Welfare

Originally posted by OnyxCougar
Food Stamps is given to adults without children if they fall under a certain income level. AFDC is given to families with children under a certain income level. WIC is given to women with or without children under a certain income level.

How you can not know this and have been in a shelter (information from a previous thread) is beyond me. These are federal programs, not state ones.

O.C., I just wanted to define what we are talking about. WIC and AFDC fall under assistance to low income parents which I mentioned. In my state, able bodied adults who get food stamps are required to sign up for work programs like through Good Will. I suppose this would be called "work fare." I don't know how food stamps are distributed in other states.

I was never in a shelter and never stated that I was. However, I was homeless for about 4 months. I chose to camp on my own in the National Forest rather than go into a shelter.

In my state, anyhow, it is very difficult for a person in need to find out about the programs that might be helpful to them. Social workers from one agency to the next have no idea what other agencies offer, and don't bother to find out. Sometimes they don't even know what's available in their own agency. Example:

I was down at the local community health service standing in line behind a young single mother with a sick baby. She was trying to get her child into a doctor. The woman at the counter told her that there was a mix up on the medicaid paper work and until that was resolved, they would not treat her child. The young mother was in tears. She had ridden the city bus almost an hour to get there, holding her baby who hap a temp of 102 degrees. The worker told her to go to the hospital emergency room which was another 45 minute bus ride away. Actually, that community health center has a walk in critical care unit which was only 5 minutes away and accepts anybody - insurance or not - for only a $5.00 fee. The emergency room visit costs hundreds of dollars which in the case of this young mother and child, the tax payer will foot the bill for.

I told the Mom about the critical care unit around the block and offered to drive her and her child there. She was so greatful, but she never would have known of this service if I hadn't told her.

By the way, in one thread you take me to task for making assumptions, and then you seem to get irritated when I politely ask what people are defining as welfare, so that I can respond appropriately. What's up with that?