To all my sisters on welfare*

20 thoughts on To all my sisters on welfare*

1. On the twelfth day of welfare
   the system gave to me…
   No child care service
   A notice of decision
   Ten angry talk shows
   “Motivation” meetings
   Phony Baloney job search
   Maximus and Workfare
   One termination
   No ben-e-fits
   A five hour wait
   No call back
   No food stamps and
   A worker that never did work

   I found the last part and thought I’d add it.

2. Thanks prairielily. That’s what I get for trying to bake and blog at the same time.

3. Hey, no problem. For some reason, it was hidden in the middle, a couple of songs down.

   I’m really enjoying your posts. 🙂

4. Best present ever! Except for the DS, though. hehehe.

5. My sister, a social worker who is working on benefits right now because the system is totally underfunded, is not a “worker who never works”–she and her mostly female colleagues often work UNPAID OVERTIME to get your benefits to you as quickly as they can. They make under $27,000 to work well over 50 hours per week and to deal with red tape and “welfare reform” of the Clinton’s/Republican Majority of the 90’s which hasn’t helped anyone. My sister’s office is supposed to have at least 12 workers on staff and for a time they had FOUR. There was a hiring freeze under a Republican Governor and thus FOUR WOMEN had to do the job of TWELVE. So, fuck you and your song about “workers who never work”–these women are working damn hard and they are committed to making sure that your children have a warm place to sleep and food to eat. So stop placing blame on the social workers–if you even remotely had an idea of how hard they work and how many rules and regulations they have to balance in order to serve their clients honorably you could never have posted that incredibly rude and hateful song. I believe in benefit programs and especially in making sure that no one goes hungry or unsheltered in this county. Your aggression and frustration is understandable because the system is set-up to be aggravating and taxing–which is why so many who could benefit from these programs don’t and why often “con” artists do effectively work the system to make multiple claims (for example of fraud) in multiple states–they learn the rules and learn how to most effectively manipulate the workers and their supervisors. But your aggression is mis-directed. You repeat “a worker who never did work” twelve times–that is the statement compounded and
   reiterated , yet it does exactly what the conservative governments of the past thirty years have wanted to achieve most–blame social workers, teachers, and civil servants and ignore the policy makers who create the dysfunction. So, fuck you, I reiterate and learn who your real enemies are–because they aren’t the workers.

6. thealogian – ever actually stand in your sister’s line? or one of her co-workers’?

   if not, how would you know, really? if your sister weren’t your sister, but instead your caseworker – if you were just one file in the gigantic pile on her desk, do you think she’d treat you with kid gloves, or even any basic human dignity, or utter bureaucratic indifference?

   as earnest and sincere as your sister and her colleagues might emerge from their degree programs, I can only imagine how ground-down and demoralized they might feel after a few years of being completely unable to actually help. If I woke up one day and realized that there was NO WAY I could actually do my job effectively, I might turn into a Worker Who Never Did Work my own self.

   I can see why you’d take up for your sister. that’s what sisters are for. that’s groovy.

   But Kactus makes good points, and aiming “fuck you”s in her direction doesn’t even come close to solving the “Welfare Problem” as it exists.

7. thealogian–I’m happy that your sister is one of the workers who actually works. But let me tell you, that song was written by women on welfare with years of experience of trying to get their workers to work–and running up against the brick wall of bureaucracy every time.

   It never fails whenever I talk about welfare caseworkers in a critical way a caseworker (or in your case, a caseworker’s relative) shows up to tell me I’m being a big meanie to all the well-meaning, hardworking caseworkers out there.

   Well yeah, I’m sure they’re out there. But they few and far between. Welfare caseworkers are the FRONT LINES in denying families their benefits. They are the FRONT LINE in sanctioning families so that they get nothing–no money, no food stamps, nothing. They are the FRONT LINE in denying and lying to families in poverty.

