Here is a great article about yesterdays food giveaway. They have helped out my family through a few Thanksgivings, the food is fantastic and top notch, and we are very grateful!
Welfare Reform needs to be reformed. Here are some rules:
If You manage to find a full time job that pays 12 or 13 dollars, you are a single mom with 2 children(the average) these are your "rewards"
1. If your child(teen) does not attend school fulltime, or a combination of work and school, the ENTIRE family gets cut off from assistance. (No, I'm not kidding)
2. If you are a single parent with 2 children and find a fulltime job that pays you between 12 and 13 dollars an hour, you LOSE your public assistance, including foodstamps. (Remember, this is Hawai'i. Food prices are off the charts. At least 1/3 of your income will now be going to groceries. Any gains you could have made or money you could have saved will be going to food.
3. If you are also lucky enough to have a HUD or Housing unit, your rent will increase 30 percent of your GROSS new earnings. (I.e. your rent will increase)
4. You will not be eligable for gas allowances, or insurance coverage.
5. If you happen to become pregnant during any time during your receiving welfare assistance, that child will not receive benefits. (Pro-Lifers should LOVE this, huh? It practically encourages abortion, supports a father having no responsibility for the child, since the child will not be covered, and encourages giving up the child. If abortion was no longer an option here, this would almost certainly cause the breakups of families, mental health issues and unfair adoptions.)
There is a five year LIFETIME allowance for welfare benefits. This causes severe economic hardships for mothers with 2, 3 and 4 children many of whom have been abandoned by the fathers. In the past, you could always get help up until the child was 18, and you were not required to find a job or work until all of the children were of school age. Now, the law requires you to go to work or school by the time the child is 6 months old. With single parents this is very difficult, as separate childcare must be found, and not all childcare covers all of the costs of childcare. So once again, the system puts an undue burden on the mother.
6. Child support: The state of Hawaii is NOTORIOUS for NOT going after fathers for child support. CHild support issues in Hawaii are extremely complex as many single mothers are fleeing abusive spouses and marriages and partners with small children. Under these circumstances welfare allows an exemption to go after the fathers in order to protect the family.
However, most fathers here, supported by bosses and family members are hidden and protected, while threatening the mother if they go after them they may fall into physical harm. Temporary Restraining orders and court proceedings further complicate the life and stress of mothers, who are also trying to comply with other agencies in order to keep a roof over their heads. Many end up homeless due to the loss of jobs because of absenteeism or stress and poor work performance.
All mothers are forced to reveal who the fathers of their children are, except when there is physical abuse threatened which must be proven. Many women have been threatened, so many women have this excemption, which the fathers know will keep them out of trouble. Many single mothers on welfare never get releif from the fathers of their children in Hawaii, becvause the physical abuse and threats are so prevelent.
Even when childcare has been ordered, many fathers in Hawaii get away with the minimum payment of 50.00 a month, which the mother never receives. It goes to welfare to pay back the system for the benefits she and her children have received.
After the welfare benefits have run out, a mother is still entittled to help from the state for a time to recover her money, and if there are any payments, sometimes they pass through to the mother. But most get out of paying this by working under the table, living with family members who do not reveal any information, or have sympathetic bosses who hide their true hourly wages and hours.
There is no way to track a father who is working under the table and hiding with relatives. Many will do it until the child is 18, and then resurface knowing that they have beaten the system and are now out of the woods. Most will drive illegally, or not have car insurance or bank accounts, or bills in their names. Many are supported in this by family members who do not care for the mother, and have no interest in the children, or who side with the man in these cases.
7. In general this is a paternalistic solution, asserting that basicly the mother is entirely to blame for her circumstances and it is she who must abide by dozens of rules and regulations from various agencies, with volumes of paperwork, appointments to keep, jobs to hold down, housing to secure and keep, ect. If one thing is not done correctly or something changes the whole house of cards can fall, and a single mother can lose everything, or worse end up homeless on the street, which happens a lot.
In conclusion, we all need to understand in this country that the rights of a mother just don't exist anymore. That undue stresses and burdens are put on women who have had the misfortune to have given birth to children that are unwanted by the fathers that were at least half responsible for them being here. With the Pro Lifers talking about how important it is to support the rights onf an unborn child, they seem to miss the fact that without a mother a child born into these circumstances will have at best a miserable existance, and doom them to poverty and unhappiness.It may force mothers to give up children, or lose them through the system. Then how does that bode for her other chilrdren? How can any human being survive this? Why are women being so archaiclly punished. Most women who now become pregnant during their 5 years on welfare, through unscroupulous men who offer partnerships or even marriage only to abandon them desperately now seek abortions to prevent giving birth to a child they are doomed to not be able to support. Is this what is meant by "right to life"?
So, this holiday season, perhaps read this blog article and think hard about the entire picture before judging, and understand that this is really what is causing the hardships on Kaua'i. Throw in the lack of affordable housing, plans to place limits on the number of years someone can live in public housing, the lack of jobs and it becomes even more dire.
So this holiday season, lets all reflect on being non judgemental about someone elses situation in life, and realizse that we are all in some way responsible for each other. It takes a village to raise a child, AND support the mothers as well. Let's reflect on that for a change.
If anyone is wondering why people are needing more help, these are some of the biggest reasons for the working poor.
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