Does the Govt Promote Reliance and Abuse of Welfare System?

Although the United States government has made some efforts in regulating welfare abuse, such as the Welfare Reform Act of 1996, and current attempts to reform the welfare system [Rep. Doug Reichley (R-Lehigh/Berks)], the government has a long way to go when it comes to truly reforming the system that many individuals have come to rely on as a way of life.  Many people look at the welfare system as a lifestyle, and this outlook is usually generational within families.  The use and abuse of the welfare system is usually promoted within communities, although increasing numbers of individuals are maximizing the true benefit of welfare, which is to provide a sort of ‘stepping stone” towards self-sufficiency. This leads one to wonder, why is this unhealthy reliance on welfare allowed to persist? Well, after personally witnessing many instances of abuse and misuse of the welfare system, my question is this: does our government promote the abuse and misuse of the welfare system? I think so.
 
Now, when I speak of an “unhealthy reliance on welfare”, I am not speaking of every individual that receives welfare assistance, whether it be for housing, food stamps, medicaid, etc. At some point in most of our lives, we have needed help from someone. Many of us have sought assistance from an outside agency for bills, food, clothing, and shelter, to name a few. For those of us who haven’t, its usually because we feel, maybe even know, that we would be ineligible to receive benefits, even though those benefits could desperately be used. There are those that are elderly, or disabled, whose basic existence derives from some type of benefit from a government agency (housing or food stamps, for example). There are the families that have suffered a loss of employment or a death in the family, which caused otherwise working families to suddenly need help. These types of situations, and many more, are understandable. It is also one reason that the welfare system exists, in the first place. According to Welfare Information, “welfare in the United States commonly refers to the federal government welfare programs that have been put in place to assist the unemployed or underemployed. Help is extended to the poor through a variety of government welfare programs that include Medicaid, the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Program, and Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) “The History of Welfare”.  So why is a system, set into place to help and assist families in need, become so abused and defrauded? Well, rules put into place by various government agencies allow, passively encouraging, some of the abuses that it is victim to.

One reason for such defrauding of the welfare system is miseducation. Many people do not understand the rules, even benefits, of the particular welfare agency from which they are seeking assistance, and feel compelled to “cheat the system” in order to receive benefits. For example, many people believe that you can only get housing assistance or food stamps if you are a single mother. This is not true. The welfare system was not put into place to separate famlilies, rather, it wants to maintain the integrity of the family, by allowing the family to remain a single unit, while promoting self-sufficiency. The husband, fiancee, even boyfriend can be a part of the household. The male head-of-household’s income (or lack of) is included in the eligibility calculations of the household, and if the family is eligible, the family can receive assistance. Yet, throughout communities, the myth is perpetuated that you cannot have a man living with you. When you think about it, that would be ridiculous of the government to promote the disintegration of the family, by excluding a husband, boyfriend, etc. Often, it is the male, even if the female head-of-household does not work, that has earned income. By being a part of the household, his income is counted towards that of the family, and the family receives less benefits, essentially reducing costs for state and federal governments. This is particulary beneficial when families participate in programs such as the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Family Self-Sufficiency Program. Education of “the system” is one way to reduce fraud. Without education, and especially the provision for funding for education of welfare and its benefits, and also of the penalties for its abuse, the government is perpetuating miseducation, and therefore, misuse, of the welfare system.

There are also many programs that aim to educate recipients, promoting job training, secondary education, and ultimately, employment. These programs have shown to be effective in reducing the number of individuals that rely on welfare as their sole source of income. However, these programs would be more effective if they were supported by legislation that made, for those non-elderly, non-disable individuals, participation mandatory. It is not enough to simply reduce benefits for people who choose not to participate in job training or job search. People must be forced to be responsible for their own families, and this can only be done by eliminating benefits to individuals who choose not to benefit in the self-sufficiency programs of agencies. Only then will our government see truly effective reductions in dependence on welfare systems.