   And I’m happy for your sister who is one of the good ones. Hell, I’m happy for the social worker I have right now who is actually hands-on and helpful. But for every helpful caseworker I’ve ever had, there have been dozens more who are truly ground down by their jobs, resentful and hateful toward their clients, and useless. And when they get to that point it’s time for them to take a step back, re-evaluate what they are doing with their lives, and either get help or get out.

   And you can hurl “fuck yous” at me all you want. I’m not the one who wrote that song, but I can heartily second everything that it says.

8. To vere this into a more productive place:
   Kactus, in your time as a welfare rights activist have you heard of or experienced any successful attempts to organize caseworkers and welfare recipients to work together? or have you experienced any unsuccessful attempts and could you share some insight as to why they failed?
   I’ve heard that in the 1970s there was some positive work done in getting caseworkers and recipients together but a lot of that was helped by policies that encouraged welfar recipipients to get college educations and become social workers. Those programs don’t exist anymore.

   It’s something I’ve been thinking of alot lately, as a woman who works in the non-profit world. The social service and non-profit fields are so heavily female and the people who have to deal with social services and non-profits are also majority female, that it seems like creating real solidarity between social workers and their clients could do some amazing things.

9. What about the moms who never did work? It seems you’ve missed the point of welfare reform: to keep people from ever obtaining “years of experience” with welfare. No one deserves other people’s money, and just about everyone in this country has a sob story they could share full of extenuating circumstances that validate their inability to care for themselves and their children. Fortunately for these people we live in a society that obligates people to share. The problem is that everyone thinks they are the only ones who deserve some help, and they think they are entitled to getting it as quickly as possible at the expense of everyone else. You think the government should just give people money without checking you are who you say you are? The workers who sit for 50 to 60 hours a week at a computer making sure you have food to eat and clothes to wear while you sit at home watching Oprah should always don a smile?

   You’re right…they are the front line people; people who are literally taking money out of their checks and handing it to you. Your caseworker is being taxed to pay for the social security check your child receives, the housing development in which you live, and the food stamps you just bitched about. So how about you coming in with a smile next time, and make your caseworker’s day. Tell them thank you, and I guarantee you will be the only one that day- maybe that week- to say it.

   No one can pull themselves up by their bootstraps, but welfare’s purpose is to give you a leg to stand on, not to serve as sole provider for your family.

10. What about the moms who never did work?

    Well that depends on if you consider motherwork actual work, and not just “sitting around watching Oprah.”

    It seems you’ve missed the point of welfare reform: to keep people from ever obtaining “years of experience” with welfare.

    Ahem, sorry to burst your bubble but the purpose of welfare reform has been to ensure a steady supply of low-wage workers who will take any job, anywhere, at any wage, because they have to.

    The workers who sit for 50 to 60 hours a week at a computer making sure you have food to eat and clothes to wear while you sit at home watching Oprah should always don a smile?

    Listen, she could wear a fucking mask for all I care, as long as she doesn’t lose my paperwork and call it my fault, make me sit on a plastic chair in a waiting room for 8 hours and still never call me, and treat me with a minimum of respect. Just like a human being.

    Her taxes go towards social services just like everybody else’s taxes do. Including moms on welfare, who tend to get on it when they need it and off it when they don’t. That’s always been the pattern.

    I find it interesting that people are so outraged at the song’s lines about welfare workers. There has been none of the outrage at the other bullshit families in moms have to go through. Why no abusive letters about full family sanctions? Why no anger about privatized welfare? Why the focus on the workers?

    Is somebody feeling a teensy bit defensive?

    I’ve had to delete several comments that claimed to speak for welfare caseworkers. Every one of the complained about the clients–you could hear the contempt for anybody who needs welfare just dripping like venom through their words. that contempt is obvious to those of us who have spent hours sitting in those plastic chairs waiting for the benefits we deserve. It’s pretty easy to tell when people hate us.

