Welfare

Welfare programs are state regulated and instituted sets of procedural actions undertaken by private institutions as well as the government in trying to assist jobless citizens in alleviating the impoverished conditions. These programs are meant to help legal American citizens living below the minimum acceptable level of means as stipulated by each state. These benefits are categorized under different multiple program umbrellas. All of them require some elements for a person to be termed eligible to receive payments. The assistance offered to the needy comes in various forms including child support programs, medical assistance, food assistance (food stamps) and child care. The Temporary Assistance for Needy families (TANF) is meant to provide cash income into homes with below minimum or no income. The income is mainly meant to care for children and the elderly. As a result, the amount mostly offered is calculated in terms of the number of dependants within a single household. Whilst the provision is ongoing, the heads of these households are required to be undergoing training so as to acquire jobs and exit from the programs.

The amount of benefits and allowances are determined by numerous factors. The states consider dependants and standard needs such as clothing, food, fuel, electricity, household supplies and shelter in order to determine eligibility and amounts to be offered. Payments also differ from state to state according to price of goods, geography, educational opportunities and employment. There is a lot of criticism on the system and a call for welfare reforms. However, it has not been realized due to lack of government dedication, probably because it views the programs’ budgetary allocation as a meager percentage of its budget (Anderson, 2002).

In the state of Arizona monthly payments for each dependant would amount to 347$. Thus, with a family of two children, we would be entitled to get $1041 dollars per month in cash. Food stamps offered to eligible families have an average value of about $500 dollars. A consideration of the living costs and conditions would indicate that this amount is rather little to comfortably live on within a family of three. However, the circumstances in this case call for a mean budget that will cut on high spending to ensure basics are supplied within the welfare benefits.

Budgetary Allocation

The budgetary allocation indicates that it is hard to live on welfare because the money offered is unlikely to fulfill all needs sufficiently especially, in emergencies such as medical care. As a result, the poor families have to entirely depend on a multitude of these programs for all their benefits including child care and medical care. The poor families face a lot of challenges and suffering because the current lack of employment means they will spend more time in these programs.

Reforms requested include a provision of incentives for beneficiaries to seek jobs as well as the increase of level of benefits and integrity within the system (Myrie, n.d). People of color are thought to be more dependent and complacent. However, on a personal opinion there is no decent person that would wish to continue surviving on such little amounts of benefits. In my opinion the reforms should focus on increasing the federal budgetary allocation considering that there is a high rate of unemployment. Scrutiny should also be enhanced to ensure that only people that deserve the benefits are selected for enrollment. Additionally, the integrity of people in these programs should be upheld, and they should not be subjected to questioning that is demeaning.

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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