Welfare Reform: Have we considered our children? :: Essays Papers

Welf ar Reform Have we considered our shaverren? draw with America, suspend grants, personal responsibility and eudaemonia to work are all familiar rhetoric. With the changing of the guard in Washington, welfare as we know it is quickly becoming a relic of the past. The question is whether our newly-elected leading are reforming the welfare system or simply perpetuating the horrific posit of our countrys poorest citizens- our children.Consolidation of national programs into block grants includes an estimated 5-20% cut in the level of federal spending for many of these programs. If the proposed changes in AFDC were fully in effect today, more than than five million children, one-half of the children now on AFDC, would lose their benefits.change of the original plan does not necessarily translate into added protection for children. both the Clinton administration and state governments, represented by Republican governors, have proposed alternating(a) welfare reform plans. The a lternative plans still include support for block grants and federal cutbacks.Elimination of federal oversight of child welfare programs pass on eradicate over fifteen years of child advocacy efforts. In the proposed legislation, funding under the Social Security Act for state child welfare systems would be combined into a block grant to be disseminated according to each states discretion. House Representatives have failed to mention that monies for state child welfare programs are afoot(predicate)ly linked to federal standards and submission measures. receipt of federal foster care money is dependent upon state compliance with requirements such as permanency planning, family preservation and reunification and placement of children in the least restrictive, most family-like setting. Loss of these compliance measures will potentially collapse a nationwide system developed solely to protect the outmatch interests of the child.Along a similar vein, elimination of the entitlement s tatus of social welfare programs destroys the safety net for children whose parents are poor. Unlike entitlements which legally guarantee avail for children and families, block grants place a financial cap on spending. If states stockpile out of money, families will be forced to wait until the next financial year to receive assistance. Denying entitlement status guarantees that many children will go hungry, and in turn will be unable to develop into healthy, productive adults.The current welfare reform proposals, although intended to target single women, realistically punish the children. Without built-in federal protections for children combined with a guaranteed safety net for parents, we cannot hold children in poverty to become responsible selfsufficient citizens.