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Laws for the Poor

Poverty and unemployment were high. Some states began "Mother's Pensions" to help maintain children in the home when a father had abandoned the family or died. Pensions were also available to the deserving poor who were too old or disabled to work. This was largely due to advocacy from Progressives. Progressives promoted social insurance rather than charity. This became part of the foundation for the New Deal.
             The New Deal was President Roosevelt's response to the Great Depression and with this the federal government took on the role of social welfare. The Social Security Act of 1935 created social insurance and from this unemployment compensation and retirement benefits were also created. Many other aspects such as child welfare, public housing, elderly care and vocational education also was taken on by the federal government. The New Deal was a huge turning point to our current approach to social welfare and many of the original programs remain part of our current social welfare reform. Food stamps, Medicaid and Medicare were created in the 1960s and help feed the poor and provide healthcare for the disabled and elderly .
             As the years passed and generation after generation seemed unable to avoid living on welfare there became opposition to the program. In 1996, President Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Works Opportunity Reconciliation Act which reformed welfare in a huge way. It limited the amount of aid families could receive and implemented strict guidelines to recipients to be looking for work in order to qualify to receive assistance. This has proven to be impossible for some. While this reform was successful in reducing the number of people receiving benefits poverty has increased since it was implemented, particularly within the population of children and the elderly. So needless to say welfare reform did not reduce poverty. The ability to get out of poverty not only rests on the ability of earning wages but also on the support systems that help the families succeed in their efforts.


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