Its obvious that no one on here has ever been on Welfare. Well, I have and its no picnic. Besides the stigma that goes with having to be on welfare, the TANF (formerly AFDC) program is rediculous.
I was a stupid kid...left home at 18, got pregnant right away by a man I wasn't married to (Im white and he's Black) but we lived together and thought we could do it. Problem was, my man couldn't find a job. It was the 1990's and the economy was good, but minimum wage back then was 4.25 and impossible to raise a family on. It wasn't that he was lazy, he got many interviews but never was hired on at a decent paying job. Even here in liberal Seattle, there are many employers who choose not to hire Black people. Don't tell me thats bullshit, I"ve SEEN it happen, time after time.
After I got too pregnant to work (about 37 weeks) I had to quit my job and go on welfare. And I was glad to get it. Food stamps meant I could stop trying to live on a 25$ a week grocery budget. And the 425$ I received paid my rent in full. But beleive me: there were NO extras. While I was on welfare I figured I'd go to school and make something of myself. I started nursing school and only has 3months left before graduation when Newt and his Contract With America people cut off my benefits. In order to receive benefits, I had to get a job! Quitting nursing school to work a shitty, dead end, minimum wage job!??
Made no sense to me. If they would have let me finish school, I would have gotten a living wage job and would never have needed welfare again. But no, I had to go to work for 5$ an hour.
Since then, I never really got back on my feet. I worked as a phlebotomist, which paid the bills for awhile, but as the economy tanked, so did my salary. Everything got so expensive and rents got so high! Soon 30K a year was still living in poverty. Then I lost my job. While I was waiting for unemployment to start up (6-8 weeks) I applied again for welfare benefits. Boy things have changed!! A woman with a child only gets 369$ per month...welfare grants went DOWN! That wouldn't even cover my rent...let alone cell phones, cable, fast food, clothes....etc.
I didn't want the TANF, I wanted an "Emergency Grant" which the state (WA) advertises to help people who only need a hand up to hold on to their housing and expenses in a one time grant of 1500$ Of course I didn't get it....I guess the welfare has pretty strict guidelines on who's to receive the grant.
But anyways....Welfare sucks. Im sure most people on welfare would rather have a job than have to sit in front of a case worker and try to justify exactly how poor you are. Then again, my state suspended their child care assistance program. How can a single mother work a minimum wage job and have to pay up to 1000$ monthly for daycare? With the high rents in this city, and lack of available public housing people are struggling. Also...if employers start paying people a living wage, we wouldn't need welfare.
Its a vicious cycle...a young woman wants to leave her poverty stricken house where her mom is on welfare. So she gets pregnant by the first man to take an interest in her, moves out and goes on welfare because thats all she knows how to do. Don't think her family prepared her to go to work, but Im sure they taught her to work the system. She has 2 or 3 kids one right after another because then you can get Section 8 fast. The baby's daddy usually moves out because he is young and he wasn't trained on how to work and feels frustrated because no one will hire him and he can't support his family. ANd so on and so on....There is no way to get ahead....its harder for blacks to get a job. Not because they aren't looking, its that no one will hire him. Employers prefer hispanics, asians or white people.
Anyways...welfare is not what you people think it is
