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Rather than providing welfare recipients a "hand-out" in the form of perpetual financial and other social services support, some observers suggest that a "hand-up" is more appropriate. In this regard, one approach that has proven highly effective in both reducing the prevalence of unwed teen mothers and helping these individuals -- and others -- get off welfare and stand on their own two feet is the WorkFirst program used in the State of Washington. The WorkFirst welfare reform program is intended to help welfare recipients find employment, gain advancement once they secure work, and ultimately become self-reliant and free of the need for continuing government assistance. Participants in the WorkFirst initiative are provided with broad-based assistance, including transportation, child care assistance, training in basic skills as well as vocational training; moreover, participants also receive food, clothing, and healthcare while they are active in the program. One of the fundamental goals of the WorkFirst program is to reduce the number of additional children women have while they are on welfare in order to break the cycle of welfare dependency.
To this end, the WorkFirst program also offers family planning services including birth control guidance and nonprescription birth control for both men and women. The impact of the family planning services component of the WorkFirst program has been truly remarkable. According to Davis, teenage mothers aged 15 to 17 years who were on welfare who took part in the WorkFirst initiative experienced a 55% decrease in birth rates; teenage mothers aged 18 to 19 years experienced a 40% decrease in birth rates. The WorkFirst program also allows program participants to earn up to 200% of the federal poverty level before they become ineligible for further services. The program has enjoyed a great deal of success to date, enrolling more than 60,000 participants who took advantage of the job training and family planning services to become self-sufficient.
Conclusion
The research showed that the United States is a generous country and a wide range of programs are available to help people who are down on their luck. Indeed, a security web of social support programs provides assistance for Americans from cradle to grave. Although these programs are intended to be...
Such welfare dependency can also be self-perpetuating, with people doing whatever is necessary to ensure they remain eligible for assistance while also maximizing their benefits in the process. It is reasonable to conclude that some of these welfare recipients are simply lazy or unmotivated and will take advantage of any opportunity to continue receiving welfare benefits as long as possible. It is also reasonable to conclude that the majority of welfare recipients will take advantage of programs that provide them with the tools and support they need to make their own way in the world when they are available, and programs such as Washington state's WorkFirst initiative have proven this to be the case.
References
Davis, Kathy, "Breaking the Cycle: Welfare Dependency and Family Planning," Policy & Practice of Public Human Services 60(4): 16-17.
Harris, Kathleen Mullan. Teen Mothers and the Revolving Welfare Door (Philadelphia: Temple
University Press, 1999).
O'Connor, Brendon, "The Intellectual Origins of 'Welfare Dependency," Australian Journal of Social Issues 36(3): 221-222.
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