As an ex welfare mom...here is my story. I used to be married to someone who I now know has some serious psychological issues....it wasn't quite as apparant then...We had 4 children and one day my husband decided that the welfare route was the ticket. He didn't have to work and a check came to the door. Up until this time he had maintained a minimum wage job...but it was full time and repectable. We were not rich but we were getting by. His attitude became gimme what you got, lemme have. He lost his self respect, eventually turning more and more to the bottle. I saw my family disintegrate before my eyes.
At one point he was required to go to the county offices to pick up the check and prove he had been looking for work...he decided even that was too much to ask for him...so he just didn't show up. I thought maybe now he would get off his lazy butt and go get a job because the golden goose was about to dry up...but Mr Government came through...instead of punishing this man (and us) for not doing what he was required to, they decided to send the check to our home and gave us more money to boot. Boy that really showed that deadbeat didn't it? I was told by my welfare case worker (more than once) that I should just leave him and I would get even more money....I couldn't believe that they were trying to force me to break up my family...but that is the ultimate goal. It does not foster family units..it does not try to preserve families either.
I eventaully found the courage to just say enough is enough...got rid of the deadbeat, left my kids with their grandparents while I got a job. I hardly ever saw my kids, but eventually got a home for all of us...remarried a wonderful guy with a great work ethic and have never looked back at those days again.
Welfare is a powerful destructive force in this country...those who are on it can feel trapped and discouraged..just like I was. The loss of privacy is another point that really ate at me...My family was not my own...it was the states...my home was open for inspection...because the state has the right to see who is living there.
It may have sounded like a good idea at the time...helping out the poor and all, but the legacy it has produced is generations of hopeless and discouraged people who feel trapped in a system they have no control over. Getting off of welfare cost me just about everything...my family is still trying to mend the wounds of those times we all were separated, but given the choice again, I would still do what I did,
My children are now all productive people in society, 3 work full time, another in college (deans list) and one still at home, a National Honor Society member.
I shudder to think what they would be like had I stayed on welfare and with that bum.
Thanks for being honest. I liked your story. I guess ONCE in my life I worked real hard to keep my salary below 10,000 so I wouldn't loose the FREE LUNCH at school and dental coverage for my kids on Hwy 16, Poth St, San Antonio, Texas 1979. I knew if I got over that we would loose food stamps. I worked harder to keep it under $10,000 so I could get the benefits.