A Lesson in Welfare - My Own Story

I had to leave the job because of child care problems. I did not have anyone to watch my children, because the hours I worked were from 4 p.m., until midnight, and I usually get home around 2 a.m. You cannot get a babysitter or anyone at those hours. I could not get anyone to care for my eight children, ranging from the age of 2 months to the age of 17 years old. I have been a single parent for the past 10 years.

I know what it is like to lie awake at night and worry about not having health care and health insurance for my babies. I know how hard it is to find good, dependable child care. In fact, I had 13 different child care providers in 1 year. I know what it is like to choose between paying rent and buying new shoes for my children.

Like so many American families, I turned to public assistance Aid for Dependent Children, food stamps, and Medi-Cal to supplement my wages in order to give my family the food and health care they needed. During the 3-year period that I relied on these programs, I always knew that I had an advantage over other welfare recipients, an advantage that enabled me to make it through the welfare system.

First, my children and I were very healthy, but I always knew that an accident or an illness would have shattered that fragile economic stability that welfare had provided us. I was also educated, and you have to know I was assertive, so I could get through that welfare system. But I know that other women on welfare are not as fortunate.

My experience on welfare, and the knowledge that others often need a great deal more help than I did to get back on their feet, never leaves me. It serves as the foundation for my commitment to our children and families, and it supports my belief that we must create a fair and just welfare system, one that provides families with the tools they need to achieve permanent financial independence.

I was the typical welfare recipient in that I needed a safety net in a time of crisis, due to either the death or abandonment of a member the family. In fact, 75 percent of welfare recipients are single mothers, with one to two children; 50 percent of welfare recipients are off welfare within 1 year; 70 percent are off within 2 years.

For the welfare recipient, the single mother going to school, getting training, or going to work, then we must subsidize that child care until that individual is totally self-sufficient.