What Is Child Care Programs?

People generally enjoy working and being productive members of society. The positive effects of the Welfare Reform Act is moving to eventually end poverty in America and promote economic growth. According to the 2005 report measuring welfare dependents “Poverty in 2003 remains much lower than in 1996, the year of passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. The official poverty rate for 2003 was 12.5 percent, compared to 13.7 percent in 1996.” ( Gil Crouse, Susan Hauan, Julia Isaacs, Kendall Swenson and Lisa Trivits, 2005 ) States that design welfare-to-work policies that emphasized getting recipients into jobs by shifting to “work-first” welfare systems can modify program rules to allow more earned income,

The problem is accentuated by the widening of the gap between rich and poor, that can be translated in this matter as an increase of difficulty for low-income families to have access to the much more expensive high quality day care options. There are several aspects that built such a controversial situation and the most important are certainly the cultural and economical ones. The huge growth in women’s independence and professional ambition, in addition to importance, of the last decades, caused the fall of the cultural basis that have always taken for granted the responsibility of the mother as the full-time caregiver (Chisholm 38). Now women are more willing to gain a successful and respectable place in society, and this can be achieved almost exclusively through hard work and full immersion in their jobs. Simultaneously, the economical situation of our society caused many families to depend on two incomes to satisfy the basic needs. In fact, the increase in the cost of living not sufficiently balanced by a relatively smaller rise in wages, and a greater attitude toward materialism and conspicuous consumption, have given women the same financial responsibility as men (Chilman 451). This aspect can be fully applied only on families with an average income or better, because professional daycare programs are pretty expensive and in some cases can reach prices higher than the minimum wage. Those factors

The effects of the 1996 welfare reform bill helped declined caseloads on the social and economic well-being of fragile families, single mothers, and children. Although, the welfare reform was documented for making several positive changes such as reducing poverty rates, lowering the out of-wedlock childbearing, and formulated a better family structure, it is undeniable that poverty remained high among single mothers and their children. The reality of the matter was that most welfare recipients experienced serious barriers to maintain a stable employment due to their lack of skills, not having anyone available to take care of their young children when they leave for work as well as not gaining long-time employment with decent pay to help foster the family. As a result, most poor women and children were faced with the instability of economic and social future as welfare eligibility exhausted their efforts of supporting their families.

North Carolina’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program is one of the primary forms of Medicaid. TANF is also called Work First, which is based on the premise that parents have a responsibility to support themselves and their children. Through Work First, parents can get short-term training and other services to help them become employed and self-sufficient later on, but the responsibility is theirs to find the actual job. Most families have two years or less to move off Work First Family Assistance and after that they are completely on their own. According to a document found on Civic Report, the sixty percent of the rise employment among single mothers is due to the fact the

They do not have a significant other 37 percent of single-parents families lack self sufficiency and are officially poor compared with 7 percent of married-couple families (Rector). Welfare can help the underachieving single parents that do not have a stable income. This proves and shows that some individuals can and want to be

Krashinsky begins his argument by acknowledging the fact that a clear majority of mothers with young children are working, and the rate at which this is occurring has grown consistently since 1976. This is a direct result of the feminist movement, as a combination of factors such as higher pay, less discrimination, and more schooling, has resulted in young women beginning to view a life in the workplace as normal. As a result of this, many mothers are not going to stop working unless a policy offers them a significant sum, which would undoubtedly cost more than the best childcare program available. Instead of trying to prevent mothers from working, we should encourage them

“Branded with Infamy” draws one into the challenges that poor women and children face every day (Adair). Stricken with poverty leaves women and children that are already suffering, forced to suffer more, which Adair brings up in this article when she’s talking about her mother having to work twice as hard to be discipline for her husband walking out on her (Adair, 236). The article “Enforcing the Work Ethic” has more of a focus on the welfare system for poor women and children (Hays). This article addresses the issues of how mothers are forced to find a job right away and when they are unable to meet all the requirements the welfare system is requesting then they end up losing their welfare forcing them and their children to live without

The Urban Institute published a case study that promotes the creation of national paid family leave policy in the United States. In the study, it is shown that this issue has been debated countless times in the past. George H.W. Bush even vetoed an unpaid family leave act during his presidency. This displays the struggles of enacting policy relating to this issue. The lack of a national paid family leave program in the US has left working mothers with three options: “return to work immediately after childbirth, quit employment, or take unpaid leave” (Urban Institute, 2017, p.3). The issue with these options include, loss of pay, unemployment, or the lack of parental presence in a child’s early development. Moreover, although some private companies offer paid leave, less educated and lower income mother have little access to this paid leave, which exacerbates their financial instability, keeping them in a lower societal class. This study found that not only is the current system is inadequate, but it is also inequitable, which causes financial hardships across the nation. According to the study, there has even been a 32% decrease in income after childbirth. Although this is the current situation, some states have enacted a statewide paid family leave program, which displays

