Effects of Welfare Reform

Kelsey Campbell

Imagine being a single parent having six kids and being able to only afford a two bedroom apartment. While working two jobs just to pay bills, put food on the table, and keep the kids off the streets. Any of the kids school events are missed to pick up extra shifts for that extra dollar. Then one day someone suggests applying for Welfare benefits but what about the kids? What about their image at school? What would their friends think of them? What about the change in lifestyles? What would people think about one using the government for money? While doing some research at the library about Welfare something pops up about Welfare Reform, but what is that? Welfare Reform is when one is given a specific job by the government to complete that must be preformed to receive the welfare benefits. While continuing Welfare Reform research one discovers that with Reform benefits you can also receive money for housing, day cares, and childhood education. Now with Welfare Reform benefits one is able to work only one job while affording a household, groceries, and still yet make it to school functions to see the kids without anyone ever knowing you receive these benefits, also helping keep children’s self-esteem up and keeping the kids from feeling poor.  Welfare Reform greatly affects families through working parents, home care of children, and education upon children.

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The effects of families on Welfare Reform are through the working parents. Working parents spend their days off at work so they can tend to worry those responsibilities instead of spending quality times with their kids and family which can leave the children unsupervised while parents are away. Although the kids can suffer from the working parent, the working parent also provides the money to pay bills and support the kids. This gives the kids more money through the working parent. Also the working parent through Welfare Reform can receive health care benefits to not only protect the kids but keep them healthy. According to Brandwein “the ties that bind” Those with reform jobs have a better welfare benefits and better exemption options(Brandwein P32). Those who do reform over welfare accept the responsibility of an acquired job. This job is not an option and must be preformed. The better your job is the less welfare you need to receive with less welfare comes better jobs the more advanced the job is the further you’ll go to achieve success with health care and insurance, this will lead to a greater extent of socially advanced and happier children.

 While parents are a main focus on how children receive money and how children are brought up, they are also the main source of where the child lives and grows. The care effect of children depends on how children are raised. Children who grow up in foster homes are ‘homeless’ and parentless. Minors without biological parents or guardians tend to feel unloved, unwanted and worthless. While foster homes are run by the government, the more kids in the system the more money the foster home receives, which also changes with foster children’s age. According to Craig “foster care and welfare”; Foster parents receive federal money to care for children this makes foster children tax less and foster parents’ tax free (Craig P124). Not only does foster care effect children whose parents use welfare but adoption can affect children if parents are on welfare. Adoption is a forever home for a child; those on welfare can adopt and don’t have restrictions to adopting. Kids who enter a home on welfare from adoption can lack the feeling of comfort and love.

Similarly to how parents are an effect on childhood homes, childhood homes effect what kind of care and education children receive. The care effect of children depends on how children are developed through life. As a child grows up they may be put in day care for parents to work they may be home with a stay at home parent but schooling is inevitable, eventually a child begins school. Neither Child care nor education is cheap, according to Lowry “expanding federal responsibilities”, “the average price to put a child through day care 5 days a week 12 months a year is about $10,000 a year while the average price to put a child through public school is close to $16,000.” While on welfare reform you can receive free child care and reduced education to preform jobs, but if a job isn’t preformed then child care benefits are lost (Lowry P166). This is an important citation because it proves just how expensive it to just bring children up properly.  Your education makes a different in what you can do in life so an education is an important part of a Childs life; a poorer education makes a poorer future. Children who come up from poorer schools receive a poorer education also making it harder to excel in higher courses at higher age levels of different schools.

In conclusion, Welfare Reform has affected many families throughout the working parent, home care of children, and the education skills upon children. Throughout this paper I have explained to you the struggles of a family using Welfare reform and the benefits of a family using Welfare Reform. Remember back to the first paragraph and what parents have to do to provide for child, the struggle to feed, bath, and house children on a low income without help. Now recap on paragraph two, in this paragraph I explained the struggles on foster care and adoption homes that don’t use Welfare Reform, and then what positive effects they get through using Welfare Reform; Such as having tax less children in foster care to help reduce tax for foster parents. Last we will review paragraph three, in this paragraph I explained the struggle to put children through day care or schooling with a low income without Welfare Reform, and then I proceeded to explain what benefits Welfare Reform has to help with child/day care and a childhood education.

Works Cited

Brandwein, Ruth A. “The Ties That Bind.” Battered Women, Children, and Welfare Reform,

edited by Ruth A. Brandwein, SAGE Publications International Educational and

Professional Publishers,1999, pp.54-63.

McCuen, Gary. “Expanding Federal Responsibilities.” Welfare Reform; the Politics of

Wealth and Poverty. edited by Marcia R. Lowry, Gary E. McCuen

Publications Inc,1996, pp.128-139.

McCuen, Gary. “Foster Care and Welfare.” Welfare Reform; the Politics of Wealth and Poverty.

edited by Conna Craig, Gary E. McCuen publications Inc,1996, pp. 121-127.