Social Welfare System in United States

            The impoverished are also in need of assistance in acquiring food. Programs such as food stamps, Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children, and School Lunch and Breakfast are an integral part in preventing starvation and future medical care. WIC for instance has proven its value by reducing low birth weights, which saves on Medicaid money. Unfortunately George W Bush has proposed to cut $122 million from it. It is as though no program is immune despite its immediate benefits. 

             Services such as mental health, aging assistance, family care, foster care, adoption disability assistance are also available. Most of these are government funded but there is an apparent trend in privatizing this field of care. Many corporations are seeking a profit for their social welfare.

Women appear to be bearing the brunt of poverty, known as the Feminization of Poverty. One out of six women is a single mother. This leaves women to juggle childrearing and employment. And jobs that are traditionally defined as “female” pay less than jobs that are traditionally “male”.

            The convoluted web that is the social welfare system is indeed very necessary. The effects of poverty are bewildering. An impoverished child is 6 times more likely to die from a disease than a non-impoverished child.   Homelessness grows rapid among this country when its main causes (mental illness, domestic violence, lack of affordable health care) can be rectified through the system.

            Another important attribute that the human service worker needs to embody is the ability to work within diverse populations. It is pertinent to shed egocentrism and realize that beliefs, traditions, family, class that make up one person; do not necessarily translate to another. One must be aware that this process of acculturation has shaped the clients in different ways. The best approach towards ethnicity is to acknowledge it. The worker should learn about the culture, acknowledge suspicions of the client toward themselves, and emphasize the strength in the individual and community.

            When a human service worker learns about another ethnicity, it is necessary to note struggles and triumphs, and/or discrimination the people of that culture have faces. In the United States minorities are at a major disadvantage due to discrimination by the white majority. Many are underrepresented as lawyers, professors, and other high paid professionals and are also twice as likely as whites to be impoverished. Minorities are also underrepresented in politics; the Senate is composed of 97% whites. And Blacks who lived in Florida during the 2002 election were 4 times more likely than whites to have their vote thrown out.

            A policy that helped combat the aforementioned professional under representation is Affirmative Action. It gives some preference to equally qualified minorities in admissions acceptance, hiring, or promotional opportunities. It has been a proven combatant against discrimination since its conception. Although it has met much opposition from the white majority it is still in place.

            Although ethnic sensitivity is more prevalent than fifty years ago, it is still advised to be aware of stereotypes and condescending language that permeates through everyday life and the media. It is important to educate oneself about varying cultures so that the inherited stereotypes and harmful language can disintegrate.