Welfare Reform

Being a mother, my focus on this case study is also on the children. Unfortunately, children often have to pay the price for their parents mistakes, which is one of the reasons a family seems to have to rely upon the government to help them pave the way. The biggest issue I have here is for the parents that have substance abuse and receive assistance from the taxpayers. I think that some people who have a substance abuse problem may kick their habit if they are at risk of losing their children. But I also know that you cannot FORCE someone to stop anything, they have to WANT to stop the action themselves and possibly the risk of losing their children would be an incentive. Making the parents be responsible and get a job, and allowing some of their substance abuse treatment to count as working is more than fair I think, because it does indicate that they want to improve their current situation.

I am in favor of helping people when they need help, but they can't need this help for the rest of their lives, unless they have a physical disability to help themselves. Even here, I have hired people with mental and physical disabilities before to do some bindery type jobs that most people they are above to do, but to these people, it provides them wih a sense of self worth that they can contribute some to their lives.

I see Rawl's three basic principles at play in the welfare reform:
Prinicple of liberty, giving people their freedom of occupational choice, they are given the opportunity to apply for the CSJ jobs for six months, after that they need to find other employment.
Principle of equal opportunity, giving them the resources that their personal talents allow to overcome class barriers.
Difference principle, where they are receiving government assistance to help cover costs that they would have to pay for, childcare, medical etc.

I don't necessarily believe that Rawl's egalitarian viewpoint is the correct answer and I'm not really sure if I like the libertarian or the utilitarian viewpoints either, why cant we pick and choose a section from each theory? I think that's my solution, pick and choose.