The Everyday Challenge: A Single Mom's Struggle on Welfare
Many people say single moms abuse the welfare system, but in fact, most women don’t benefit from it at all. 80% of single-parent families are headed by women, and 40% of those families are poor. These women are part of a system and a society that treats them as though they were feeding off of the government. The lack of support and good resources for single parents is a huge problem in our country today.
A story from Aware.com puts this problem in real-world context. In 2001, Marilyn decided to leave her husband because she didn’t want her daughter to grow up with an abusive father. In January of 2002, Marilyn and her daughter were living in a shelter and were on Welfare and Housing. She would often call her Welfare worker to help her navigate through the first year of living as a single mom. When Marilyn asked for a community startup, the Welfare worker denied her request. Without the help of the women at the shelter, Marilyn wouldn’t have been able to get the startup and replace her possessions, as well as provide for her and her daughter. After taking her first college course, she wanted more education and she applied full time. She was off Welfare for eight months until she wanted to apply for more classes. Her Welfare worker told her she couldn’t go to college anymore because they found a job for her. Unfortunately this job was low-paying and the putting her in opposite direction of her future goals. Instead of furthering her education so she could get off of Welfare, they were advising her to take this low-paying job. In the end, after years of struggle, she was able to go to college and have a full-time job to support her and her daughter. Marilyn thinks that the Welfare system is unfair to women, and society treats them as though they were “social parasites” living off the government.
The Single Parents Alliance of America (SPAOA) is an organization that addresses the issues and needs of single parents like Marilyn. The SPAOA’s website was founded in 2010. Their goal is to give single parents access to the resources they can get for free, like helplines and links to other websites. Their sources include places that provide medical benefits, financial aid, grants, funding for further education, and general support/advice. They say that they best way to get involved is to raise awareness about the SPAOA website so people who might need it can hear about it and spread the word.
The problem of a failing welfare system is one that gets worse every day. Single parents should be given rights and access to the support and resources they need. They are shamed in this society and they aren’t given help by the government. Although there are still many single parents struggling, each day more resources like this are available for single parents and people are learning more and more. Our job is to educate people on this rising issue, and raise awareness of the resources available. We need to advocate for a better system and better lives for single moms.
Works Cited
Freeman, Amanda. "Single Moms and Welfare Woes: A Higher Education Dilemma." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 8 Aug. 2015. Web. 01 Mar. 2016.
"Moms’ Stories." AWARE. N.p., 2010. Web. 26 Feb. 2016.
"The Single Parents Alliance of America." SPAOA. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2016.