Telling Our Stories
Here's what it's like for us living day-by-day on welfare.
"Three weeks before school started, I went to the welfare office and said, "I need daycare even if it's just for my son because he's only five." Well,
they told me that because I changed my education plan and was no longer going to a community college, I
was ineligible for daycare. But in the same breath, they told me they'd be more than happy to hire me
when I finished school."
"This whole thing has been really hard on my kids. They want to take lessons and do all the things they
used to do, but we can't afford it now. It gets very, very difficult having to explain that if their dad
paid the child support, this would work out."
"When I went on AFDC in September 1990 it wasn't the first
time I ever received public assistance, but I vowed to myself it would
certainly be the last."
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Welfare for Real
o Raising Our Voices
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so please send us your comments and contributions.
Saundra Haddix-Hamilton
Lea Higashi
Deona Hunter