January 20, 2013
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What about the Children?
I found this post on Facebook this morning and I thought, “Hey, that’s great!” I even clicked the “Like” button. I poured some coffee and sat at the table when a small voice inside my head asked, “But, what about the children?”
I finished my coffee and jumped on my laptop to find out a little more information about this new law. What I thought was such a great piece of legislation turned out to be another ill-thought out bill that when enforced, would make the children of our state, the ultimate losers.
If you take the benefits away, such as food stamps, medical coverage and shelter costs..who will feed these children, treat them when they’re ill or put a roof over their heads? Once again, children will suffer because of their parent’s actions. But, the legislators thought of the solution to that! They will give the benefits to a family member to be distributed to the children. In effect, our state government is putting in a middle man.
Now, this might work, I thought! But, what about children who don’t have family members who can’t or won’t agree to take on this responsibility? What happens when these family members don’t exist? Who takes care of the children? I found no answer in the law for that!
I researched more and found that this bill was being touted as a way to get people who are addicted to drugs the help they need. Wow, that’s great, I thought. But, what kind of help are we talking about? The bill had been in effect only a short time before an injunction questioning the constitutionality of the law could be considered. In the four months the law was being used to test welfare applicants, only 108 out of 4,086 people tested positive. And the majority of these 108 only tested positive for pot..a drug that is now legalized or on the way to being legalized by many states.
So, why are we doing this? Further reading gave me the answer. It was going to save the state a lot of money by not giving benefits to people who tested positive for drugs. Ok, I can see that as a good thing. Then I went back to researching and found some very different results. The new law was costing taxpayers much more than we would ever save by not paying out the benefits to those who tested positive. And, the voice inside my head asked, “How were they going to save those benefits, if they said they would pay them to someone else to support the kids?” Now I’m confused!
I realize that the welfare system is sometimes abused by lazy, selfish people who don’t care to work for a living and would rather work the system to their advantage. But, I consider myself an intelligent person who worries about the effects on our children in this state. If this law prevents even one child from getting fed properly, then I say get rid of it! If one child dies because of lack of medical treatment, I say Stop! And, if one child is left out in the rain or cold in order to save a few bucks, then I say shame on us!
So, before you start jumping up and down and praising this new law…look up the facts. I hope you’ll change your mind. Please, think of the children!
You’ll have to excuse me now. I have to return to Facebook and click on the “Unlike” button.
Comments (51)
“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
When parents commit crimes whether against God, the state, nature, even themselves, their children are going to suffer. The more people that realize this the sooner we will be better off as a peoples.
I do not mean to sound discompassionate, but the sad truth is, we need to care for the children of those who obey the laws of god and man first, before we turn to sacrificing our well being for those who do not.
There is of course no carte blanc solution.
Additionally, the purpose of such legislation should not be to weed out individuals from assistance, but to provide motivation for these parents to get off drugs. The value of this can not be measured in dollars and cents.
Somehow, this post got out there before I completed it. But, you’re comments summed up what I was trying to say. Thank you!@Aloysius_son -
It amazes me how many people don’t check the facts before they jump on one bandwagon or another. My favorite on FB right now is that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (often called Obamacare) will require us all to have an RFID chip implanted by March 23, 2013. rofl The things people will believe. I guess P.T. Barnum was right when he said, “There’s a sucker born every minute”. Of course he may not of said this at all. The authorship isn’t clear.
Thank you for this post and you said it all when you said, “but what about the children.”
The children suffer in this world and while the govt. tries to reach an agreement on the debt ceiling and ship more money off to which ever country has the most oil, our own children, here in the usa, starve, are tortured, sold for sex for their parents drugs, run to the streets because it is safer there than home, and the list goes on.
It is time to take care of our children and families. Families are living in shelters and in cars, not due to drugs but due to loss of jobs and no money and they can not get any financial aid to help them.
@C_L_O_G - Are you saying that you haven’t had you chip implanted yet? Hmmm. You had better get it done soon. You heard what they are going to do to you if you don’t, right?
Thank you for doing research on this one. I think a lot of people on Facebook like and share these political statements without any idea what the truth is behind it. Certainly not a breeding ground for education or knowledge!
One of the dangers of the internet is believing everything on it is true. People need to do some searching for facts before jumping on the bandwagon. Thanks for the Rec!@C_L_O_G -
I agree! Thanks for the Rec!@Grannys_Place -
@Aloysius_son - No, I haven’t heard. What will they do if I don’t get it implanted.
