Welfare Family Cap |

Problems:

Beginning in the 1980’s the perception of government and the role it played in the lives of everyday American changed radically. Using social services and welfare was no longer viewed as a hand up but as a hand out, and those who received these benefits were viewed as abusing and profiting from the system. Instead of fixing the welfare system, ending corporate loopholes and passing laws to strengthen middle-income families. The emphasis was instead placed on individual responsibility and time limits were imposed on welfare dependents with little attention towards low-income families.

“Of course, the [welfare family cap] policy was based on a myth, the idea of the sexually irresponsible “welfare queen.” In 1990, just 10 percent of households that received Aid to Families with Dependent Children—the precursor to today’s federal welfare program—had three or more children (most had two or fewer). Those figures were down from the 1960s, when 32.5 percent of such families had four or more children. In 2013, the Bureau for Labor Statistics noted that “average family size was the same, whether or not a family received assistance.” Public perception notwithstanding, there’s no difference in family size between those that collect welfare and that those that don’t.”
Slate – The Most Discriminatory Law in the Land

Solutions: