Welfare is provided to help single mothers provide the right care for their children, but these funds are often misused. A number of women receiving welfare funds use the money to wear designer outfits, drive fancy cars and others spend the money on substance abuse. Single mothers would spend the money they get to purchase new apartments and take vacations without minding the child’s well-being. These acts result in child’s expulsion from schools, suffering from malnutrition, going into the streets, and indulging in prostitution. The government should set rules and regulations that will monitor how the single mothers spend the allocated funds to them. Among the requirements for recipients will be taking drug abuse tests. This will make sure that the parents do not take advantage of the child fund and use for personal benefits from custom writings https://elegantessays.com/custom-essay-writing.html.
Welfare does not motivate single mothers to find a job. Percentage of women who are unemployed and receive welfare funds tend to be reluctant to find new jobs that contributes extra funds besides what they receive from the government. Their expectation is to receive considerable amount of cash at the end of the month; hence, they become demoralized and spend their time just sitting at their homes instead of indulging in economical activities. There have been reported cases that some mothers abandon their lucrative jobs just to stay at home. The government should limit the funds remitted to single mothers so that they can find any other income to support the child and pay expenses. This will also come as an added advantage since the state will save millions that are spent to support the needs of the children.
Long-term effects in welfare dependency are both a cause and a consequence of several conditions best termed as social pathologies. These disciplines include poverty, dependency, out-of-wedlock births, abortion, non-employment and violent crimes. A study conducted in 1992 shows that the effects of an increase in Aid to families with dependent children benefits grew by 1% of the average personal income in the state. The number of people depending on child welfare funds would increase by 3% and the number of poverty by 0.8%, the number of births to a single mother would increase by 2.4% annually, the abortion rate would rise to 1.2% and the crime rates would increase by 1.1%. The social pathologies related to the current welfare system no longer seem acceptable, not because of child welfare support fiscal costs, but the effects they have in the society or on individuals under the system.
Welfare assistance should emphasize job–search assistance to help single mothers surrender welfare. Single mothers have difficulties in getting jobs in the effective economy. The majority of working single mothers have low-wage jobs, placing them at poverty category. They cannot get permanent jobs with good salaries because they have to carry the burden of parenting. Single mothers have the most absenteeism in the job market that occurs due to emergency issues like attending to their kids when sick or while picking them from school. This has resulted to bigger percentage of their dismissal. In addition, time schedule is one of the barriers that single mothers face when looking for a job. Household responsibilities take much of their time hence hindering them from saving time and searching for better jobs. The government should introduce policies that accommodate single mothers in the organizations they work for.
How has welfare changed from previous years to today?
The welfare initiatives began three decades ago and have changed as the states have grown. The needs of a single family and individuals have become more diverse and varied. In reaction to these changes, the government has made reforms and reauthorized existing welfare legislation. The welfare funding for child support and social welfare program was reauthorized in 2005. The welfare program continues to offer better services in Food Stamps, supplemental security income, Medicaid and temporary assistance to impoverished families. In addition, Earned Income Tax credits are being offered to individuals of low income to help them stabilize their finances.
Ethnic groups’ welfare dependency
The citizens of the United States have linked welfare and race. Attitudes towards welfare allocation have been for long correlated with racial attitudes. Recent studies by different analysts have unveiled that the general opinion considering the domination of minority racial and ethnic groups over the welfare rolls has been incorrect for the minorities account for less than the white families. Ethnic minorities have had the bigger share than their fellow white people. In a statistical research conducted in 2000, temporary assistance to the needy families indicated that the Latino recipients grew by 25%, the blacks remained at 39% and the whites dropped from 38% to 31%.
In conclusion, welfare should be limited in a developed economy. The government should limit financial assistance to the mothers who have one child because if the government gives assistance to every single child that a mother has, it affects the economy in a negative way. Socially, it does not motivate the dependent to return to work.
