What to know about Welfare
Welfare is designed by the government to protect and advance the lifestyle of families in the United States. Social welfare set up two categories, one that benefits low-income citizens and the other policies that help the general populations. The liberal and conservatives have different views about poverty. Each president in the past has a different mindset about welfare. An analysis of alternatives to welfare reticulate shows that is a good option to ask for assistant instead of suffering.
Public policy has three parts: explanation of important interests and conditions, history of any action or inaction that occurred and persuasive argument. In order to get these parts, you need experience to observe, for example “The nation’s poorest kids primarily live in households headed by a single female (pdf). Nearly half of all children with a single mother — 47.6 percent — live in poverty. Indeed, the children of single mothers experience poverty at a rate that is more than four times higher than kids in married-couple families.” Breslow, J. M. (2012, November 20). This information is put together and analyze. You need to do research to show logic and reasoning. The welfare problem came to be the public and politics awareness because it impacts people tremendously. People can see homeless people in the streets. Some people with money issues can have tendency to steal and commit other crimes because of their situations. The federal poverty guideline for a family of four is $23,050 and more than 16 million children lived in poverty in 2011. The USA is a develop country and it does not make sense to have people in poverty, although Mexico, Chile and Turkey have high child poverty. “Only three other countries in the developed world have a higher child poverty rate (pdf) than the U.S., according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Mexico leads all nations with a rate of 25.79, followed by Chile (23.95), Turkey (23.46), and the U.S. (21.63).” Breslow, J. M. (2012, November 20).
Policy deal with public interest, politics, power, public & private organization, needs & rights, human nature, equality & justice and representation. Interest group and lobbyists who have great resources available to them present the welfare problem to the agenda. They have fund raising and other setting to raise funds to support their causes.
They are four models related to public policy and they are The Kingdon’s multiple, Stream model, the Cobb & Elder’s model (1971,1983), the Baumgartner & Jones Model and the Downs’s issue- Attention Model. (1972).
Congress looked at agendas to see if they are big issues to be consider as policy. “Child poverty has reached record levels with over 16 million children affected. One in 13 Americans are jobless, and many children are growing up with little hope for their future.”St. Louis, S. (2012, November 13). The debate in committees and subcommittees and interest groups can lobby to welfare program on the top of the list. Elected officials have the power to create, enact and change public policy. The legislative branch makes laws, the executive branch has the power to enforce the laws and judicial branch have the power to interpret laws.
Agenda is the first step to policy concerning welfare which is how can the government help the less fortunate to get a better living. “The federal poverty guideline for a family of four is $23,050, up from $20,650 before the start of the recession. Today’s poverty guidelines compare with a median household income in the U.S. of $50,054.”Breslow, J. M. (2012, November 20).
The next step is policy formulation which involve food stamps, low income homes, Medicaid and so on. Policy adaption and legitimization is the step where councilmen are involved. Policy implementation and policy assessment and evaluation which in this step the government survey people in the United stated. The welfare policy became a bill which will eventually become law where the Majority party, the senate and the house and at last the President will pass or veto the welfare bill.
The family had to deal with financial stress due sometimes to no fault of their own; it could result from a bad divorce or illness. The government had to step in to help these families via welfare policy. The policy implements three dimensions, which are policy design, administrative commitment, and administrative actions. Some people do not agree with the policy, and it could be because they do not understand. In 2007 the federal government spent over $33 billion on Food stamps and almost twice the amount spent on TANF.
References:
Breslow, J. M. (2012, November 20). By the numbers: Childhood poverty in the U.S. (Links to an external site.) Frontline. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/social-issues/poor-kids/by-the-numbers-childhood-poverty-in-the-u-s/
Ewalt, J. G., & Jennings, E. T. (2004). Administration, governance, and policy tools in welfare policy. Public Administration Review, 64(4), 449–462. Retrieved from the ProQuest Central database.
Gilbert, N. (2009). US welfare reform: Rewriting the social contract. Journal of Social Policy, 38, 383–399. Retrieved from the ProQuest Central database. (This article chronicles U.S. welfare policy from 1996 Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and “right” to benefits to “right to work” philosophy.)
Shaw, G. M. (2009). Changes in public opinion and the American welfare state. Political Science Quarterly, 124(4), 627–653. Retrieved from the ProQuest Central database.
Sribnick, E. G. (2011). The origins of modern child welfare: Liberalism, interest groups, and the transformation of public policy in the 1970s. Journal of Public Policy: JPH, 23(2), 150–176. Retrieved from the ProQuest Central database.
Taylor, D. (2011). Wellbeing and welfare: A psychological analysis of being well and doing well. Journal of Social Policy, 40, 777–794. Retrieved from the ProQuest Central database.
Theodoulou, S. Z., & Kofinis, C. (2012). The policy game: Understanding U.S. public policy making [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu
