Would more money for housing and daycare help single mothers on welfare return to work earlier?

Answer 1

In my first year sociology class, we had to look over a Canadian study about this.

A group of single mothers on welfare were given daycare for two years.

Another group of single mothers on welfare weren't.

When the two years were over, over 75% of the mothers who had received daycare were off welfare and were gainfully employed.

Over 75% of the single mothers who didn't receive daycare were still on welfare after the two years.

I can't imagine how hard it would be for a woman to return to the workforce with a three or four year gap on her resume, unless she was very highly educated.

Answer 2

Yes, but there has to be realistic job training too. Most young mothers on welfare can't get a job that pays more than min. wage. Many live in substandard housing, have no transportation, and no child care. Those issues need to be addressed even before job training. I clawed my way off of Welfare in the 60's. I had three small children, no high school diploma, and no help. It was a nightmare, but somehow I did it. I wouldn't wish those circumstances on anyone. I know it is even more difficult today. So many, many jobs are high tech. Most businesses use some kind of computer. Most businesses want experience or a degree.

Answer 3

I think this should be tried out and have a time limit on it. The thing is, coming off of welfare you are probably going to go into mimimum wage jobs and will still not be self-sufficient. This is an expense that the gov't would have to incur for years for each child.

Low-cost after school programs are terribly under utilized. When I was little my school district has a program after the school day was over, they went to the cafeteria and could stay until 6 pm, do homework, play games, eat a snack, etc. This was for low-income students and was about $15 per week for each child, there were about 25 kids in the program and teachers tooks turns and could make extra money for supervising the kids so it didn't cost the school district anything. Something so simple would benefit many.

Answer 4

I think assistance for day care would be a considerable help for single mothers. I personally have been single mom for a very long time. Having children in day care was quite an expense. Good, reliable, safe daycare cost a great deal of money.... However, these young women need job skills, training, or an education to prepare them for jobs which will maintain their bills. Also more absent parents should be forced to pay child support. I think parents on welfare should be forced into a training program or college or something that will ensure greater success rates. Just my opinion. God bless****

Answer 5

Daycare and housing would help single mothers return to work earlier, but often women are on welfare because they don't have healthcare coverage for their children. Also, transportation assistance is needed. It's one thing to get a job, but how do you get to it without reliable transportation?

GED assistance and other educational assistance would be a good idea as well, so they can make more than minimum wage and actually make a living wage to pay for housing, daycare, healthcare and transportation costs. Most poor paying jobs don't provide healthcare coverage. It's the reason millions of women and children don't have healthcare today.

Answer 6

That is logical, yes. One of the biggest hurdles single working mothers face is daycare. Good ones are hard to find and hard to pay for. Housing would also be helpful. Unfortunately, the cost of apartments have skyrocketed. If there were more low-income housing options, then people with low-income jobs or welfare would not have to spend so much of their already over-stretched funds to pay for housing.

Answer 7

Yes, it certainly would. However, is it cost effective to spend more money on childcare and housing supplements than just giving it to the woman on welfare? If two women on welfare each have two or more children, we basically are paying MORE money to have them watch each other's children. So I suppose it depends on your goal. If there is something terribly essential about mothers of infants working for pay, then perhaps the added cost is worth it. I disagree with this idea.

However, I find it terribly cruel to not OFFER these services to women who are being pushed to work for pay, or who hope to go to college or train for a job. I think we can help poor mothers the most simply by giving all of them (married ones too) a small cash supplement to help with these issues. It actually would save money in the long term, since women would not be discouraged from being married or seeking employment.

Answer 8

Damn right it would. There are so many things the government needs to do to improve the lives of all mothers. Too many of them are struggling with balancing work and family, and they get very little help, either from the politicians or the employers or whoever.

Answer 9

i think it would. and it would be good to provide the services rather than give the mother the money, in order to avoid the rare unscrupulous welfare recipient that abuses the system.

Answer 10

Yes. Daycare is so expensive. I also think they ought to change the food stamp policies and allow paper goods and personal hygiene items. And not be able to buy chips, soda and other junk food items.