I have been having so many problems trying to deal with welfare! I am a working mother and I also go to school full time. The rules have changed in their system and sometimes it feels like it isn't worth fighting for any more.
I have in a program called Team Works. This program is for mothers that have been relient on the benefits for a couple of years and who also don't have jobs. This is my first year ever using the benefits and I came in to welfare with a job that I have been in for 3 years!
I think that it was silly for them to put me into this program because all I really needed help with was to get me started on school. I don't make much at my job but I can assure you here in New Mexico the only place that you can make real money is when your working full time. I worked for Sprint for about a year and was making sooo much money. I decided that I wanted to go back to school because working in a call center all my life was nothing I dreamed of.
Working in a call center is stressful. I thought that I could handle it because I am great with people but it was truly hard to make some people happy with all of the restrictions I had. Anyway, Sprint didn't want to offer me the hours I needed to go to school full time and they were also an hour away from my home and school. I went crawling back to my old job at the mall. I was really happy there but for as long as I worked there they did not want to help out financially.
So I called upon help from Welfare... I have to turn in weekly statements of all of the activities I do for school... Than I have to reapply for benefits every six months and they can take your benefits away until they process the paper work when they want to get to it... I understand that they see alot of clients but what happened to me was that I was forced to have a new case worker because mine was promoted... So all of the things she knew of me was washed away... Now I have to start from scratch and this new guy is not so nice...
I don't ask for much but that my daughter has food on the table and that I can make my rent... This month I am in a whole world of crap because he hasn't processed my paper work yet, which means I have no benefits at this moment. Going through all of this makes me want to stop school and go back to a full time job where I am not worried about not making enough income to support my daughter and I.
I haven't given them any reason to believe that I am unreliable... I have given them everything they want and they just don't care about helping... I just regret making the decision to leave a highly paid job to having nothing in my pocket... I have to borrow money from people because they are always messing up my benefits...
This is my reason for stating that Welfare Sucks!
aaah, i lost my really long comment, sorry. but it was basically, i can sort of relate, my family is going through welfare, we don't use food stamps but we have energy assistance because the winters in the north east are a big dent in your pay check. I attend a community college, because it costs little, I am one of three and the oldest. My dad is the only one who works, and I have a grandmother with alzheimers at home. We three are also on state offered insurance which has to be renewed every few months. We are going through tough times but it seems you are really in a cruch. I hope you pull through and that everything gets better very soon. I commend you for being such a good mother and for wanting to further your education.
Above All - Do no harm
Hey! I just wanted to offer some encouragement! My family has been fortunate to never be on welfare (except when me and my brother were really little) because my dad works so hard, but we are VERY financially strapped and I'm going to a tech school/community college, like saadatw said in their comment. I just wanted to tell you that my mother is going to tech school on financial aid only and that she recently turned 48 on September 2nd and while it's hard and she really has to work at it and she'd rather just drop out, get a job, and help my father some days, she's glad overall, that she's doing this! Stay in school if you can! You know, like you said, that what you're doing will help you be able to get a better job than some cheesy call center and you deserve better to take care of your family with! Don't let yourself get discouraged :) In the end it will be worth it if you can make it through.
Thank you guys for being so supportive! I know I always talk about problems but man it feels good to talk to others that share these kinds of issues! I am still in the race and hanging on even though it seems like I shouldn't go any further... Thank you guys!!
Best wishes to you and your families that are going through this too!
My sister recieves help from the state and even though she had a baby right out of high school and another on the way, I feel she doesn't deserve everything that is given to her. Her and her boyfriend are both very lazy. They both lose jobs becuase of attendance issues. It is okay if the state helps them pay to feed and medical care for her children but they are even helping them fix thier car right after she lost her job. You know it may just be me, but where she lives a car is not a necessity. I love my sister to death and would help her out with almost anything. But I feel it is unfair for people like you who are working and are putting an effort into it and are getting denied. I would rather have my tax dollars go to someone who works for it. Maybe then my sister would get a little motivation. Right now why should she work hard when everything is going to be taken care of anyway?
That is very nice that they are helping them with their car and everything. I hope that the children are doing good too. I also have to pay my taxes and it just gets me so upset that I am denied the help for school! I am on a program called team works and they said that I only get one year to get through college! I do not understand that because it takes at least two years to get any sort of credible certificate from a college. Here in New Mexico our bus systems and train schedules collide... we barely got out train named the Rail Runner a year ago and people still can't use it because of the messed up schedule. I am definitely going to find a way not to use the car now that I barely have enough money to move that damned thing. I hope through education and adulthood your sister will realize she cannot be lazy for to long. It will catch up to her and it is not easy to get back up on ones feet. There is a life worth living and it does not mean that she has to be stuck playing wifey or a no body. I come from such a little city and because our families do not share education about the world we have girls whom I graduated with have children. They want to get married right out of high school and be moms! People in this city have a hard time leaving because we are so poor. It is just awful. Thanks for your comment