11. You’re right…they are the front line people; people who are literally taking money out of their checks and handing it to you. Your caseworker is being taxed to pay for the social security check your child receives, the housing development in which you live, and the food stamps you just bitched about. So how about you coming in with a smile next time, and make your caseworker’s day. Tell them thank you, and I guarantee you will be the only one that day- maybe that week- to say it.

    Taxes are not charity. They are money that a nation spends on itself–in this case, to make poverty less damaging to its children and their parents. Kactus has the right to complain when she and her family are treated with disrespect or callousness that isn’t simple fatigue–if nothing else, it’s not good for this social safety net we’re all paying for.

    If you’re really motivated by a desire to keep things running smoothly, why devote so much energy to attacking a woman for perfectly reasonable frustration? You could be volunteering, and then you could get all huffy when people don’t show you the proper gratitude!

12. Kactus, in your time as a welfare rights activist have you heard of or experienced any successful attempts to organize caseworkers and welfare recipients to work together? or have you experienced any unsuccessful attempts and could you share some insight as to why they failed?

    I was thinking the same thing. (I’m sure my Google-fu would be helpful here, but I’m at work and about to have to go. Do forgive me for the lapse in research… I hope I don’t say anything too stupid as a result.)

    It seems like… if not a ‘natural’ alliance (too many structural and historical factors actively pitting the groups against one another for that to be the case), then a logical one. Decent conditions for caseworkers (reasonable caseloads, reasonable hours, acessible resources, better training, competitive salaries etc.) would pretty directly translate into better service for those assigned to them. Better service, of course, would help speed people through what they need to get done, which makes it easier to get one’s life (back) together (after all, a pre-scheduled appointment that happens when it’s supposed to happen is manageable with a job; “sit in a chair for eight hours and hope to get called” isn’t), which would probably significantly reduce burnout (you’re being productive! you’ve got what youneed to do your job! people are getting helped because of you!).. and back and forth and so-on.

13. Oh, but then piny that would require that families who need assistance learn how to crawl and kiss miss. caseworker’s feet.

    The caseworkers are the front line and they get the brunt of the anger. Ok, I get that. I also know that caseworkers are just as abused by the system as the mamas and children are. Except, well, they do have benefits and a paycheck, and the power to snatch away an entire family’s benefits and paycheck. But still, it’s a hard, thankless job. I get that.

    Doesn’t mean I’m going to come down less hard on the caseworkers who shoulda retired or moved on or got some sensitivity training years ago. They are the ones who make the lives of families in poverty HELL because A. They hate their clients. B. They resent their clients. C. They hate their jobs. D. They hate their jobs because of the clients who expect them to do their jobs. And don’t forget E. They are JEALOUS of the clients. Caseworkers think clients have a cushy life that involves lying about the house watching Oprah all day. Put it all together and you get a very toxic system. Why it doesn’t erupt into violence more often is something some sociologist will have to look into. God knows all the ingredients are there.

14. Magniloquence, and the person who originally asked that question–I honestly don’t know. It seems like it would be a sort of a solution–really, clients and caseworkers are forced to work hand-in-hand, and if that work could go more smoothly there would be less resentment and things might work better.

    I tend to believe that the powers that be–and with welfare reform the powers are usually faceless corporations and enormous non-profits like YWCA and Goodwill–depend upon keeping that suspicion going between caseworkers and clents.

    I have had caseworkers who admitted they were doing something extraordinary for me, and begged me not to tell anybody. They could lose their jobs, otherwise.

15. I tend to believe that the powers that be–and with welfare reform the powers are usually faceless corporations and enormous non-profits like YWCA and Goodwill–depend upon keeping that suspicion going between caseworkers and clents.

    Yeah, I think that’s probably the case. Both because it works better if all the participants are against each other (you can say you’re providing more units of service if you overwork your caseworkers and underserve your clients; you get to look good as a corporation while saving money, and nobody can do much about it), and because those narratives of value are easily internalized.

