Free Ride in Life

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Submitted By: Eric Hammond

Submitted For: Mr. Henderson
Date: Feb 9^th, 2004
Course: ENG4U

 

 

            In today’s society, many people are abusing programs that have been established  to help members “get back on their feet”. In the article, “Don’t have children you can’t afford to support”; Barbara Wamboldt addresses the problem of child poverty in today’s society. Mrs. Wamboldt expressed that many young women are having “illegitimate” children in order to establish a free, sole source of income for the province’s welfare program, which is funded by numerous members of the working community, as well as single women trying to support their own children. The government should address this problem by implementing methods that would cease the maltreatment of the welfare program and be beneficial to members attaining aid from the program.

 

Mrs. Wamboldt writes “To an immature teen, having a child is sometimes seen as an opportunity to secure a government-subsidized party with monetary support.” Women see that by having a child they are able to receive $1,300 per month from the government. Whereas a responsible woman working a full time earning the province’s minimum wage earns approximately $1,250, these women work to support their children but are also having taxes taken out of their salary to go towards the province’s welfare program which supports the numerous women collecting social assistance. An addition to this problem is that many provincial social assistance programs are setup to provide additional funds, for additional children.

 

“And why is the government supporting children with phantom fathers?” writes Mrs. Wamboldt. In order to conceive a child, it requires that both a male and female provide reproductive cells. Fathers must be made to support the children in which they help conceive, they are abusing the governments social assistance program, by having irresponsible sex, and leaving the “check” to the government; and with many contraceptives being readily available, at such locations as community health centers, pregnancy is avoidable. 

 In the article “Ontario cracks down on deadbeat parents”, Rita Trichur reports that “The total amounted owed – mostly to single mothers – is $1.32 billion”. The Ontario government has now recognized that a problem exists with parents paying their child support, and is now taking measures to enforce the payment of child support, and provide children with the support they need. The article which also labels non-paying parents as “deadbeats”, states that there is approximately 184,000 “deadbeat” parents in which they are now aimed at cracking down.

 

In Barbara Wamboldt’s article she set forth many methods in which ones provincial government can end the use of the social assistance program as a sole source of income. “Welfare should assist people in the short term….not be regarded as a permanent thing.” exclaims Mrs. Wamboldt. Governments should modify their programs as to allow members of society a certain amount of time to establish themselves, enabling them to find steady employment, or go back to school, to improve their education. Mrs. Wamboldt also suggested supervised housing “…communal living for mom and child…”, she explained that mothers would have access to free daycare, as well as classes. This living arrangement would allow mothers to obtain a job, and provide access to valuable life improving classes.

 

Many will share the same view as Barbara Wamboldt, feeling that people exploiting the services available to them are getting a “free ride” in life, while others working, are paying for their “free ride”; But the governments lack of control on these services can be observed as the problem, and now must take initiative and begin to regulate these services properly.