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POLICY ALTERNATIVE TO WELFARE

Angela Bell
December 1, 2014
Policy Alternative to Welfare
Professor Titus

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In the United States of America, the current poverty line is set a $23,550 a year
for a family of four (Child Poverty, n.d.). After reading that the next question is Who
comes up with this unrealistic number and how? Research shows that the U.S. Census
Bureau actually sets the poverty line. Poverty thresholds were originally derived in
1963-1954, using the U.S. Department of Agriculture food budgets designed for families
under economic stress and data about what portion of their income families spent on
food (Poverty, 2013).
Poverty holds no biases and anyone can fall victim. However, children are more
vulnerable to poverty because they cannot provide for themselves. Ever since the
1960s, the share of children affected by poverty has only become bigger and bigger.
Children are those who have the least choice and ability to change what happens to
them (Causes & Effects of Poverty on Society, Children & Violence, 2011). Instead of
living a care free life of innocence like a child is supposed to, many children in the world
are forced to worry about when they will get their next meal, when they will be able to
bathe in clean water or even drink clean water for that matter.
More than 16 million children in the United States 22% of all children live in
families with incomes below the federal poverty level - $23,550 a year (Child Poverty,
n.d.). The article Child Poverty also mentions that poverty is the single greatest threat to
childrens well-being. If a child has to be concerned with things that should be automatic
like getting their basic needs met, it makes it unbelievably hard to focus on school work
or any other task at hand. Without the proper nutrition the child can have health
problems as far as proper development and illnesses. The representation of children in

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poverty is very disproportionate in the United States; they are 22% of the total
population, but about 36% of the poor population (Poverty, 2013).
In terms of vulnerability, next in line are women. According to research, there
has been an increasing share of women in poverty in the world. This trend is also
known as the feminization of poverty (Causes & Effects of Poverty on Society, Children
& Violence, 2011). Women and children in poverty both go hand in hand. If a mother is
living in poverty, we can only assume that her child is living in poverty with her and vice
versa. Being that there has been an increase in the number of women in poverty on a
global level and there has also been an increase in the number of single family
households, one can only assume that these two separate issues can be linked
together.
The age of the mother, educational background and the number of children in the
household are also factors to be considered when looking at this feminization of poverty
trend. According to Restructured Regions and Families: The Feminization of Poverty in
the U.S. female poverty tends to be exacerbated in areas with more liberal welfare
programs (pp. 163-183). This brings about the question of system abuse or mere
coincidence. Its very interesting that in areas where welfare programs are not so liberal,
female poverty is not as bad in comparison to areas where the programs are liberal.
An alternative to our countrys current welfare system would be a more socialist
approach. The change would need to be implemented on a combination of the federal,
state and local level. A more socialist approach would help with problems such as health
care, food and housing benefits. On a federal level the government would have control
over market pricing. Pricing would not fluctuate so greatly with the goal to increase

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profit. With a steady priced market, working class individuals and families and those
receiving welfare benefits would have more buying power behind their money.
Canada would be a great example of an alternative to the United States of
Americas current welfare policy. For the most part, Canada has a free market economy.
However Canada has a very extensive welfare system that includes free health and
medical care. Canadians remain more open-minded and liberal than Americans, and
Canada is ranked as one of the best top five countries to live in by the United Nations
and the Human Development Index (HDI) rankings.
The United States has several welfare programs that are ran on various level of
government. A large amount of these programs have time limits for which an individual
or family can be a recipient. When their time is up the individual is forced to look for
other resources or ultimately suffer. In Canada the welfare system operates more
uniformly. Also, there's no time limit on welfare in Canada ---- you can continue to
receive welfare as long as you can prove financial need and you meet other eligibility
requirements. In order to receive cash assistance in the United States, the recipient is
required to volunteer or work 40 hours a week. Volunteering or working 40 hours a week
to receive cash assistance takes away from an individuals time that could be spent
gaining an education or looking for a better job. Canada does not have those same sets
of requirements.
I do believe that over time this policy change could be enacted. I believe
that we are currently in the midst of some sort of change. In order to get this change
enacted we need to get the right people elected. In order to that people must vote, not
only in the president elections but all elections including the primaries. The Republican

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Party would be against this sort of change. This is obvious due to the resistance of the
current Affordable Health Care Act. Organizations that benefit the vulnerable
populations such as Neighborhood Services Organization, National Council on
Alcoholism and Drug Dependence and various other organizations would support this
change in policy. These organizations serve individuals from all walks of life with
different problems such as addiction, disability or homelessness but they all run into the
same problem at one point of time or anotherlack of funding. This change in policy
would call for a change in the budget.
More funding would be necessary but maybe not a lot more. If welfare were to
become an entitlement program again under this new policy we could transfer the
funding by reducing the amount of programs into just a few essential programs and
therefore lessen the competition for grants. If an individual can stay on a program for as
long as necessary, there would not be a need for so many other programs. Any
additional funding needs would come from taxation of all classes. As far as government
department goes, being that we are not creating a new program only making changes to
an old one welfare would fall into the hands of the same government department.
Implementing this change in the current welfare policy would be beneficial to
social workers. The new policy would line of with the social workers ethics and values
especially service and social justice. In terms of service, Social workers primary goal is
to help people in need and to address social problems (Code of Ethics). The change in
policy would eliminate some of the rules and regulations of some of the existing
programs such as the amount of clients a program can serve and even some eligibility
requirements which would allow social workers to serve clients more efficiently. For

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social justice, Social workers pursue social change, particularly with and on behalf of
vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of people. Social workers social
change efforts are focused primarily on issues of poverty, unemployment,
discrimination, and other forms of social injustice (Code of Ethics). Again taking the
time constraints off of programs would provide more long term stability for vulnerable
populations and therefore creating a better sense of social justice.

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References
Causes & Effects of Poverty On Society, Children & Violence. (2011, March). Retrieved
fromPoverties.org: http://www.poverties.org/effects-of-poverty.html
Child Poverty. (n.d.). Retrieved from National Center for Children in Poverty:
http://www.nccp.org/topics/childpoverty.html
Code of Ethics (English and Spanish). (2008, January 1). Retrieved December 1, 2014,
from http://www.socialworkers.org/pubs/code/code.asp
Poverty. (2013, October 30). Retrieved from United States Census Bureau:
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/about/overview/measure.html