The Welfare System, is it Being Abused

Is our welfare system being abused in North America? A lot of people might just agree with that all too readily. Are there possible ways to rectify the situation This is a look into the possible abuses and hopefully some solutions that could be implemented.

The welfare system was first formed around the time of the great depression of the 1930's. The initial intentions held merit. It was designed to assist the poorest of the poor, helping them to maintain a level by which families could meet their basic human needs, such as food and shelter. Although it was to help entire families, it was primarily used by women, who for whatever reason, found themselves raising their children on their own. In fact, sometimes the husbands needed to travel to neighboring towns or even provinces/states in search of work, leaving their wives and children to struggle alone. It was also only intended as a temporary stopgap, a way in which families could help themselves during troubled times, until they were able to secure employment.

However, over the decades since, the welfare system has been grossly overused and abused. To set aside political correctness for a moment, many have found it far too easy to continue having children, knowing that with each additional child, their social assistance cheques would be larger. Although many have only used social assistance as a leg up, while they were either pursuing a higher level of education or until they could find employment, many have only seen it as an easy way to obtain free money each month, for years on end, without having to go out and look for work themselves. These are the ones who have totally misused and abused the system.

This brings to mind, the overuse of welfare by polygamist communities, that have come to the forefront of the news recently. It has been noted that a man in these communities can have three or more wives, each wife bearing him three or more children. Now, because polygamy is against the law, each concurrent wife is not recognized by the state as being his legal wife. In turn, it creates a huge loophole in the system. These wives can then claim that they are not married, not able to work, yet must tend to the needs of their children. They are then allowed the assistance of the state, receiving regular monthly welfare cheques. Unfortunately, in these situations, the money itself does not actually reach the hands of the woman or their children. The cheques are turned over to the husband, who then turns a greater portion of the money over to the leaders of the community, to do with as they please.

The welfare system has definitely needed revamping for a very long time. It's not only the polygamist communities that take advantage of the system, but possibly because of it, the governments might have reason to rethink who they dole out their assistance to. This cannot be allowed to go on much longer, as it places a huge burden on society and the tax payers (people who actually do go to work, having money deducted from their paycheques in order to continue funding the abusers of the system).

My suggestion would be that the government not allow assistance to women who cannot present valid documentation of their child(ren)'s father. Assistance could be granted for a period of time, at least until the father can be tracked down and made to offer support to the children he helped to produce. This new system could also have resonating benefits. If a young man is only too aware that should he produce a child by having indiscriminate sexual relations, he will be held accountable for the support of that child. An added benefit being that if young women were made aware of the new system, they might not be so ready to have children outside of a committed, long standing relationship, nor would they be having children when they themselves are still children.

Understandably, there are extenuation circumstances that may have to be addressed. Each case should be looked at individually of course. As in the case where a woman has been raped and a child becomes the result, or if a woman has lost her husband/partner or he/she has become impaired in some way, then and only then should it be regarded as necessary for that family to collect assistance from the government. After all, this was the intent of the welfare system in the first place.

The present system of social service benefits has allowed too many people to sponge off the government and taxpayers for far too long. If there were less people on social assistance, our tax dollars could be better served providing programs that would help the less fortunate in a variety of other, more practical ways. To give out welfare so freely, only allows people to act irresponsibly, not being held accountable for their actions. The present systems makes it truly unfair to those who do try, through the struggles of working two or more jobs in order to provide for their families!

The government must also consider the fact, that if people are getting free money, they soon lose their own self respect. Self respect comes by way of working for a paycheque, being able to better yourself over time. When you are earning an income, you can take pride in paying your bills and possibly purchasing a home and/or vehicle or other desired items. This gives a person the incentive and motivation to continually rise above poverty level. Being on welfare, supporting your family on next to nothing does little to give one pride in themselves. It keeps them in a constant state of poverty.

We need to return to the ethics of the welfare system as it was initially intended for, helping families get through a time of trouble. When circumstances have changed for the better, then the cheques stop and the money is there to help yet another family that might be going through a time of crisis. Welfare should not be considered as a lifetime of government financial support for anyone!