The textbook, Feminist Issues: Race, Class, and sexuality, addresses the observable changes in the Since the mid-20 century, there have been Women have entered the labour market and family care relations of Canadian families work with raising and caring for force in ever-increasing numbers and are combining paid racial children, either with a partner or alone. I focus n the chapter, I take these changes in Canadian families as our through mothers' how families- in whatever shape or form they are maintained I use the term engagement in and managing of market and family care relations Whereas paid work relations" to refer to the structure of the labour market, and "family care relations" encompasses the caregiving relationships outline have with

One main effort of welfare reform is to replace public assistance with earnings. To date, politicians and welfare reform advocates have applauded the efforts and claimed success. However, lurking at the surface of welfare-to-work policies are serious problems and structural impediments. Lack of jobs, low pay, job-readiness, and difficulties in securing ancillary supports like transportation and child care are obvious problems that are not easily resolved. Full-time low-wage work does not provide enough income to support families, nor does it accommodate the demands that full-time parents have. These problems plague welfare-to-work efforts and make life very difficult for poor, single-mother families. At the same time, they create an opportunity to consider the value of care giving work and to reform the nature of low-wage work. (Albeda 71)

In 1996 Congress passed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, which created Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). TANF is a block grant that provides cash assistance for those who qualify. However, over time “many states are cutting” into programs such as TANF; the benefits received continue to decline (1). Due to such aggressive cuts, New York, which provides the most aid offered by TANF than of any other states, remains unable to progress a family of four above “50% of the federally defined poverty line” (1). Furthermore, countless reforms have been created such as the inclusion of the back to work program. The program mandates thirty-five hours a week where recipients are hypothetically job searching, however, the majority “basically sat there and twiddled their thumbs” (2). Many who are eligible would rather not endure the humiliating

This child care center flourishes with creativity. The environment is molded by family orientation and the thriving of learning. The building is red brick all the way around with black roofing. The outside has a look of professionalism and welcoming to all who enter. The flowers and shrubbery change by the season and the cleanliness of the area is inviting to all visitors. Upon coming in the front door, the warmth of the lobby is immediately comforting. The art work of the children grace the walls and the smells of the kitchen indicate the chef is at work preparing the meals of the day. All classrooms are open door and to all who wish to visit, with permission of

Edin and Lein wanted to discover the surviving strategies of single mothers who are on welfare or work on a low-waged job. They argue “neither welfare nor low wage work gives single mothers enough income to meet their families’ expenses” (253). To find out the set of survival strategies of single mothers to make ends meet Edin and Lein interviewed 379 low income single mothers. They chose their interviewees from different cities, different aged group, and different ethnic background. Most mothers who are on welfare wanted to find a job and be out of the welfare but the primary problem that single mothers face was that “family economics”. With the minimum wage income it was impossible for the single mothers to bring the ends meet. Neither working nor being on welfare was enough to survive therefore mothers who are on welfare supported their budget by generating substantial supplementary income. Edin and Lein states that “welfare recipients generated extra income by working at side jobs, obtaining cash from network members, community groups and local charities”. They also get cash help from the family members, child’s fathers, and from a boyfriend. Because they were afraid to lose welfare benefits they did not tell anyone about the extra income they have. To survive they needed both the welfare benefits and the extra income. It was very difficult to establish a trust with the interviewees in the beginning because they were afraid if they talk about it they might lose the

Secondly, precarious work affects the living state of women financially as single mothers and how they were seen dependent primarily on their husbands wages and occupational choices. Now as single mothers they are unable to escape the debilitating effects of impoverishment which is shown through Ann Duffy and Nancy Mandell's article. This article articulates that a women's income drops by 20 to 40 percent as single mother because they do not have a male as a breadwinner for the family (Duffy and Mandell, 253). Females are more likely to experience this situation because if they do go into the work workforce they are payed less than men. Single mothers tend to be stigmatized when they receive social assistance in taking care of their children due to the Victorian ideals of society that women should follow their role of domestic work.

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) created new policies, programs and time-constraints concerning the services welfare-reliant women received. The intent was to decrease the population of welfare-reliant women by offering services that focus on employment training and entering the workforce within a specified timeframe. There is an underlying assumption that it is of public opinion that individuals have a personal responsibility to work and should not receive welfare benefits over an unrestricted amount of time even if their economic conditions do not provide stable living conditions and qualify for state program assistance. Unfortunately, current welfare services do not facilitate or increase economic independence among welfare-reliant women and have left many women and children of poverty without having a safety net to ensure their livelihood and wellbeing since the PRWORA has went into effect.