Later during the Depression, welfare programs were designed to prevent extreme poverty and to get men back to work. Welfare has also been used to force a certain lifestyle on individuals. We are now learning quite a bit about the living standards of families who leave welfare. Many of them are better off than they would have been had they stayed on welfare. However, many are not.
Some mothers earn as much on welfare as at work, so there is no incentive to leave welfare.
Lack of child care and transportation are just a two examples of reasons many mothers remain on welfare instead of working. While the federal legislation establishes a variety of minimum requirements in some areas, there is considerable flexibility for states to exceed these minimum requirements and a number of areas are open to state discretion. Welfare should be a short-term, transitional experience, not a way of life. Parents should receive the childcare and the health care they need to protect their children as they move from welfare to work. Child support programs should become tougher and more effective in securing support from absent parents.