Special Report

This special report, compiled by Staff Writer Laura Tutor, features some of these voices on welfare reform.

‘Lord, I wish I had that diploma’

I’ve heard about plans they had for cuttin’ off welfare and cuttin’ back before. Not too much changes. I don’t know if it’ll happen this time or not. You never know. The way I put it, if they cut it off, we’ll just have to get out there and work.

I’ve had jobs, but some people at them had a bad attitude. I quit. I can’t do that any more. I know how to work. I’ve got to get a job. I know that.

It’s gonna be a big change, gettin’ a job. I tried to get (a GED) once, but didn’t get it. I’m tryin’ again. I don’t know what kind of job I’ll get. I’d like to maybe be a baby-sitter or something in cosmetology.

I hadn’t thought about (getting a GED) too much before. But when you think back, you think, ‘Lord, I wish I had that diploma.’

That would be a big adjustment — if I get a job. Sometimes now I don’t do nothing. Sometimes I just sit at home. Sometimes I’ll listen to my gospel tapes.

Lots of times I’ll come up here (two buildings away) and see my mother. I’ll go to the mall with friends if we’ve got some extra money. That’s about it. We don’t do too much. I need to set my goal and get out and work for my children and myself.

A time limit? I guess there should be one. If they stop people’s checks, I guess they’ll have to get a job or something.

I might have been off by now, maybe. I didn’t really think I’d be on it this long. My sister was the first one to go on it. It just happened, you know? That’s how it works.

I need to set my goal and stick to it. I need to get my GED and get everything straightened out.

I talk to my kids about it. My son, he’s old enough to get out and get a job and make something of himself. I want that. I tell him that. I’ll get off public assistance, but with the Lord’s will. If He makes it so I get a job, I’m gonna keep it.”

She had her first baby when she was 19. Not long after, she applied for welfare and hasn’t been off it since. With talk of welfare reform swirling about, Elaine Ingram thinks it may finally be time for her to get a job and support herself.

‘I don’t want to be on welfare the rest of my life’

Really, I don’t want to be on welfare the rest of my life. I’ve been on it long enough — 11 years. I have a sister on public assistance. I know how it is.

I wasn’t going to be on this long. I didn’t want to be on it at all, but I didn’t have any help.

My kids are glad I’m (getting a GED). They want to see me work. I don’t know what kind of job I’ll get, but I’ve got to find something. I haven’t done a lot, so I don’t know what I can do. I guess I could have done more.

That’s what I tell my oldest one all the time. Do something. I don’t want him to have to go through what I went through — raising them off public assistance.

Something needs to be done about (the welfare system), but I don’t know what.

Just sitting at home, getting public assistance — it’s making the nation bad. Look at me. I’ve been on it 11 years. And these little girls out here having babies and babies. That’s got to stop or it’ll get worse.

‘Where’s the responsibility?’

Can you imagine what your sense of value would be if you grew up in a household where for the first 15 or 16 years of your life you never see an adult go to work a single day?

Some people don’t have that example of a work ethic. We need to put more emphasis on individual responsibility.

As a Christian and a citizen, we have an obligation – morally – to help. At the same time, it irritates me to see able-bodied people who can work not getting a job. It may not be the job they want, but it’s a job that will let you raise your children.

And what about the fathers? Where’s their responsibility? I’d like to see us go after these guys. When that girl goes down to apply, we don’t give her one red cent till she identifies him.

Maybe we need to get out and enforce what we already have. (Social workers) need to get out from behind their desks and get out there in the trenches and see what’s happening. They need to check on these people and see how they’re spending their money and be able to go to their house any time.

I know some people say you can’t do that — it’s wrong. But it’s my money. I have a right to know how it’s being spent. I think what it’s going to take is guys like me going into the ghettos and volunteering our time. All of us as adults have responsibilities to be role models to young people. It’s not about money. It’s about time.

We don’t need to take a knee-jerk reaction to (welfare reform). We really need to think about it.