...Families surviving on Welfare and Low-Wage work? Are they living well? Growing up in a city environment I was surrounded with families living on food stamps, medicare and any other government assistance they could get. My negative feelings was that making ends meet and trying to better their lives was not all they were trying to accomplish. Lives free of work, free of responsibilities, a life living on the goodness and the generosity of our government. After many years of seeing this my mind was made up, these people did not want to better themselves or their children's life. After much research, and a personal encounter with the system I came to realize that this was not so for many families on welfare. Poor single mothers were supplementing their regular income with some combination of "off the book" employment and money from relatives, lovers, and the fathers of their children. A handful of single mothers consumed goods and services whose value exceeded the official poverty line. What is the official poverty line? In 1999 poverty level for a family with one child was $8,240.04 annually, at this income level they were considered at 100% poverty scale. Is it too low? How did I know what constituted a poor families need, or any other families needs? I have commented on food stamps recipients who purchase a luxury item. The fact that they purchase such items must mean that they must not be in too much hardship, why would they purchase something that they can forgo. Prior to...
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...It’s hard being a single dad in America An Annotated Bibliography Morin, Amanda. "Fathers Raising Daughters: The Unique Challenges of Single Fatherhood." Education.com | An Education & Child Development Site for Parents | Parenting & Educational Resource. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 May 2013. According to the U.S. Census' most recent information, there are approximately 13 million children living in single-parent households. That in itself isn't all that surprising, but here's something that is: 2.5 million of those children are being raised by single fathers. That's nearly 1 in every 40 households –over half as many as ten years ago –in which custodial fathers are raising children, many of whom are girls. So, what kinds of challenges are single fathers of daughters facing? Some issues are gender neutral. Whether they're rearing boys or girls, custodial fathers tend to have a difficult time making ends meet. Unlike single mothers, single fathers are less likely to have flexible work hours and few are receiving child support. In fact, according to Current Population Reports, a publication of the U.S. Census, a mere 30 percent of custodial dads are awarded child support, as compared to 80 percent of custodial mothers. I will use this information to talk about the facts if my topic. "Best Interests of The Child." About.com Single Parents. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2013. Parents seeking child custody or visitation often hear the phrase "best interests of the child" referred to...
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...There are so many mothers with children that need help for the Welfare Programs. The student researched programs that were needed for single mothers. North Carolina has Medicaid for Pregnant Women. Medicaid for Pregnant is only for Pregnant Women. It covers any services needed to bare a healthy child. This is prenatal care, Childbirth and parenting classes, and family planning. The student researched services that can be given to a mother that is unemployed and has no money coming into the home to help pay bills such as rent and light bill. There is a program here in North Carolina called work first. Work first is Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, which pays a certain amount of money to do volunteer work within the community. The pay is not like a regular job but it is some cash for the mother to pay a few things. WIC is for Women, Infants, and Children. Some call this program the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program. This is for low income families to provide the children and child baring mother with the food they need to stay healthy. Food stamps some places call it Food and Nutrition Services. These services are only used to purchase food for low income families. A student from Ashford University researched and examined the history of social welfare policy. The Student wanted to see how the social welfare policy pertained to the population of single mothers in North Carolina. The Student wanted to discuss the need for help concerning the wellbeing of their child...
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...SOCIAL POLICY ANALYSIS: WELFARE TO WORK Research is key to the continued development of the theory and knowledge base of social work practice. The AASW supports the undertaking of research as a key activity to build and maintain the mission of the social work profession. Research is an essential area of social work practice and is included in the AASW Practice Standards for Social Workers, (section 4.3), highlighting its importance to social work practice. Social workers are expected to “understand the role of research and evaluation in obtaining and generating new knowledge for practice.” (AASW 2013) Social work research informs professional practice. Through social work research, the profession can: * Assess the needs and resources of people in their environments * Evaluate the effectiveness of social work services in meeting people needs * Demonstrate relative costs and benefits of social work services * Advance professional education in light of changing contexts for practice * Understand the impact of legislation and social policy on the clients and communities we serve Australia’s population is ageing. At the same time, spending on income support payments as a whole (and not just age pensions) is anticipated to increase. Without on-going high rates of economic growth, the nation will struggle to support its ageing population and those who rely on government income support (ABS, 2006). Australian governments have long recognized the...
