Welfare Reform
Welfare Reform: A Permanent Solution or a Temporary Band-Aid?
Welfare: handouts to the lazy, or a helping hand to those facing hard times? The debate continues, even in the face of sweeping welfare reform, which, for all of its sound and fury, has not helped or changed much. What's wrong with welfare and how can we fix it? This is not a simple question, and there is no simple answer. However, one thing remains eminently clear. Welfare desperately needs to change. But where are we now? Are we headed backward or forward? Does anybody even care? To answer these questions, we must catch a glimpse of the world of welfare.
It is not a pretty sight. Welfare is Odessa, a grandmother in her seventies, who digs through other people's trash to find suitable clothes for her grandchildren. Welfare is Mariluz, who lived in a tent with two children below the age of five, because her welfare check would not pay the rent of even the most squalid apartments in North Philadelphia. Welfare is Destiny, a five year old who cried in class, because when asked to recite her address, she realized that because of the numerous evictions she had been through she could not remember it. Welfare is Cheri, who after being cut off of welfare for missing a meeting, worked as a topless dancer to avoid being out on the street with her teenage son. Welfare is a Virginia family of four living on $347 a month. Welfare is waiting years to be placed on the waiting list for a job training program. Welfare is run down neighborhoods, inferior schools, and dilapidated housing. Welfare is not a picnic.
Of course, from a less human standpoint, welfare is a group of entitlement programs aimed at helping the poor. What most people are referring to when they say "welfare" is Aid to Families With Dependent Children (AFDC), a program which provides monthly checks to families in which all adults in the household are unemployed. Most, but not all, of the recipients are single mothers. AFDC recipients are
Welfare: handouts to the lazy, or a helping hand to those facing hard times? The debate continues, even in the face of sweeping welfare reform, which, for all of its sound and fury, has not helped or changed much. What's wrong with welfare and how can we fix it? This is not a simple question, and there is no simple answer. However, one thing remains eminently clear. Welfare desperately needs to change. But where are we now? Are we headed backward or forward? Does anybody even care? To answer these questions, we must catch a glimpse of the world of welfare.
It is not a pretty sight. Welfare is Odessa, a grandmother in her seventies, who digs through other people's trash to find suitable clothes for her grandchildren. Welfare is Mariluz, who lived in a tent with two children below the age of five, because her welfare check would not pay the rent of even the most squalid apartments in North Philadelphia. Welfare is Destiny, a five year old who cried in class, because when asked to recite her address, she realized that because of the numerous evictions she had been through she could not remember it. Welfare is Cheri, who after being cut off of welfare for missing a meeting, worked as a topless dancer to avoid being out on the street with her teenage son. Welfare is a Virginia family of four living on $347 a month. Welfare is waiting years to be placed on the waiting list for a job training program. Welfare is run down neighborhoods, inferior schools, and dilapidated housing. Welfare is not a picnic.
Of course, from a less human standpoint, welfare is a group of entitlement programs aimed at helping the poor. What most people are referring to when they say "welfare" is Aid to Families With Dependent Children (AFDC), a program which provides monthly checks to families in which all adults in the household are unemployed. Most, but not all, of the recipients are single mothers. AFDC recipients are
Bibliography: Crabtree, Susan. "Ending the Welfare State as We Have Known It." The Washington Times, August 26, 1997. Eversley, Melanie and Tony Pugh. "12 of 13 Cities Say They Won 't Have Enough Jobs to Meet Welfare-To-Work Requirements." Knight Ridder/ Tribune News Service, November 21, 1997. Heim, David. "Welfare measures: Tracking the Impact of Reform." The Christian Century, December 10, 1997. Gordon, Linda. Pitied But Not Entitled: Single Mothers and the History of Welfare. New York: The Free Press, 1994. Jacobs, Nancy, Jacqueline Quiram and Mark Siegal, eds. Social Welfare: Help or Hindrance?, Texas: Information Plus, 1996. Katz, Jeffery and Elana Mintz. "Long-Term Challenges Temper Cheers for Welfare Successes." The Congressional Quarterly Weekly Reporter, October 25, 1997. Lindgren, Amy. "Things to Consider as You Leave Welfare." Knight-Ridder Newspapers, November 11, 1997. Trattner, Walter I. From Poor Law to Welfare State: A History of Social Welfare in America, Fifth Edition, New York: The Free Press, 1994. Winner, Karen. "The Workfare Solution: Worthwhile Work Experience or Cheap Labor Pool?" Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service, November 26, 1997. Zucchino, David. Myth of the Welfare Queen. New York: Scribner, 1997.