Public Assistance and the Welfare Way of Life: Is Government Benefit Dependence an Inherited Behavior?

Welfare benefits were initially established as a federal assistance program during the Great Depression. Congress established Aid to Dependent Children in late 1935. This program focused much needed aid to widows, orphans, divorced or single mothers and their dependent children that were direly affected by the great depression.

Bill Clinton's presidential campaign promised to "end welfare as we know it". In 1994 Congress attempted to change the Welfare system that existed at that time. Bill Clinton did sign into law the Personal Responsibility & Work Opportunity Act in August 1996. The bill thus ended the welfare burden on the Federal Government and replaced it with a generous grant providing $16.5 billion per year to all U S States to assist in helping needy families.

The welfare system was never created so Americans could live off of benefits provided by Federal and State government services in lieu of getting productive jobs and being self supporting, As stated before, the Welfare system was originally designed for woman, children and destitute families effected by the depression, It has since gone on to help support the country's needy in times of hardship. It was not instituted so young people, not even old enough to drive a car, graduate from high school or even consent to sex in the first place(depending on the local state laws) to get pregnant, have a child with no means of support so they can simply "get a check". This is a phrase that can easily incite anger and very heated discussions about the millions that are knowingly draining the benefit system as their own personal ATM.

But are they doing so knowingly or is it a learned behavior passed on from their living environment at home as a child? Mixed with the ease of obtaining Welfare benefits and the ability to get paid to sit at home and raise children born into the system for nothing more than an avenue for free handouts, an inherited disease has slowly grown into a massive epidemic in this country,

Welfare benefits are more easily obtained in the US then in any other country on the planet. Many world governments do not have the resources to facilitate a benefit system the size of ours. Making benefits harder to come by is not always the answer.

In years past, Americans applying for benefits simply needed to provide an ID and birth certificates for any minor children. Some states have implemented better investigative information systems but that costs money and it takes away from services provided. So much information is available on the information highway such as credit and rental history, prior employment information, criminal records and limited banking information.

Why aren't local governments spending money to investigate the worthiness of benefit applicants? Are local authority's going after the individuals that are collecting benefits illegally ? Would local governments benefit from allowing private law firms to pursue these fraudulent applicants to try and recover some of the illegally obtained benefits? Should welfare be handled or verified by 3rd party agencies in order to reduce the risk of fraud?

Many system "reforming" questions exist today because a once simple and centralized help system grew into a 50 state money generating machine. Some think reform and regulation is impossible at this magnitude, but dwindling resources and cut budgets are draining the already overburdened system. Reform is necessary and inevitable as the states struggle to support the many needy Americans in this economy.

Preventing the masses from being habitual collectors of welfare and living off the system indefinately will require a total system overhaul and reorganiztion. It is necessary and imperitiave if the welfare system is to continue as it was created, to help those in need TEMPORARILY. The welfare benefit system was NOT designed as a an outlet for people to have children every 3 years to live off and state and not work.

Perhaps state governments should look to privatization by third party management firms awarded to the lowest bidder in order to save money and maximize benefits? This is a large and complicated issue and until all state legislations come together to adopt a uniform system of verification and regulation, the system will become a more and more complex problem.