Should they put limits on how long a person can be on welfare?

Question

My husband and I work hard to provide for our children. He works full time and I work about 15-20 hours a week... Recently my cousin was telling me about this girl that she works with that has 5 children by 5 differnt guys (the girl is only 22) and she CUT her hours at work so that her welfare benefits would not go down.. I thought welfare was there for families who were TRYING to get back on their feet... Do you agree with me???

Sorry I should add that all her kids are still in daycare full time.. she never see's them....

Answer 1

This could be an abuse of the system.

Or it may be that by reducing her hours at work, she is eliminating the need for government funded day care, which would cost more than her welfare benefits.

Also, if she is working some, she is not really "milking" the system completely.

It is to the benefit of society that she spends as much time with her children as she can so that they grow up to be well adjusted contributing members of society.

Think of it this way, she gets a few years of nominal benefits from Welfare, but raises five well adjusted children who can contribute to the system for 50 plus years in taxes.



Of course, this may not be the case. I attended Hairstyling school after high school and there were plenty of women there who openly said that their welfare worker made them go into training now that their children were all school age, but they were only going to be in the course long enough to get pregnant and on welfare again.

Gotta say I wasn't impressed, since I was working to pay for my school and paying taxes on the money I earned which was paying for their free schooling and ultimately the welfare they would be returning to.

Unfortunately, there are plenty of people who abuse the system, but the system is direly needed for the disabled and eldery.

My boyfriend suffers from a disability which prevents him from working. He does however have to attend to his doctor at least once a year to certify that the disability still keeps him from working and has even had to attend a hearing in front of a panel of 3 doctors and 3 nurses who determined his need.

Trust me...he is NOT living any sort of high life and would work in a second if he could and is constantly trying to find ways to improve his health or find something he is capable of doing.

I agree with Smartypants too...my boyfreinds problem is a chronic pain syndrome called Fibromylagia (its like arthritis in connective muscles) and to some he looks fine. He has also had people get very angry at him for not offering one of the Handicapped seats at the front of the bus to an able bodied "lady". I mean of course he offers the seat to a 90 year old woman or if someone in a wheelchair gets on, but people sure can be quick to jump to conclusions.

Answer 2

This is a particular subject that just ticks me off thinking about it. My personal feeling is that welfare should only be provided permanently to those individuals who are permanently disabled and physically can not work. Persons who are not permanently disabled and physically able to work should have to do some kind of community work to earn their welfare check such as cleaning road ditches, sorting recyclable garbage at a land fill, etc. Women on welfare should be wheeled right into OR after their second child and have their tubes tied if the want to continue living on welfare. This country should not have to support people. Life is what you chose to make of it, if a person is to lazy to better themselves then I should not have to support them with my tax dollars. I find it amazing when I drive by a welfare housing complex and see all brand new cars in the parking lot. Welfare has been made to easy for persons to receive, and it is time the whole system is overhauled. The problem is the democrats empower themselves through welfare and with them in control I see no hope in the system getting fixed.

Answer 3

I agree, but the fact is, if she exceeds the alotted 40 hours of work, then her welfare will cut out a much larger sum than she would actually be making in overtime. It is wrong in a sense that she would be underminding the state for welfare, but in essence she really has to. less hours=more money, more hours=considerably less money. As far as her past and who her kids fathers are, thats noones business but her own. All that is important is that those kids grow up healthy. All the best people in the world have come from challenging family situations very much like that one. My point is, you can't just take a taxpayers point of view. You have to actually put yourself there, feel the stresses, understand the emotions. I've been there, I know how it feels. To have to lie to the state to keep the foodstamps because I got a 5 cent raise at my minimum wage job. 5 more cents going to make it easier to feed my two sons throughout the week? I'm very sorry, I get emotional about the subject at times. Don't judge her, just help her. Believe me, she doesn't want to be where she's at, but thats where she is and she has to deal with it how she can.

Answer 4

I couldn't agree with you more! Welfare is great for people that are a little down on their luck and need a LITTLE time to get back on their feet.

That's the down side though, it makes life to easy and more and more people sign up and get approved, meaning tax payers have to give these people more and more money.

Welfare should have a limit of 6 months. After that...you're on your own. If you can't turn your life around in 1/2 a year then there's no hope for you anyways.

Answer 5

Yes I do agree with you. Even when I was home with my children, we could have used some help financially, but decided not to accept it.

I live in New York and we are the cadillac of welfare. They get everything! Dental, vision, and believe it or not they can get viagra. (so they can make more little dependents) Ohhh it's infuriating to know that my tax dollars are going to that. My husband & I both work full time and don't have dental & vision coverage.

They should do like Ireland does. From what I understand they get something like 6 months to get back on their feet and then they are out of luck. Get a job or starve. And they get the bare minimum to live.

Hey thanks for letting me vent!

Have a good day.

Answer 6

What welfare was meant to be and what it actually is are two different things.

I don't know about time limits, but unemployment only goes for 6 months in my state.

The biggest problem with welfare is when children are involved.
This woman who has 5 children to 5 different guys should be mopping up on child support. If these deadbeats were forced to pay for their kids, her benefits would be reduced.

Why should I have to pay for her promiscuity?

We need serious welfare reform as well as a crackdown on deadbeat dads.

Answer 7

I personally think there should be a limit on how long you get welfare. So may people know how to beat the system. Our tax dollars are supporting them but we have no say so over it. I worked at a Daycare who accepted title XX, and you would not believe how many people would be off work 3 to 4 days a week and still bring their kids just os they wouldn't have to deal with them at home.Of course, I blame the daycare for letting it happen. I could go on and on aboutthis but I won't. We all need to write our legislators and express our concerns.

Answer 8

I believe there is a limit on how long a person can collect aid, 5 years here in California, and a person can still receive benefits while working if they meet the requirements. Don't judge people unless you know them personally and you have all the facts. Its the same thing with handicapped parking permits. My husband has an artificial knee replacement and rheumatoid arthritis and asthma and has a handicapped parking permit, but to some people he looks fine and they think he shouldn't park there.

Answer 9

Yes, I agree, and I also believe the solution to most if not all of society's problems is education, not just throwing money at the problem.

Government programs like welfare, Medicaid, Medicare, etc. are fine for people that have come upon unfortunate circumstances after giving their all at supporting themselves and/or their dependents, but it is a wholly different matter when taxpayers who work hard for their money have to pay for people like the woman you mentioned who are the cause of their own problems.

Education is the solution to social problems like poverty, abortion, and violence, because it teaches young people the consequences of those actions, instead of them having to learn that the hard way and at a steep cost to society.

Welfare and other government programs should be limited to people who NEED support, and exclude people who WANT it.

Answer 10

I do agree with you, welfare should just be for the elderly and the really disable people who can't work. I was disabled in the military and I don't get any welfare, but I do receive some monies from the military, but it is not enought to live on, so I still have to work, no matter how much pain i'm in.