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...Sasha Klaeb WMST 101 7 May 2013 Assignment 4: Women and Work Question 1, The Glass Escalator: In “The Glass Escalator,” Christine Williams studies the way men are treated and their experiences when working in female dominated occupations, and finds that there exists a glass escalator for men working in these jobs. First, although Williams acknowledges that the proportion of men and women in the labor force is approaching parity, there still exists significant job segregation relating to gender. Both men and women are relegated to single sex occupations, meaning that they work in jobs that society deems more appropriate for men and women. What Williams does in this paper is different from other studies because rather than focusing on women in male dominated occupations and the barriers they face, she studies the underrepresentation of males in predominantly “female” occupations. She examines four typically female dominated occupations: nursing, librarianship, elementary school teaching and social work, and studies the implications of men working in female occupations. From these studies, she finds that unlike females in male dominated jobs, men do not face any discrimination and are in fact promoted and move up the ladder at a much faster pace than women. As one employee put it, there is a preference for men in these female occupations. Williams found that the more female dominated the job or specialty was, the greater the preference for men. The glass escalator...
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...effectiveness and stability of society. • It is a conservative (small c – therefore does not like rapid, radical change) and anti-feminist. • Opposed to family diversity as this would lead to the inadequate fulfilment of the main functions of the family (see above). • Patriarchal • The division of labour within a family is clear (instrumental and expressive) • Nuclear family is “natural” form of family life – based on biology, the family seen as a place of refuge, contentment and harmony. • Decline in the nuclear family and the rise in diversity = social problems. ➢ Lone parent families (single parent families) are unnatural and harmful to children ➢ Lone mothers (single mothers) cannot discipline properly (linked to expressive roles) and are a burden on the state and leave boys with no role models therefore threaten social stability. ➢ Mothers should not work because should be caring for children. ➢ Marriage is essential – creates stable environment for upbringing of children – cohabitation and divorce creates instability ➢ Divorce and cohabitation does allow adults to abdicate their responsibilities – this has a negative effect on children (Benson 2006). ➢ Amalo (2000) greater risk to children by divorce, increased levels of poverty, education failure, crime and health problems ➢ Divorce more likely in later generations...
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...The Virginia Welfare System is a federally governed welfare system that was establishedd in the 1930s by the United States. This was during the period of the great depression where many Virginia individuals and families were adversely affected. These Virginia residents were affected financially, economicaly, and even mentally. The federal government of the responded by coming up with a welfare program whose objective was to assist those who were in debt. This mostly applied to those who had little or no income for groceries and gas. By comparing the cost of a single parent on assistance versus a single parent working part-time not on assistance, the welfare system benefits the non-worker. These debt relief programs are an essential idea because they assist in minimizing bankruptcy in Virginia. This has been the goal of Virginia residents because it acts as a guiding tool in ensuring that the levels of unemployment and poverty are always kept as low as possible. For example, a single parent who get gates state medical and food stamps receives US $ 4000 annually while a single parent working part- time and getting nothing from the state gets more than US $ 10,0000 annually (Shapiro, 2007). However, even though many Americans are in support of this program there are a few out there who are against it. This is because according to them, this welfare program has brought in the aspect of laziness and over dependency on their government with more than 20% of the population depending...
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...Should EEOC Audits be required for Gender Pay Equality for Employers with more than 100 Employees? The year 2012 statistics show that full-time employed women earned just 80.9% of the salaries of their male counterparts in the United States. The number for 2011 was 82%. The pay gap is now as wide as it has been since 2005, following on the heels of six years of progress. The figures look even worse for some workers. In management professions, men earn $1,328.00 each week while women earn $951.00– A 71.6% gap, for financial professions, it’s 74% and in legal occupations it is 53.7%, (Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2012). Based on this information, a man would make $100.00 compared with a woman making just $80.90... The financial services employed male would make $100.00 compared to only $74.00 for the female (based on Bureau of Labor Statistics)... Employers are not complying with the current EEOC laws as the pay gap is becoming wider, especially in some professions. The EEOC law should be changed to require them to conduct audits of employers with more than 100 employees, to assure compliance with the law. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 was updated in 1963 when congress passed the Equal Pay Act, clearly stating that employers cannot discriminate on the basis of sex by paying wages for equal work less than wages paid to the opposite sex. The problem is that the EEOC who administers the law is a reactive rather than proactive body. They...
