Welfare

Welfare work or welfare programs constitute a set of procedures and actions taken mainly by the government and other institutions that aim to promote the well being of citizens that are in need. The welfare efforts work towards improving the financial status of people in need. These programs also help in improving employment chances of the people under welfare programs. Welfare relief consists of an amalgamation of programs devised to alleviate poverty within the jobless and poor Americans. Welfare relief programs have come under attack and are shrouded with controversy. In turn, the critique has elicited for welfare reforms. This call for reforms has been long overdue, probably because the government does not view its welfare budgetary allocation as being significant (Anderson, 2002).

Welfare payments depend on the number of children that an individual has in his/her family. In the state of Texas, monthly payments amount to $650 dollars for each child that an individual has in the family. Therefore, with a family of two children, I would get $1300 dollars per month with federal food stamps. This is a small amount of money for a family of three to live on, comfortably. However, it is the only available amount, and thus the family has to survive on this amount by drafting a budget that is lean enough to allow us to live within the limits of the welfare provision. The monthly budgetary allocation would be as indicated in the table below.

This budget is a clear indicator that it is hard to survive on welfare money because the amounts provided are so little. Therefore, families have to forego other needs as well as seek more assistance from programs such as federal food stamp offers and Medicaid. These supplemental sources meant to supplement the budget may supplement or totally provide for needs such as healthcare or food. Therefore, surviving on this kind of amount

of money will prove to be very challenging.

There are negative sentiments among U.S citizens who believe that poor people, especially people of color have become dependent and complacent on a government system that owes these poor people nothing (Myrie, n.d). They also claim that the system offers no incentive for the poor to seek employment. As a result, many people are calling for reforms to be implemented within the welfare system. Personally, I disagree with this view because with these meager amounts of welfare provision, nobody would wish to remain dependent on these programs. Instead, it would be in any poor person’s interest to acquire a job and be self sufficient instead of having to squeeze the budgetary allocation so as to fit to these small amounts of money.

If there is a need for reforms in the welfare system, those reforms should be directed towards the elimination of the punitive measures that insult the integrity of people under the program. Additionally, the amounts of provision should be increased to a level that will grant a little comfort and convenience for the poor people. The government should thus be more concerned about the creation of employment and the societal fabric of values that will ensure families are conserved and illegitimate births reduce. These steps will be well directed to reducing the number of dependent poor people on the welfare program.

References

Anderson, K. (2002). Welfare Reforms. Retrieved on 24^th August, 2010 from http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/welfare.html.

Myrie, W. S. (n.d). Visions of Queens in Cadillacs: Myths and realities of welfare reforms. Retrieved on 24^th August, 2010 from http://www.mit.edu/~thistle/v9/9.01/1welfare.html.

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