    I also think, along those lines, that it’s built into the system. In a lot of treatment contexts, it’s built into the way services are provided that the client is by definition untrustworthy, shiftless, stupid, and so on (after all, why else would they be needing your services?). It’s built in at every level – from the paperwork you have to fill out (if there are plenty of questions about drug use and unsavory behavior, it’s not hard to start associating those things with your clients) to the required house visits (or check-ins, or counseling sessions, or drug tests…) to the way things are funded. (One of our contracts, for instance, now includes requirements for six-month checkups to secure funding (really reimbursement) for a client… in a treatment context where being able to track a client to the end of their allotted time is a rarity, let alone being able to find them after six months. If that’s what you have to do to make sure you get paid, how easy is it to slip into hating ‘those people’ for having unstable lives that make your job difficult?)

16. the reason welfare workers and welfare recipients don’t knife each other is the same reason strippers and stripclub waitresses don’t knife each other. well, not exactly the same, but certainly pretty similar.

    the perverse symbiosis isn’t quite the same, but i trust the parallels reveal themselves.

    when you potentially make less than welfare!chick with all her benefits (which can sometimes be the case), your only comfort is that you have a degree and a job taking care of resource hogs like welfare!chick. you’re the one with dignity, self-respect, integrity, etc, etc, left. you didn’t give it all away for ‘easy money’.

    in some ways it was easier when the MSW work was solely the province of well-off women who didn’t need the token salary. women who do need the salary entering the field, in not being much different at all from the women collecting welfare– it’s just so much worse because they know exactly how close they are to being in that line, too.

17. The workers who sit for 50 to 60 hours a week at a computer making sure you have food to eat and clothes to wear while you sit at home watching Oprah should always don a smile?

    I thought the main job of the worker was to figure out ways to say “no” to getting you food to eat and clothes to wear.

    The system, as I understand it (and I am no expert), is set up to make sure you get the barest minimum of help, which will diminish over time, until you get no help at all. The system is designed to give the least possible amount of help to the fewest possible people for the shortest possible amount of time, so the humiliation and punishment is built right in as a way to discourage people from even asking because the answer is supposed to be “no”.

    I’d hate to have to deal with someone who bounces out of bed bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and eager to spend all day denying people basic human necessities.

18. in some ways it was easier when the MSW work was solely the province of well-off women who didn’t need the token salary. women who do need the salary entering the field, in not being much different at all from the women collecting welfare– it’s just so much worse because they know exactly how close they are to being in that line, too.

    maybe that’s why workers are so disrespectful/mean/contemptuous – maybe they think poverty is contagious, and so they have to put as much distance as they can between themselves and those who need help.

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20. Every one of the complained about the clients–you could hear the contempt for anybody who needs welfare just dripping like venom through their words. that contempt is obvious to those of us who have spent hours sitting in those plastic chairs waiting for the benefits we deserve. It’s pretty easy to tell when people hate us.

    No one hates you. They hate the attitude of entitlement you carry with you to their office.

    When you can raise 8 kids without a job while I work all day to make it possible, I’m not gonna lie, it pisses me off. When I’m putting off having children of my own because I am so concerned with making sure your children are okay, I’m not gonna lie, it pisses me off that you can have such contempt toward me. It pisses me off that you can sit on the internet and post cutesy little songs about how I don’t work, while I am, in fact, seeing more people in one day than I’m supposed to be seeing in a month. Because I do care about your children. I guess that’s the problem. Most of us do this job because they care about your kids, not so much about you.

    Too many of us came from the same damn situations you did to worry about you.

    By the way, I got paged by law enforcement tonight. I just got back from a home where a 10 y/o boy was raping his 5 y/o sister. He was molested when he was 4 and has been through every program imaginable to deal with his behavior, but he doesn’t stop. Maybe I was too busy dealing with them to make sure you brought the correct documents to your appointment. My bad.

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