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82 lines
4.2 KiB
Plaintext
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The BIRCH BARK BBS / 414-242-5070
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America's Future, Inc., Behind The Headlines, May 1996
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Change The Orientation Of Welfare
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by F.R. Duplantier
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What is the real purpose of welfare? Is it meant to help the
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unfortunate get back on their feet, or was it designed from the
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beginning to create a permanent underclass?
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"The focus of Indiana's welfare policy should be to
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help families become self-sufficient," says Andrew Bush
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of the Hudson Institute in Indianapolis. "Gov-ernment
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can best achieve this goal by recognizing its own
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limitations and by drawing on the strengths of
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charities, community-based organizations, and other
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private service providers." In the April issue of
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Alternatives in Philanthropy, published by the Capital
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Research Center, Bush reports on the Indiana
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Independence Initiative, a graduated work-based plan
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that "would dramatically change the orientation of
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welfare." This Initiative would help "able-bodied
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parents find immediate work," says Bush. It also "would
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open public aid to a wide range of non-government
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service providers that would help families pursue self-
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sufficiency."
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In the same issue of Alternatives in Philanthropy,
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Michael Hartmann of the Wisconsin Policy Research
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Institute in Milwaukee reports that the Badger State
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"has imposed stringent work requirements on welfare
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recipients and has successfully moved many able-bodied
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recipients into productive work." Wisconsin's welfare
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caseload fell nearly 25 percent during a period in
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which state caseloads across the country "increased by
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an average of 35 percent." In 1988, Wisconsin
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implemented the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills
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program, which, as Hartmann explains, "required
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caseworkers to closely monitor and motivate welfare
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recipients in their search for employment." In 1993,
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the state implemented a program called Work, Not
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Welfare, which "limits AFDC payments to two years and
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offers major job-training services."
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The state legislature recently approved a new program
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called Wisconsin Works, which provides "four graduated
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work options" for welfare recipients. "Recipients
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unable to perform self-sustaining work will engage in
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work activities, vocational rehabilitation, and
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counseling," says Hartmann of the first, transitional
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phase of the program. "Recipients will learn work
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habits and job skills necessary for employment in the
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private sector" by doing community-service jobs in the
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second phase. A period of subsidized employment
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follows, after which participants "will be guided to
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the best available immediate job in the private
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sector."
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Also in the April issue of Alternatives in
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Philanthropy, Tom Tancredo and Dwight Filley of the
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Independence Institute in Golden, Colorado point out
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that social pathologies such as juvenile delinquency,
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drug abuse, teen pregnancy, and welfare dependency have
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all been linked to "the absence of a married father in
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the household." Given this documented correlation, they
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ask, "why does government policy seem geared toward
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driving fathers away?" Despite the "oppressive burden
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of federal laws," Colorado still has "considerable
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latitude to end the perverse incen-tives that wreck
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families and contribute to our social ills," say
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Tancredo and Filley. "AFDC, for example, is a matching
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fund program. If the Colorado legis-lature refused to
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fund its share, AFDC would end in the state."
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America's Future, 7800 Bonhomme, St. Louis MO 63105
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Phone: 314-725-6003 Fax: 314-721-3373
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