Sad but true. @leaflesstree -
@C_L_O_G - To those people I want to say, “I’ve got a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn…it’s going cheap!”
@C_L_O_G - I heard that they are going to send you to a detention center and then off to an undisclosed location, where our alien overlords will use you for secret medical experiments to test out biomechanic implanting and gene splicing.
Don’t get the implants and you will find out for yourself!
… @C_L_O_G - And when they are through with you they will eat you, alive! They say that the aliens like the taste of our fear and suffering as we struggle against death…
There is a bit of a misconseption that those on welfare are all drug addicts. Though I am sure some are there are steps in place, in some but not all states, that would make those that are the true hard core addicts not be on welfare for long.
I wonder if they had done a study to find out the % of those on welfare to be drug addicts would have been $ better spent. We all know what happens when we assume things with out really doing some research.
Good post.
Kentucky actually overturned it due to public outrage. That, and they were requiring people to pay for the drug tests themselves. If we don’t have money to buy food with, how the hell are we supposed to shell out $40 for a drug test that’ll likely come out negative? The law only lasted two weeks. Most counties, including mine, hadn’t even implemented it yet before it’d been overturned. I think we all breathed a collective sigh of relief when we realized we didn’t have to choose between a pointless drug test or something more important, like gas in our cars so we could go to work or clothes for our kids.
What I would’ve liked to have seen, instead of benefits being stripped from those who failed their drug test, was to see those people actually get help for their addictions. A community therapy center, if you will. But that will never happen. It’s easier to toss people by the wayside like garbage than to treat them as actual people.
I hate it when people try to legislate morality.
Oh no……
@Aloysius_son -
Thanks and thanks for the Rec. I agree…true drug addicts are unlikely to apply for benefits! Too much paperwork to complete while you’re high or searching for your next fix. Our politicians spent our tax dollars on something most of us had the common sense to figure out on our own! Thanks for the Rec!@buddy71 -
I agree with you 100%. I also read that part of the legislation that required the applicants to pay for the test. They said that if they tested negative, the cost would come out of the first benefit check. Now, if someone Was doing drugs, would they be likely to shell out $40.00 when they know the test will show positive for drugs? Even druggies are not that stupid, in most cases. So, people who did pass still get the honor of paying for something that was not needed! And that money could have been put to much better use, such as feeding their kids. @chronic_masticator -
And this is a classic example, you hit the nail right on the head. And who loses? The kids, that’s who!@ordinarybutloud -
objectively… i agree with the law. BUT, i don’t support it because welfare recipients are being singled out. one state’s Democratic rep added an addendum requiring ANYONE receiving government money (including politicians) to undergo drug testing. the Republicans dropped the whole law pretty quick. now that, i could get behind.
It is always the children are the victim of all this …
I read that part too! What’s good for the goose should be good for the gander! Thanks for the rec!@flapper_femme_fatale -
So sad and so true!@SherryAngeLMysteriez -
seems like those on welfare can never get a break, which ultimately hurts the children… puts me in mind of the movie “Trading Places”… maybe if the powers that be had that happen to them, they’d understand quite a bit better what they are doing, smh…
I agree wholeheartedly! And thanks for the rec!
You did your research and this link also sums up the Florida’s welfare drug law: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/20/2758871/floridas-welfare-drug-tests-cost.html
Florida’s net loss? $45,780 on drug testing alone and not adding lawsuits.
So the Republican line is sort of consistent, not one cent of public money towards Abortions or for Drug use. Even though people who own drug testing laboratories will be making a profit. Those who are anti Abortion should not be having abortions for their mistresses and should also be tested for drug use too.
Bottom line is that no money was saved, and even more people applied for welfare. The bus company here in Los Angeles automatically tests bus drivers for drugs after an accident. I suppose we should automatically drug test politicians for bad laws.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/20/2758871/floridas-welfare-drug-tests-cost.html#storylink=cpy
They want to do that here in NZ too. I’m sure it will never happen, and I personally don’t care either way. They wouldn’t just stop the benefit of someone who tested positive here, they would set up some sort of drug awareness or rehab program for those people and taxes would go up to cover this and they would pay these people’s rent directly to the property manager/landlord and give grocery vouchers, only leaving a small amount of the recipients benefit to be deposited their bank account.
Drug test the politicians. Make it mandatory that any half-cockrd lunatic that wants to serve the People has to take the drug test. Make sure these idiots are capable of rational thought before writing bills that become laws that waste space in the law books. And make sure the dolt is NOT a lawyer.
