Gaining Respect by Working Her Way Off Welfare

The Bush administration hopes to impose stricter regulations when the 1996 welfare law expires later this year. One recommendation is a 40-hour workweek requirement for welfare recipients, up from the current 30 hours. Another calls for 70% of welfare recipients to hold jobs by 2007, up from the current 30%. Additionally, the White House plans to spend $200 million in federal funds to encourage people to get married, believing that children raised in two-parent households fare better.

How these potential changes will affect those receiving benefits is now being hotly debated. KAREN KARLITZ spoke with a woman who receives assistance from the Greater Avenues for Independence program, Riverside County’s welfare-to-work program.

JENNIFER SANDBERG

Riverside

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I’m 19 years old. I was 16 when I had my baby. I’m a single parent. I went on welfare when I was 17 because my mom had to return to Holland to take care of her sick father. I’m a U.S. citizen and Holland denied my citizenship, so I had to live here and I couldn’t get by with my baby without some help.

I work as a food server in a fast-food restaurant. My GAIN worker told me about the job, encouraged me to apply. I’ve been with GAIN for about two months.

When I first applied for welfare with the county, I went back to school to get my GED. If you’re a parent under the age of 20 and you don’t have a high school diploma or GED, you have to go back to school. After I got my GED, they sent me to GAIN to find a job.

I want to work. The county provides child care for my son. I found the day-care facility and the county pays for it. He’s covered full-time as long as I’m working or going to school.

I want to go back to school to study computers. The county will also pay for that.

My son, now 3, was used to having me home most of the time, but he really likes going to day care. I had a temporary job before this where I worked from 2 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.; he didn’t like that. Now I work three days a week, so he still gets to spend a lot of time with me. I’m off on Saturday and Sunday because child care is closed those days. I feel proud when I get a paycheck.

If they change the amount of work hours [or a combined total of work and school hours] to 40, I wouldn’t get any quality time with my son.

I’d have no time for my household. To be a single parent and have to do everything by myself, I wouldn’t like working that many hours. And my son wouldn’t understand why Mommy had to be away all the time. He enjoys our time together. I try to take him somewhere every day I have off. Forty hours, no, that’s too much.

Now that I’m working I don’t get food stamps, but a few months ago I got [low-cost] housing. My rent is cheaper so they reduced my other benefits. But I’ll be fine financially and my new apartment is wonderful. Before I had it, my whole county check, every dollar of it, went to pay my rent. Now I have money for my bills.

I think it’s stupid to pass laws to encourage people to get married. People get married because they love one another, not because they’re supposed to. That would create more problems.

I think the way the county program is now is fine. Before, people kept on having babies to get bigger checks. Now, you have one baby and get on with the county, and that’s as much money as you’re going to get.

I’ve been through pretty much all of the [county] programs since I was a teen parent. I think GAIN offers a lot of opportunities, but it’s up to you to take advantage of them. They pay for your child care--you just have to be willing to go and get that job. If you don’t, then you’re not going to get anything.