I'm po'd. Totally. Especially with our welfare system in place now. My daughter who is a single mother with 2 children and works exceptionally hard and tries not rely on anyone for anything was denied help with daycare expenses today because she made too much money the last six weeks. She has to work overtime to pay her rent, car payment, food, doctors bills (because she can't get help for that either) and utilities.
They told her to come back when she wasn't working overtime and they could help her. She explained that if they would help her she wouldn't have to work overtime. So what we have here is a catch 22. She's damned if she does, she's damned if she doesn't. And all they used was six weeks of pay stubs. No expenses. How can you figure out if help is needed if you don't know what they are having to put in expenses. AND she is in the food business. The amount you make is not only determined by how good you are, but the season and a multitude of other factors. It should be based on an actual annual income, not six weeks added together then averaged as a weekly basis. Thing is if it was just a matter of six weeks we could help out during that time, but it isn't. It took her four months to get this appointment. Four months would be stretching even us since we just had to replace nearly all our appliances.
I'm just so frustrated and would like someone to explain to me why a young woman, who is doing her best to be contributing member of society should be ostracized; while there are people out there sitting on their hind ends just taking my tax money. I want my tax dollars to help those who are willing to help themselves. So if you know the answer; please, please, please explain it to me. If you don't, please take a moment to write your congressmen and senators and ask them why.
And don't comment it that it is the Democrats or Republicans causing the problems, we all know full well that this transcends parties and has been a problem for both.
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9 comments:
Oh this made me angry too! It amazes me how ridiculous the "system" is. Hope she's able to make it through, wish there were more we all could do.
Something similar happened to me when I was freshly divorced and had two preschool children and no child support yet, and there were no teaching jobs available. I worked subbing and part-time at a fabric store. I had to return a $300 check (yeah, like that would pay childcare, rent, food, insurance etc.) You see, I was had a minivan that I was still paying on, but it was considered an 'asset' and I had to either get rid of my van OR keep the check. Yeah, give up my transportation and then see how I could keep a job. I wound up having to move in with my mother for a year before I got a full-time teaching job.
The system sucks...it's not really helping people move who really want to.
Same "Catch 22" happened to me, too. Welcome to America, eh? *sigh*
p.s. I finally did my blogmeme;)
It's a shame when people who are trying to work and get ahead are the ones who are beaten down. Yet the ones who make no effort to work and have a gazillion children just continue to milk the system. Something is wrong with this!
Thank you all for your support. I too went through the same thing and was told to quit work and stay at home. It just burns me. I did write my senators and congressmen asking why. Let's see if we get a response. But I'm not holding my breath.
Oh, reading this post made my heart sink. I'm not from the US and I had no idea. I feel so bad for your daugther! Our govt recently implemented a low wage worker's assistance, to encourage work, while there is relatively low assistance for the jobless.. except assistance to find work...well, a lot of people fall through the cracks too. Sincerely hope that she will get the help she needs and her situation will get really better soon!
I can totally empathize with your daughters situation. I had to decrease my work hours and end up bringing home less money just to qualify for child care assistance. With two small kids it is over $1000 a month for full time daycare where I live. Over half my income!! How does the state think that I can afford that If I gross over $2786? I've finally made it work but I can never get ahead financially it seems...if I get a raise it means I will start to have to pay out of pocket for daycare. I hate the system. I am trying to raise my kids, be a responsible tax paying contributing American and I feel penalized for it. And I have seen my fair share of women who completely use the system (working in OB especially)... and are total losers in my book, but the state pays for everything! Argh! Ok, rant over.
Hmmm....I'll e-mail you with a forward I got. Too much to post here, but yeah I'm sorry for your daughter....It stinks.
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