of all and should be proud to have services that help the less fortunate. However, we must identify people who misuse and people who become too comfortable. We can’t continue to fall deeper into debt by supporting people who are not making an effort to support themselves. Nonetheless, we should help and assist those who are constantly trying to become educated, skilled, and experienced enough to become self-sufficient. I will close with a quote from the article about welfare helping a lady survive while she was studying. Currently she has a degree and a job as a manager. “I had clear goals,” “I wasn’t raised to sit at home expecting a check to come in the mail.”
This initiative, coupled with a Medicaid proposal that would give block grants to the states for managing health care services for indigent persons, faced an uncertain fate in Congress" (http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Welfare.aspx). ADDITIONALLY, according to the text and other sources this began to change with the introduction of the Welfare Reform Act....."Until the 1996 Welfare Reform Act, the federal government financed the three major welfare programs in the United States under the social security act of 1935 (42 U.S.C.A. § 301 et seq.): Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Medicaid, and Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). The 1996 law abolished the AFDC program. These types of assistance are in addition to the benefits available to the aged, disabled, and unemployed workers and their dependents. They are distributed to people who demonstrate financial need" (http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Welfare.aspx). As different US leaders have come and gone, the policies have been adjusted according to their interest/ideal methods of assisting the needy.
O?Beirne, Kate. ?The State of Welfare: An old and tricky question resurfaces.? National Review 54.2 (February 11, 2002): 1--2. Online. Information Access Expanded
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy raised the current welfare payments and renamed the program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children. Kennedy allowed states to require work in order to receive welfare, but didn’t require it. Kennedy also laid out the new goal for welfare in America, it was to “end poverty, not just alleviate poverty” (Background: Time for a new Approach). Kennedy said welfare should be “a hand up, not a hand out." Welfare continued to change...
However, families that are physically capable of working and taking care of their own should have time limits to live in these public housings. The local governments should implement time limits and job training programs to those receiving these kinds of benefits. Many people believe that welfare promoted child barring out of wedlock because these single mothers had the assurance that the welfare program would assist them. It also promoted the dissolution of families as a larger incentive. According to William Epstein in his book “Welfare in America” “when the number of female headed households increases, so apparently does dependency on welfare” (Epstein 125) Childbearing has long term consequences for the mothers, children, and the welfare system. Consequently welfare programs supports child support enforcement programs that lessen the dependence on AFDC, and make the absent parent responsible for child support and health insurance for the child. This enforced programs are the way to making the program better and making the absent parents responsible for their children. The welfare system gives aid to many single mothers and their children. Why do these mothers have a hard time getting into the working field? Many may