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...The Buck Stops Here: Not a Handout, a Hand Up Sharon Nakken Kaplan University CM220: College Composition ll Thousands of welfare investigators across the nation report that only about 2% - 3% of welfare cases involve fraud (Barron, 2012). That is such a small percentage. Could fraud on that small scale really be significant? After closer examination, the significance becomes much clearer. If 2% - 3% of welfare cases are fraudulent, that means between 785,000 to 1.2 million families are receiving welfare illegally (Barron, 2012). That ends up costing taxpayers between 9.0 – 13.5 billion dollars each year (Barron, 2012). That small percentage turns into a very large number of dollars spent annually on welfare recipients who should not be receiving these benefits (Barron, 2012). The welfare system in America today is once again in need of reform. Conditions such as mandatory drug testing, entry into an educational program, and strict time limits need to be placed on individuals who wish to receive welfare. In 2007 The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation reported that 20% of families receiving welfare claimed to have used illegal drugs at least once in the last year, while 5% said they had an ongoing drug habit (Vitter, 2011). Some who oppose the random drug testing requirement say that it does nothing more than single out the poor and underprivileged. Deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, Vanita Gupta claims “Mandatory drug testing of those receiving...
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...Welfare, it is on just about everyones' mind, whether it is Medicare or the A.F.D.C. Some believe there is too much and others think there is too little. As the years go by, the need for welfare reform increases. President Clinton had pledged in his 1992 campaign to "end welfare as we know it". Only time will tell by what extremes welfare will change. As technology continues to increase and jobs continue to go overseas, the United States must decide what direction the welfare system should take. As they exist today, welfare systems are an evolution of the thoughts laid out in the 19th and 20th centuries. Before the Industrial Revolution, the responsibility of helping the poor was mainly given to the churches or local communities. As machines took the place of workers, governments were looked upon to help the unemployed. In 1883, Otto Von Bismarck, the German Chancellor, setup the first form of Modern Welfare when he enacted a sickness and maternity law. He followed up this law with a work injury law and an old-age assistance law in 1884 and 1889 respectively. Today European countries such as Germany, Norway, and Sweden have highly sophisticated Welfare systems (Bender, 13). Welfare did not reach the United States, however, until shortly after the Great Depression with Franklin D. Roosevelt's "New Deal." The New Deal brought on new economic and social welfare legislation. This is the first time that the United States Government used federal and public funds to finance...
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...more within the home, which created more gender equality. A functionalist would agree with this social policy as they believe that it helps the family run more efficiently and makes family life better for all; however it does not follow Talcott Parsons (1955) as he argued that women should remain at home due to their biological differences, as they’re naturally suited to the housewife role. Feminists are also in favour, as they believe that men and women should be equals and receive the same rights as men. Especially radical feminists, who believe that women entering paid work is a great way for women to escape men, by women becoming wage earners they are no longer financially dependent on their husbans. However, the New Right are against women working and receiving the same pay because they argue that women should stay at home where she plays the expressive role of the housewife, which follows the nuclear family pattern. The New Right quote “If the good Lord had intended us to have equal rights to go out and work, he would not have created men and women”, women were born to...