Welfare abuse is also cultural and  generational. Its abuse is often applauded. It is not uncommon to know of the grandmother, mother, daughter, and granddaughters of any one family to all be recipients of welfare. It’s almost a “monkey see, monkey do” syndrome. The use of welfare, in and of itself, is not the problem. It is a person’s persistence to remain on welfare, not trying to better themselves through education or employment, that is the problem. These individuals do not seek employment, often bragging about their lack of job experience. All the while this lifestyle is being promoted, there are children growing up in these households, unintentionally and unknowlingly, learning how to exploit “the system”. They see one or both parents not working, and they are not teaching their children any other way of life. They are not encouraging education, or teaching their children how important it is to try to be self-sufficient. “Back in the day”, even the most undeducated parents instilled in their children: “I just want you to be better than me/have more than I had/get a better education.” Now days, many parents just don’t care. They rely on the system, and they see nothing wrong with it, and they are teaching that to their children, whether they know it or not. This causes a generational, and also cultural, dependence on welfare. Again, education is key, but this can only be effective with stiffer penalties for failure to participate, and also stiffer penalties for abuse.

The government encourages dependence on welfare by passing legislation that allows individuals to receive assistance that should otherwise be ineligible, and by also increasing benefits instead of providing a threshold, even reducing benefits, when it is obvious that the assistance is being abused. For instance, the Department of HUD has a regulation that says that if a person is under 21, is in a secondary school of education, has no children, is not elderly, or disabled, they are not eligible to receive housing assistance, unless their parents are income eligible. Now, I’m sure the Department of HUD had some reasonable explanation for passing such legislation, but when you look at this rule, what is HUD really saying? A young woman that has decided to defer having children in order to pursue a college education, is not eligible to receive assistance, while  a young woman who decides not to work, who may or may not have children, that is not pursuing an education, is eligible? Let’s not forget the baby daddies! There are young men, able-bodied, and intelligent enough to maintain steady employment, that choose not to work or pursue an education, but they are receiving housing and food stamps. Their only job: reproducing. As they say in the social networking world: SMH.

Increasing benefits as a reward for uncontrolled reproduction also encourages abuse and misuse of the welfare system. Many of us know people that are receiving upwards of $800 or $900 or more, each month, for food stamps, which are supposed to be to feed their families. Many families, although already dependent on the system, continue to have more children because benefits from some agencies will increase, like food stamps. Why should the taxpayers reward such behavior? Me and my husband’s finances are already strained, and we only have two children. I knew that having any more children would be more of a strain, and decided that it would not be feasible to have any more children. I made the responsible decision to have a tubal ligation. Yes, that was my decision, but it is one that I feel was financially responsible. We have to encourage financial responsibility in families in order to reduce dependence on welfare, and stop promoting and encouraging long-term, continued dependence on welfare.

Some agencies allow the use of  “collateral statements” or “statements of contributions.” These statements are provided for individuals that are claiming to have income, recieved from being personally assisted by private individuals. Well, this is perfectly fine in instances where the support is actually being provided. Look at this situation: a mother receiving Social Security Disability in the amount of $674 per month provides a “contributions statement” to her daughter, stating that she provides her child $350 in financial support. She provides the statement so that her daughter can meet the income guidelines to receive welfare assistance from a particular welfare agency. Both mother and daughter receive food stamps. Now, even the dumbest individual can see that this must be a lie. However, there is no system to tie the various welfare agencies together, so that they can cross check one another, and these statements are allowed to be used. Therefore, someone who would not be eligible to receive assistance, is able to be assisted because of the use of a bold-faced lie. This is further evidence of the government promoting dependence and abuse of welfare.

In order to make a change in how welfare is promoted and used, and to make a drastic reduction in abuse and misuse of welfare, we must push for education of welfare, and support stronger laws and welfare reform. Without stronger, more logical rules and regulation governing the receipt of welfare benefits, the government must shoulder as much of the responsibility for the pathetic state of the United States welfare system, as the ones that abuse it.