If your elderly mother or father were forced to submit to a drug test to get food stamps, how would she feel? It was hard enough to walk into that Health and Human Service office as it was to ask for a “hand out.” But that woman or that man who really needs help, who has worked hard their entire life, is being told a clear message. MESSAGE: “WE DO NOT TRUST YOU DOPE HEAD!” We are putting you in the class with everyone else.
In our lives, we often stereo type people with certain words and or phrases – like the use of the world WELFARE. Let us be honest about it, in the south what is the 1st thing that comes to mind. –WOMAN “A” -- “Some woman comes in with 4 or 5 screaming babies; she is tired looking, dressed shabbily. I bet you none of those children belong to the same father. She keeps having baby and getting food stamps. I bet you she also is a prostitute.”
Let me give you another scenario. –WOMAN “B” -- A Hispanic woman pays for her formula using WIC and the remainder of her groceries with food stamps. First thought “I bet you she is an Illegal alien who came to this country and is given a government handout!”
If this is your thought process (I am not telling you what to think – but again be honest with yourself) shame on you! Let me tell you why. Are you in either of these women’s shoes? No. I know of two cases like I just mentioned. Woman “A” is waiting on some type of life insurance settlement on her only husband who died in a construction accident—social security is making her prove the paternity of her children since two were born before she married their father. Woman “B” (the Hispanic woman) is a natural born US citizen and her husband was killed while going to help her brother with a broken down car. He was shot due to mistaken identity. They had no life insurance. Her social security benefit from her late husband is less than $1,200.00 per month. How does a single mother support an infant and two children off of that? I know for a fact that woman “A” cannot pass a drug test. She is on a mild anti-depressant.
According to Harold Pollack, these are obstacles to getting these women out in the work force. Remove the obstacle and they all can work. A woman or man on more than 16 pills due to mental and health issues, zoned out can work? Okay. How are these women going to afford child care? All their children are under the age of 10. According to all the research, women on welfare are more likely to use illegal narcotics but the actual statistics just do not support the evidence because the newest studies were done in the 90s. It did show a decrease of usage from other studies done. But the factors involved are very wide as to why. The studies were not done except through a questionnaire of recipients.
Now recently, with the upcoming presidential election, many politicians are screaming “Welfare reform by requiring drug testing.” Mitt Romney has been quoted as stating “Good idea.” Newt Gingrich also thinks it is a great idea, but he was the politician who feels that women on welfare reform need to find themselves a husband to get off welfare. He made a statement similar to that back in the early 90s. If a woman needs a man to gain substance to feed her children and herself, then she is nothing more than a prostitute for goods and services. But what does the Newt know? He allegedly changes wives due like he changes his underwear! He and ex-governor Fordice (R-Mississippi) strongly believed women needed to stay married regardless of any situation. Rumor has it that is why Mrs. Fordice divorced retired Governor Fordice because it seemed he was married to another bent over his desk and she walked in and caught him? **On a personal note, after my divorce, I went on welfare because there were no jobs available. I asked one of the Mississippi State Senators for assistance in collecting child support, to get the papers pushed through. He agreed to assist me but I needed to meet with him to give him some information. Do you know what information he wanted? He wanted to get one on one instruction between the sheets of how hard I really had it and how hard it would be for him to give me the help I needed. Needless to say, I stayed on public assistance and did without child support.**
The truth of the matter, there are less than 20% of welfare recipients on illegal drugs. There are many extenuating circumstances of why a person is on any types of welfare or narcotics taking into consideration of mental illness as well. There are many barriers as to why women cannot get off welfare. To date there is about an equalized amount racially speaking of people on the roles.
Idaho (according to an AP article in 2012) did a detailed financial study of the cost for all this drug testing. Florida did a similar study as well. It would cost the tax payers more money to do the drug test on welfare recipients. Florida found out first hand that they lost a lot of money in doing the drug testing.
Who are the losers in this situation? Children, elderly, and tax payers would lose. Last but not least, the test cases already done have found that forcible testing is in violation of the 4th Amendment. Furthermore, we do not do drug testing on prisoners in our jails because of violating their 4th Amendment, then why should we do it on 8-20% of the welfare recipients that may or may not be abusing drugs. Prisoners incarcerated are far more likely to do illegal narcotics than welfare recipients.
Sources:
Associated Press. NY Times. “Growing Support for Drug Testing of Welfare Recipients.” 25th February 2012. Web http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/us/support-grows-for-idea-of-drug-tests-for-welfare-recipients.html 14th June 2012.
Deva, Jorge, Yehuda D Nuemark, Carolyn D M Furr and James C Anthony. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse. “Drug Use Among Welfare Recipients in the US.” 2000 Vol. 26, No. 2 Pgs 335-342. Web http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.1081/ADA-100100609 14th June 2012.
McNutty, Frederick. The College Voice. “No Welfare recipients should not be drug tested.” 8th Feb 2012. Web http://thecollegevoice.org/ 14th June 2012.
Mother Teresa
"Everyone lives to be needed." Mother Teresa
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Be Informed Series--- Welfare and Drug Testing.