People want to take your kids away when you give a baby earrings, don’t protect them from porn, or when they stay without a baby sitter for an hour or two. So it’ssimple, the kids will be taken away.
Not that I think this is right.
I also think that people who are addicted to drugs ARE entitled to basic things such as food and shelter- as humans. Being used to a much more social system I even find the idea of having special stamps for food (and sometimes only certain foods that the government thinks is ok) instead of money quite harsh.
There needs to be motivation to get off it, but with the little these people get there is much room for positive motivation, and none for negative (because that comes down to lettiing them slide deeper into their problems and die or at least lose all hope –health, brain cells, and spirit).
i agree with drug testing. i believe that if you are going to be responsible for caring for something as precious as a child then you need to be forced into accountability ,if you are not going to accept it on your own. if they won’t be accountable then the children should be removed from their un-care.–karen
All of these things are so complicated. Sometimes I get questionnaires from lawmakers saying “Do you approve of this?” And I think yes…..,if. Then I think…but what If? And what if? I end up throwing the questionnaire in the trash, because there is no box to check that says “Maybe.”
@Aloysius_son - arrrrgggghhhhh….the pain the pain……
@Aloysius_son - aliens eating me alive….oh no……what a quandary. Implant or dinner……run away run away
I agree with you that people who are addicted to drugs need help. But again, only 2% of the people tested before the bill was stopped tested positive for drugs and most of those were found positive for marijuana, which is being legalized in many states. So, because of that 2%, the other 98% have to bear the cost of being tested, money that certainly could have been used to help feed their family. This law leaves no winners, not the taxpayers, not the people who tested negative or the children of those denied benefits. There has to be a better way. Thanks so much for your input!@PocketfulOfDreams -
Thanks for your visit.@lifeontheWink -
Very well written. I disagree for all the same reasons, but I also think it’s unfair to insinuate that just because people are poor, they are not trustworthy or must be drug users. Additionally, workplace drug testing is in place because drugs affect work performance and/or safety. Those who don’t have a job don’t have any performance or safety issues to be affected by drugs, so it’s absolutely meant to make people who are already low feel worse. It’s not necessary, and not as many people are abusing the system as others seem to think they are.
I agree, it is very confusing at times to know which path to follow. However, I feel in my heart that this is a law that will not work and will not benefit the taxpayers or the families who have been targeted. Thanks for your comments! Always appreciated.@ata_grandma -
You are 100% right. This law targets the poor…simple as that. And, that is so wrong. There are many struggling families who need assistance, not because of drugs, but because of the economy. They should not be treated as second class citizens and labeled “probable drug users” by our government and our society. Thanks for your comments and your rec!@BohemianLotus -
They mentioned drug testing for the politicians…that idea got nipped in the bud very quickly! Hmmmm! Thanks for your comments!@wordwarrior39 -
thanks very much for pointing this out.. its really easy for people to read these quotes, react emotionally and go off in some ignorant direction and perhaps pass-on and share the nonsense
I thought that Tennessee was going to do it too.
@crankycaregiver - Time to nip the polliticians in the bud.
From the sounds of it, it seems the bill was poorly written. Though I personally think that people should be drug tested if they’re on welfare (then again, I think politicians should be too considering they’re still illegal in most places). Drugs are a luxury. If you have the money for drugs, why should you be getting taxpayer money?
As for the children suffering, sadly, they suffer regardless. I know people who sell their food stamps and use their EBT cash to buy their cigs, alcohol, and drugs. For those with addictions, their children go without regardless of whether or not they’re getting a welfare check. They dump their kids on other people or simply neglect them. It’s a sad, sad situation. But giving them money isn’t going to fix their problem because they will just use it to feed their habit.
I agree. We need to research the facts instead of taking these things at face value! @anth0nyc -
So far, only these three states have actually passed the law. There is an injunction stopping enforcement until the constitutionality of the law is considered. However, I believe that other states have looked to see how the law worked in other states and are reconsidering. @TroyEllison -
Yes, you are right. As I stated, the welfare system is in need of reform. No doubt about it. But, for the small percentage of parents that do misuse the system, many others do not and the children are taken care of properly. I also agree that this is a poorly written bill and someone needs to go back to the drawing board. @firetyger -
If you dig deep enough, and it’s been a while since I bothered so you might have dig really deep, in Florida, a contributing factor for this being put into place was that one of the state officials’ wives owns the company that handles the drug testing. Imagine that…
Wow…I’m shocked!
@filtered_sunlight@momaroo -