Reply to Please tell me how this sounds to you. To me, it's ridiculous

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[quote=FruminousBandersnatch][quote=Anonymous]You are not supposed to have kids until you're ready, but "welfare moms" obviously don't live by that creed. I would be all for giving them extra money to parent their kids for success, which can be demonstrated by honor role status. Heck, they should get deductions if their kid commits crimes, becomes a parent before age 18, too.[/quote]

I knew the "slut shaming" would come pretty easy in a thread about welfare mothers. No matter how frequently or thoroughly the "welfare mom" stereotype gets debunked, it amazes me how persistent it is.

I'm also fascinated by the intersection between the political groups who consistently believe the "welfare mom" stereotypes and oppose safety net spending (on the grounds that the recipients don't deserve it in some way or are responsible for their own circumstances) and the political groups who oppose sex ed, family planning and access to birth control (on the grounds that would lead to people having sex) and access to abortion (on the grounds that childrens' lives are precious).

Those political beliefs create a situation where we have young people who are ignorant about sex, don't have access to resources that would educate them, and don't have access to birth control, and so they get pregnant. The getting pregnant is not a solo activity, but these threads always focus on the mother. The fathers don't have the education or access to birth control, either.

So, we handicap them to start with, then we cut the budget for things that are proven to work like Head Start, and we shame them with the label of "welfare mothers" and "welfare dads" and they're in an economy where it's difficult for them to gets jobs. In the case of teens/college-age parents, they also face pressures and complications if they try to stay in school.

Where we need to be spending for children is the early childhood interventions - the things that keep them from starting at an even more significant disadvantage. If we have teen parents, we need to be helping them stay in school, and even to get their Assoc/Bachelors degree, because that helps break the cycle of poverty. We should be rewarding [b]the parents[/b] who stay in school and get good grades.

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