How many have seen this little ad on Facebook?
If your elderly mother or father were forced to submit to a drug test to get food stamps, how would she feel? It was hard enough to walk into that Health and Human Service office as it was to ask for a “hand out.” But that woman or that man who really needs help, who has worked hard their entire life, is being told a clear message. MESSAGE: “WE DO NOT TRUST YOU DOPE HEAD!” We are putting you in the class with everyone else.
In our lives, we often stereo type people with certain words and or phrases – like the use of the world WELFARE. Let us be honest about it, in the south what is the 1st thing that comes to mind. –WOMAN “A” -- “Some woman comes in with 4 or 5 screaming babies; she is tired looking, dressed shabbily. I bet you none of those children belong to the same father. She keeps having baby and getting food stamps. I bet you she also is a prostitute.”
Let me give you another scenario. –WOMAN “B” -- A Hispanic woman pays for her formula using WIC and the remainder of her groceries with food stamps. First thought “I bet you she is an Illegal alien who came to this country and is given a government handout!”
If this is your thought process (I am not telling you what to think – but again be honest with yourself) shame on you! Let me tell you why. Are you in either of these women’s shoes? No. I know of two cases like I just mentioned. Woman “A” is waiting on some type of life insurance settlement on her only husband who died in a construction accident—social security is making her prove the paternity of her children since two were born before she married their father. Woman “B” (the Hispanic woman) is a natural born US citizen and her husband was killed while going to help her brother with a broken down car. He was shot due to mistaken identity. They had no life insurance. Her social security benefit from her late husband is less than $1,200.00 per month. How does a single mother support an infant and two children off of that? I know for a fact that woman “A” cannot pass a drug test. She is on a mild anti-depressant.
According to Harold Pollack, these are obstacles to getting these women out in the work force. Remove the obstacle and they all can work. A woman or man on more than 16 pills due to mental and health issues, zoned out can work? Okay. How are these women going to afford child care? All their children are under the age of 10. According to all the research, women on welfare are more likely to use illegal narcotics but the actual statistics just do not support the evidence because the newest studies were done in the 90s. It did show a decrease of usage from other studies done. But the factors involved are very wide as to why. The studies were not done except through a questionnaire of recipients.
Now recently, with the upcoming presidential election, many politicians are screaming “Welfare reform by requiring drug testing.” Mitt Romney has been quoted as stating “Good idea.” Newt Gingrich also thinks it is a great idea, but he was the politician who feels that women on welfare reform need to find themselves a husband to get off welfare. He made a statement similar to that back in the early 90s. If a woman needs a man to gain substance to feed her children and herself, then she is nothing more than a prostitute for goods and services. But what does the Newt know? He allegedly changes wives due like he changes his underwear! He and ex-governor Fordice (R-Mississippi) strongly believed women needed to stay married regardless of any situation. Rumor has it that is why Mrs. Fordice divorced retired Governor Fordice because it seemed he was married to another bent over his desk and she walked in and caught him? **On a personal note, after my divorce, I went on welfare because there were no jobs available. I asked one of the Mississippi State Senators for assistance in collecting child support, to get the papers pushed through. He agreed to assist me but I needed to meet with him to give him some information. Do you know what information he wanted? He wanted to get one on one instruction between the sheets of how hard I really had it and how hard it would be for him to give me the help I needed. Needless to say, I stayed on public assistance and did without child support.**
The truth of the matter, there are less than 20% of welfare recipients on illegal drugs. There are many extenuating circumstances of why a person is on any types of welfare or narcotics taking into consideration of mental illness as well. There are many barriers as to why women cannot get off welfare. To date there is about an equalized amount racially speaking of people on the roles.
Idaho (according to an AP article in 2012) did a detailed financial study of the cost for all this drug testing. Florida did a similar study as well. It would cost the tax payers more money to do the drug test on welfare recipients. Florida found out first hand that they lost a lot of money in doing the drug testing.
Who are the losers in this situation? Children, elderly, and tax payers would lose. Last but not least, the test cases already done have found that forcible testing is in violation of the 4th Amendment. Furthermore, we do not do drug testing on prisoners in our jails because of violating their 4th Amendment, then why should we do it on 8-20% of the welfare recipients that may or may not be abusing drugs. Prisoners incarcerated are far more likely to do illegal narcotics than welfare recipients.
Sources:
Associated Press. NY Times. “Growing Support for Drug Testing of Welfare Recipients.” 25th February 2012. Web http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/us/support-grows-for-idea-of-drug-tests-for-welfare-recipients.html 14th June 2012.
Deva, Jorge, Yehuda D Nuemark, Carolyn D M Furr and James C Anthony. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse. “Drug Use Among Welfare Recipients in the US.” 2000 Vol. 26, No. 2 Pgs 335-342. Web http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.1081/ADA-100100609 14th June 2012.
McNutty, Frederick. The College Voice. “No Welfare recipients should not be drug tested.” 8th Feb 2012. Web http://thecollegevoice.org/ 14th June 2012.
