Welfare Essay Research Paper The Aid for

Welfare Essay, Research Paper

The Aid for Families with Dependent Children program, the

federal welfare funding that provides the most significant chunk of

money to children nationwide, distributes increasing dollars to

unwed mothers and their families. Over the past three decades, the

welfare system has shifted from serving the needs of widows and

their children to providing for vast numbers of young, single

mothers. In light of this transition, it is important to look at

the role the AFDC program plays in promoting the division of

parents, while also considering the impact that the social stigma

welfare carries has on the ability of mothers to get off the move

towards self-sufficiency.

AFDC provides cash assistance for single parents (mothers)

with children with at least one child under the age of 18. Created

by the Social Security Act of 1935 to assist widows the program had

limited appeal. By 1969, increased divorce rates caused divorced

mothers to become the primary users of the AFDC program, while also

providing for a small population of single mothers who were never

married (London). Over the last 30 years, the focus of the program

has shifted once again to focus it’s primary responsibilities

towards single, un-wed mothers and their children.

There are two discernible groups of unwed mothers who collect

welfare payments: divorced mothers and mothers who never married.

Beharov and Sullivan reported that in 1994, 2/3 of the children on

Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) were the product of

relationships that never culminated in marriage, while only 30

percent had separated or divorced parents. The other small amount

accounts for the percentage who are children of widows or the

disabled (83). It is interesting to note this percentages while

recognizing that the program began to provide for the needs of

widows and their children, and has become a service that provides

for parents who were never married.

There are few statistics that accurately reflect the entire

population of AFDC mothers. Clearly these women represent a

cross-section of the nations poor. Contrary to the belief that AFDC

recipients are uneducated and of ethnic minorities, studies show

that the population represents a variety of women who have a vast

number of financial, child care and housing needs (London 185).

Single mothers many times carry the entire burden of

responsibility for their children. Though the Family Support Act of

1988 has sought to collect child support from the non-participatory

parent, few single mothers have reaped the benefit of the limited

enforcement of this law (Wilson & Sylvester 34).

Out-of-wedlock childbearing is an increasing sociological

phenomenon. Conservative proponents of the welfare program have

passed supported legislation to limit the cash assistance that can

be provided to unmarried teen-age mothers and their children, and

assumes that this limitation will impact the rate of illegitimacy

and single parenthood (Sandefur B7). The welfare reforms clearly do

not address the issues that create poverty; their misguided attempt

to find a quick solution to the ills created by the nations poor is

void of an understanding of some basic issues related to women’s

dependence on welfare. First, lawmakers assume that the welfare

state creates the problem of out-of-wedlock pregnancies by providing

support. Un-wed mothers often reflect sociological and societal

concerns, and a focus on efforts to promote education, provide birth

control and support esteem building programs would benefit the

system more than the limitations set in welfare reforms (Sandefur

B7).

Studies of a number of foreign countries in Western Europe

offer insight into the changes necessary in the U.S. and their

impact. The presupposition that single motherhood directly

corresponds with welfare funding is a misguided conclusion. In both

the Netherlands and Germany, welfare programs provide more complete

and comprehensive welfare packages for their unwed parents and

children. But these programs have not acted as support for

increases in single-parent births. Instead, both of these countries

have far fewer unmarried participants in their programs than the

U.S. (Sandefur B7). But the AFDC program by design presents

concerns for low-income parents and often encourages parents not to

marry due to the constraints of the program. Though called Aid for

Families with Dependent Children, the program does not support the

notion of the nuclear family. Instead, the program only provides

for children of single parents, or families with at least one

disabled parent. So while many single mothers might chose to marry

their child’s father, the loss of their support through AFDC might

make this

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