Republican Welfare Plan

* Rep. E. Clay Shaw, Jr. (R-Fla.) is quoted (Feb. 10) as defending massive cuts in the welfare budget by saying, “It is time for society to send a signal to our teen-agers: Do not sleep with someone and expect the taxpayers to bail you out if you have a child.” First, this “signal” would not be to all teen-agers, but to teen-age girls specifically; teen-age boys are usually expected to take their pleasures with impunity.

Does Shaw think for a moment that in the heat of passion (spurred on by all the stimuli thrown at the younger generation by our increasingly permissive society) a teen-age girl is thinking, “It’s OK for me to do this because the government will pay for any child that comes out of it”? The corollary to this is that a teen-age girl would refrain from engaging in sex if there is no welfare money to be had in the future.

MIRIAM KORAL

Santa Monica

* The plan to force unwed teen-age mothers to live with their parents is dandy. Whether her parents want her and the baby or not. Whether they are able to or not. Provided, however, that the fathers of the babies of those unwed teen-agers are required to live with the fathers’ parents for the same length of time. Whether those fathers’ parents agree or not. Regardless of whether those fathers are married or have families to support.

The results should be interesting in view of the fact that 71% of fathers of unwed teen-agers’ babies are older than teen-agers, themselves.

MARIA McNAMEE WALP

Beverly Hills

* When a mother works, someone else must look after her children, and that person also needs to make a living wage. How is a single parent who earns minimum wage supposed to pay for child care as well as for all other expenses? If she remains on welfare she can take care of her own children. If she goes to work she must pay someone else to take care of her children every hour that she is working and traveling to and from work. It is hard enough for middle-class women who work to find good, affordable day care. How someone can do this on $4.25 an hour is a mystery to me! Very few people are lucky enough to have an available, healthy relative who can afford to or is willing to work full time for nothing!

Is it really better for the children (and for all the rest of us who live in the same communities), to force women off welfare without child care or training in order to “teach” them or starve them into not having more babies? If we want people to work, and I think that is a fine goal, we need to be sure that the minimum wage is a living wage and we need to help mothers with day care (as we did during World War II when we were serious about wanting mothers to work).

MARGARET POTHOFF

Culver City

* The good news is that yet another study affirms that good quality child care centers produce good development outcomes for children across the spectrum of backgrounds. The bad news is that this study, “Cost, Quality and Child Outcomes in Child Care Centers,” finds that the quality of care in American child care centers is generally poor. The report recommends that, given a strong national commitment to ensure that by the year 2000 every child enter school ready to learn, the country must commit itself to improving the quality of child care services and to improving access to quality child care programs. There are choices to be made.

The original “contract with American” was for shared decision making by an informed electorate. The time is now. Wake up, America!

JO ANN HANKIN

Assistant Vice Chancellor

Chair, UCLA Child Care Services