If your elderly mother or father were forced to submit to a drug test to get food stamps, how would she feel? It was hard enough to walk into that Health and Human Service office as it was to ask for a “hand out.” But that woman or that man who really needs help, who has worked hard their entire life, is being told a clear message. MESSAGE: “WE DO NOT TRUST YOU DOPE HEAD!” We are putting you in the class with everyone else.
In our lives, we often stereo type people with certain words and or phrases – like the use of the world WELFARE. Let us be honest about it, in the south what is the 1st thing that comes to mind. –WOMAN “A” -- “Some woman comes in with 4 or 5 screaming babies; she is tired looking, dressed shabbily. I bet you none of those children belong to the same father. She keeps having baby and getting food stamps. I bet you she also is a prostitute.”
Let me give you another scenario. –WOMAN “B” -- A Hispanic woman pays for her formula using WIC and the remainder of her groceries with food stamps. First thought “I bet you she is an Illegal alien who came to this country and is given a government handout!”
If this is your thought process (I am not telling you what to think – but again be honest with yourself) shame on you! Let me tell you why. Are you in either of these women’s shoes? No. I know of two cases like I just mentioned. Woman “A” is waiting on some type of life insurance settlement on her only husband who died in a construction accident—social security is making her prove the paternity of her children since two were born before she married their father. Woman “B” (the Hispanic woman) is a natural born US citizen and her husband was killed while going to help her brother with a broken down car. He was shot due to mistaken identity. They had no life insurance. Her social security benefit from her late husband is less than $1,200.00 per month. How does a single mother support an infant and two children off of that? I know for a fact that woman “A” cannot pass a drug test. She is on a mild anti-depressant.
According to Harold Pollack, these are obstacles to getting these women out in the work force. Remove the obstacle and they all can work. A woman or man on more than 16 pills due to mental and health issues, zoned out can work? Okay. How are these women going to afford child care? All their children are under the age of 10. According to all the research, women on welfare are more likely to use illegal narcotics but the actual statistics just do not support the evidence because the newest studies were done in the 90s. It did show a decrease of usage from other studies done. But the factors involved are very wide as to why. The studies were not done except through a questionnaire of recipients.
Now recently, with the upcoming presidential election, many politicians are screaming “Welfare reform by requiring drug testing.” Mitt Romney has been quoted as stating “Good idea.” Newt Gingrich also thinks it is a great idea, but he was the politician who feels that women on welfare reform need to find themselves a husband to get off welfare. He made a statement similar to that back in the early 90s. If a woman needs a man to gain substance to feed her children and herself, then she is nothing more than a prostitute for goods and services. But what does the Newt know? He allegedly changes wives due like he changes his underwear! He and ex-governor Fordice (R-Mississippi) strongly believed women needed to stay married regardless of any situation. Rumor has it that is why Mrs. Fordice divorced retired Governor Fordice because it seemed he was married to another bent over his desk and she walked in and caught him? **On a personal note, after my divorce, I went on welfare because there were no jobs available. I asked one of the Mississippi State Senators for assistance in collecting child support, to get the papers pushed through. He agreed to assist me but I needed to meet with him to give him some information. Do you know what information he wanted? He wanted to get one on one instruction between the sheets of how hard I really had it and how hard it would be for him to give me the help I needed. Needless to say, I stayed on public assistance and did without child support.**
The truth of the matter, there are less than 20% of welfare recipients on illegal drugs. There are many extenuating circumstances of why a person is on any types of welfare or narcotics taking into consideration of mental illness as well. There are many barriers as to why women cannot get off welfare. To date there is about an equalized amount racially speaking of people on the roles.
Idaho (according to an AP article in 2012) did a detailed financial study of the cost for all this drug testing. Florida did a similar study as well. It would cost the tax payers more money to do the drug test on welfare recipients. Florida found out first hand that they lost a lot of money in doing the drug testing.
Who are the losers in this situation? Children, elderly, and tax payers would lose. Last but not least, the test cases already done have found that forcible testing is in violation of the 4th Amendment. Furthermore, we do not do drug testing on prisoners in our jails because of violating their 4th Amendment, then why should we do it on 8-20% of the welfare recipients that may or may not be abusing drugs. Prisoners incarcerated are far more likely to do illegal narcotics than welfare recipients.
Sources:
Associated Press. NY Times. “Growing Support for Drug Testing of Welfare Recipients.” 25th February 2012. Web http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/us/support-grows-for-idea-of-drug-tests-for-welfare-recipients.html 14th June 2012.
Deva, Jorge, Yehuda D Nuemark, Carolyn D M Furr and James C Anthony. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse. “Drug Use Among Welfare Recipients in the US.” 2000 Vol. 26, No. 2 Pgs 335-342. Web http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.1081/ADA-100100609 14th June 2012.
McNutty, Frederick. The College Voice. “No Welfare recipients should not be drug tested.” 8th Feb 2012. Web http://thecollegevoice.org/ 14th June 2012.
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Purple Babies
They are cute. I am glad they aren't mine.
About Me
- Julia Burns American Motherhood
- This blog started as a class project, but I couldn't put it down. There is just too much information that we need as women and as parents! We shouldn't be afraid to talk about any of it!