Myths and Facts

1
Myths and Facts

• About Poverty

2
Myth

• Most recipients are chronically
• dependent and trapped on welfare for
• most of their lives.

3
FACT

• Only 15, less than 1 of the U.S.
• population remain continually on
• welfare for more than 10 years, almost
• three-fourths leave within 2 years.

4
Myth

• Recipients develop a culture of
• dependency.

5
FACT

• Most recipients express strong pro-
• work anti-welfare attitudes, many work
• part-time, many are seeking jobs. The
• challenge is to find jobs that pay
• enough to meet even minimal
• expenses.

6
Myth

• Welfare dependency occurs from
• generation to generation.

7
FACT

• Few receive welfare from generation
• to generation, dependency and
• poverty are not the same.

8
Myth

• Adults could bring their families out of
• poverty through their own
• employment if they tried.

9
FACT

• Well-paying, full-time jobs are not
• available to most because of low
• wages, discrimination, insufficient
• education, poor health, transportation,
• child care issues, and lack of
• employment experience.

10
Myth

• AFDC primarily supports African
• American families.

11
FACT

• 39 are white, 37 are African
• American, 18 are Hispanic. The
• percentage of white families has
• increased since 1973, African
• American recipients have decreased.

12
Myth

• Families receiving welfare are large.

13
FACT

• In 1993, the average AFDC family
• consisted of 2.1 children, slightly
• smaller than the average family in the
• general population.

14
Myth

• Most welfare recipients are able-
• bodied adults who do not want to
• work.

15
FACT

• Two-thirds (9.6 million) of AFDC
• recipients are children. 100 of
• adults are caring for children, 83 of
• AFDC mothers report theyd leave
• welfare immediately if they could get a
• minimum wage job plus health and
• child care services.

16
Myth

• Unmarried teens have children to
• obtain or increase their benefits.

17
FACT

• Births to unmarried teens are highest in states
  with the lowest benefits. Rates in the U.S. are
  higher than in other industrialized countries but
  welfare benefits in these countries are
  considerably higher than in the U.S. Most
  pregnancies to teenagers are unplanned. Studies
  show that complex factors such as poverty, high
  youth unemployment, race and ethnic
  discrimination, lack of affordable family
  planning services, a sexually permissive culture,
  and dysfuncional families of origin are generally
  responsible for teenage unmarried childbearing in
  this country.

18
Myth

• AFDC benefits allow people to live
• with ease.

19
FACT

• In no state do AFDC benefits bring a
• family above the poverty line. Only 13
• states have benefits above 50 of the
• poverty threshold.

20
Myth

• Welfare benefits are rising.

21
FACT

• Levels have declined in real dollar
• value by 47 since 1970. AFDC and
• food stamps for a mother and two
• children with no earnings decreased
• 26 over the last 20 years.

22
Myth

• In-kind benefits fill the gaps left by
• inadequate and declining AFDC
• benefits.

23
FACT

• In only 14 states are combined AFDC
• and food stamps above 75 of the
• poverty threshold. Only about 22 of
• all AFDC families receive any type of
• federal housing subsidy, and those
• recipients pay 30 of their monthly
• benefits for rent.

24
Myth

• Welfare recipients are the only people
• who get free government aid.

25
FACT

• 52 of the families in the U.S. receive some
• kind of government transfer payment such
• as Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare,
• unemployment benefits, price supports, or
• subsidized school lunches. In contrast,
• only about 5 receive AFDC. The total
• AFDC expenses for one year were only one-
• sixth of the amount spent by the federal
• government savings and loan buy-out.

26
Myth

• Welfare costs have exploded.

27
FACT

• Federal spending on AFDC has
• declined from 1.5 of the total budget
• in 1975 to 1.1 in 1992, with about 2
• of the average state budget allocated
• to AFDC.

28
Myth

• Most welfare recipients are young,
• unwed teenage mothers living
• independently.

29
FACT

• Only 11 are teenage mothers, most
• 18 or 19, with 91 living with their
• parents or other adults.

30
Myth

• Parents and guardians will provide a
• safe, supportive, and nurturing home
• for a parenting teen and her child.

31
FACT

• A survey of young mothers in
• programs for pregnant and parenting
• girls found 62 were estimated to be
• abused or neglected by a caregiver, 64
• had at least one unwanted sexual
• experience, and 50 of these young women
• would be at physical or sexual abuse risk if
• they returned to their families.

32
Information Provided By

• Child Welfare League of America, Inc.