wfn.org | MCC U.S. Commentary The children didn't ask to be here

[Mennonite Central Committee Communications]

TOPIC:  MCC U.S. Commentary: The children didn't ask to be here
DATE:   September 13, 1996
CONTACT:  Emily Will
V: 717/859-1151 F: 717/859-2171
E-MAIL ADDRESS:  mailbox@mcc.org

MCC U.S. COMMENTARY: THE CHILDREN DIDN'T ASK TO BE
HERE

Note to editors:  Although welfare reform legislation has been passed
and signed into law, Washington Office staff report a fair amount of
discontent among social services officials and children's advocates, as
well as unsettledness in the states over implementation.  This climate
means the issue will most likely be re-opened after elections.

WASHINGTON -- It was half-way down my job duties list:  "Prepare
a Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) news service article linking
food and hunger with a human face."   I always managed to find other
things to do. Then the Mennonite church I attend was scheduled to
prepare and serve a meal to hungry people, and my summer position
was drawing to a close. I had no reason not to do the article. With fear
and trepidation, I prepared some questions.

Dan's story: looking for work

The room was full of men, women and some children. I saw a young
man, dressed in a pressed white shirt, nice slacks and a tie. He was
accompanied by two quiet, well-behaved children.  I learned he had
custody of his two children. His beautiful, dark-eyed, timid little girl
was 6, and her hungry, shy, curly-haired brother was 3. 

"Dan," 28, nice-looking, clean cut and with a high school education,
spent his days job-seeking. But his No. 1 priority was to make sure his
children were   fed -- three times a day. He felt fortunate his children
had grandmothers on both sides and neighbors who helped out while
he searched for employment. 

Dan was reluctant to talk to me. Finally he said OK, provided I did
not use his real name or his children's names.  At first, his request
seemed unusual, but I came to realize public assistance is not
something recipients are proud of or happy about.

Dan's experience was in warehouse work, cooking, cashiering and
paper delivery.  He also had taken some adult education courses in
computers.

His most recent work had been a completed contract job.  Dan lived in
a shelter for a while, and his children lived with their mother.  When
she could no longer take care of them, Dan says a friend "helped me
out ... gave me a place to live, washed my clothes so I could look for
work without looking bad." 

He took over his children's care, got on public assistance and found an
apartment. Now, he looks for work, pays his rent and occasionally has
to go to soup kitchens to feed his kids. The limited funds quickly
diminish after paying the rent. 

Dan had been on public assistance for about a month.  I asked Dan
how he feels about some politicians who say people on welfare need
more motivation to get jobs, and welfare has been too generous,
making people lazy.  He said, "That's not true. Have they been where
we've been?  How would they feel if the tables were turned? I feel
those politicians should come here and talk to people, really talk to
them."  I knew he meant without entourages or cameras. 

Congress has passed legislation called Welfare Reform, and President
Clinton has signed it. It makes major changes and cuts to a welfare
system that has been around for six decades. The system has needed
change for a long while.  Yet many feel this bill will plunge many,
mostly children, into poverty and hunger. One provision limits able-
bodied food stamp recipients between the ages of 18 and 50 to three
months of food stamps in any 36-month period.

Dan and many like him have been looking for jobs, fruitlessly, before
this bill took effect. One of the bigger problems with this legislation is
not forcing people to work by taking away their food, but finding
work for them. The legislation does not address how welfare recipients
will find jobs and does nothing to educate or train them.  I recently
heard on the news of 14 qualified applicants lining up for a $4.25/hour
job at a fast-food restaurant in Harlem, N.Y.  Work is not readily
available. And with downsizing, many more will go from middle
income to where Dan and his family are today.

When I asked Dan how the `work-or-else' legislation makes him feel,
he said, "It hits me hard, but I can take it. Because a man should do
better and a man has to work hard. But the children didn't ask to be
here; why make them suffer?"

Statistics show that of the 14.1 million people on public assistance, 8.8
million (62 percent) are children 12 and under. About 80 percent of
the 8.8 million are 6 or younger.

Nancy's story: Rice and ketchup meals 

I also spoke with a blonde woman in her 30s, named Nancy, who has
three children, ages 5, 3 and 2.  She was extremely busy making sure
her children were fed. She complained that because she receives
assistance, the federal government gets her ex-husband's child support
payments.

She has thought of getting off welfare, using the child support to pay
rent and food. The problem is that she will lose health benefits for her
children. She wondered how anyone could leave welfare.  She had a
job babysitting, making $50 a week.  When the welfare worker found
out about it, she cut Nancy's benefits by that amount. How can people
become independent enough to leave a system that perpetuates
dependence?

I asked Nancy whether she ever runs out of food or money.  What
does she do then? How does she make ends meet?  She answered
matter of factly: "I get low on food toward the end of the month and
have to make it stretch. I don't eat; I just feed my children. Many
times I feed them rice and ketchup because that's all we have left."

Children: The real issue

The real issue is children. Maybe we feel it's wrong for teens to have
children?  Or for poor people to have many children?  Maybe we
believe people on welfare should work, picking themselves up by the
bootstraps? But should children go hungry in a nation of plenty and
overconsumption? Should another 1.1 million children be thrust into
poverty and hunger due to legislation passed because some have a beef
with their parents?

Let's not forget to look at the real issue here -- the children. Some 5.5
million U.S. children suffer hunger, and 6 million additional are at risk
of hunger. That's 11.5 million children.

I have taken this issue to heart, maybe because I work on it everyday. 
At times I wish I didn't know the truth.  Maybe then I wouldn't see
the storm clouds gathering over the poor left without a place to find
shelter.

By the way, I also asked Dan where he found joy in his life.  He
answered, "Just being here. I wake up every morning and thank God
I'm alive.  And my children bring joy to my life."
                       -30-
Mitra K. Battan, MCC Washington Office

Mitra Battan is from Portland, Ore., and is currently a member of
Hyattsville (Md.) Mennonite Church.

esw13september1996