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...A Report to the Nation Maggie Gallagher, Principal Investigator The Age of Unwed Mothers Is Teen Pregnancy the Problem? Institute for American Values This report comes from the Marriage Project of the Institute for American Values. Maggie Gallagher, the principal investigator, is an affiliate scholar at the Institute and the director of its Marriage Project. The Institute is grateful to Amara Bachu, Douglas J. Besharov, Norval Glenn, Dana Mack, Steven L. Nock, and Maris Vinovskis for their scholarly and editorial suggestions, and to the William H. Donner Foundation for its generous financial support of this initiative. The contributions of other supporters are also greatly appreciated. On the cover: Maternity (1950) by Milton Avery. Oil on canvas, 32 X 46 inches. Collection of Sally M. Avery. ©1999, Milton Avery Trust/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, NY. © 1999, Institute for American Values. All rights reserved. No reproduction of the materials contained herein is permitted without the written permission of the Institute for American Values. ISBN 0-9659841-5-X Institute for American Values 1841 Broadway, Suite 211 New York, NY 10023 Tel: (212) 246-3942 Fax: (212) 541-6665 info@americanvalues.org www.americanvalues.org The Age of Unwed Mothers Is Teen Pregnancy the Problem? Executive Summary Why have three decades of intensive national effort to reduce teen pregnancy not been more successful? Largely because for three decades, we have framed...
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...Socioeconomic Status and Food-Insecurity in Single-Mother-Families Rana Hassan & Douaa Mostafa Shopping List Project, Highway to Health 2000A Tuesday, November 18th , 2014 Introduction: In Canada, women’s health is affected by several social, economic and physical determinants. Single mothers are women, who are single, divorced, widowed or separated and care for one or more child with no assistance from a spouse. Single-mother families constitute 13% of Canadian families and they are more likely to experience a lower quality of life compared to families with two parents [3]. Also, poverty rates among families led by single mothers remain unacceptably high compared to the other demographic groups [3]. In 1999, poverty rate in single mothers was 51.8%, which is five-fold greater than the poverty rate among two-parent families (10.4%) [2]. Despite Canada’s efforts to reduce poverty among single-mother-families, the percentage of poor children living with their mothers continued to grow substantially over the last two decades [3]. Many studies conducted in Canada and the United States demonstrate that single mothers are significantly more likely to be young (less than 25 years of age), generally unhealthy, on welfare and poorly educated [9]. Also, single mothers tend to have higher rates of unemployment due to their deteriorating health states and their lower educational backgrounds [9]. The financial situation of a single-mother-family is worsened by additional children...
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...Welfare in the United States Welfare consists of actions or procedures especially on the part of governments and institutions on the part of governments and institutions striving to promote the basic well being of individuals in need. These efforts usually strive to improve the financial situation of people in need but may also strive to improve their employment chances and many other aspects of their lives including sometimes their mental health. In American English, welfare is often used to refer to financial aid provided to individuals in need, which is called benefits or welfare benefits in British English. In many countries, most such aid is provided by family members, relatives and the local community and is only theoretically available from government sources. Welfare can take a variety of forms, such as monetary payments, subsidies and vouchers, health services or housing. Welfare can be provided by governments, non-governmental organizations or combination of the two. Welfare schemes may be funded directly by governments or in social insurance models by the members of the welfare scheme. Welfare systems differ from country to country but welfare is commonly provided to those who are unemployed, those with illness or disability, those of old age, those with dependent children and to veterans. A person’s eligibility for welfare may also be constrained by means testing or other conditions. In more general sense, welfare also means the well-being of individuals or a...
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...'Sanctuary' model. This model supports women facing homelessness due to domestic violence to remain in their current residence, protected against attack from outside the home. The model provides greater autonomy to some women in these circumstances, it is not appropriate for all the women because increase emphasis on Sanctuary schemes could make it difficult for women who might prefer to move. Despite the considerable benefit, Sanctuary schemes appear to operate on the assumption that women will take responsibility for ensuring their continuing safety, by calling the police when they feel threatened with violence despite the enhanced security at houses. In the interim, the scale of homelessness related to domestic violence and the need to tackle the root causes of domestic violence calls for alternative policy responses in supporting victims of domestic violence through more effective action in dealing with perpetrators. Roschelle, A.R (2008). Welfare Indignities: Homeless Women, Domestic Violence, and Welfare Reform in San Francisco. This research study examines how the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act has impacted homeless women in San Francisco who are also victims of domestic violence. The study also looks at how the behavior of abusive men prevent homeless women from successfully navigating the new welfare to-work requirements and maintaining stable employment. This study found that women felt stymied by...
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