Social Welfare Programs Broken

Poverty is not a monetary problem but a wide-ranging social issue that involves many factors including inadequate education, healthcare, and self-esteem. 12.5% of the population, more than 37.3 million people, suffer from poverty in the US and if something isn’t done soon, millions more will be pushed deeper into the poverty pool. The government has tried to create social welfare programs to end poverty and eradicate unemployment but these programs don’t address the main issues, only containing the problem. In recent years, the government has wanted to reduce the number of people on welfare and to cut back on funding for their social service programs. Although this is a difficult issue, after further examining the evidence, the government
A woman named Ella had been living in poverty with her children for 40 years. She uses welfare programs to support herself and her family and a social service worker helps manage her son. In the TedTalk “Social Service Programs are Broken. How we can fix them.” Hilary Cottam states, “ So Tom, who is the social worker for Ella's 14-year-old son Ryan, has to spend 86 percent of his time servicing the system: meetings with colleagues, filling out forms, more meetings with colleagues to discuss the forms, and maybe most shockingly, the 14 percent of the time he has to be with Ryan is spent getting data and information for the system. So he says to Ryan, "How often have you been smoking? Have you been drinking? When did you go to school?" And this kind of interaction rules out the possibility of a normal conversation. It rules out the possibility of what's needed to build a relationship between Tom and Ryan.” ( Cottam TedTalk). This quote shows the government programs system rules out ay chance for Tom to connect with Ryan and make him feel and cared for. They are failing to provide the simple human bonds and activities they need to live life and feel loved. People in poverty don’t only need money to get them out of their situation but they need to feel human and cared for so they can get confidence and hope. Hope is very powerful. It gives people a reason to find a job, areas to be educated, a reason to have the will to live. The welfare state focuses too much on dim personal problems and rules for the system when it should focus on people’s capabilities and relationships. Too much documentation is done for the system verifying that you provide services and it takes away from the direct communication and care needed to help change lives. People don’t want to feel pitied and worthless. They want