Analyzing a Social Policy - Module 5: Assignment 1

Analyzing a Social Policy

Social Welfare and Social Welfare policies have been in place for many years and for good reason. These social policies provide stability and assist the needs of the poor and underprivileged by bringing about changes, structure, and improvements. Data on child poverty gathered by the U.S. Census Bureau states that more than one in five children, almost 16.1 million children in America in 2012 were poor. Of those, about 10 million of those poor children live in single-parent households, the majority of them living in a single-mother environment. Approximately 45.2 percent of these children in single-parent households were defined as poor (CDF, 2013). Separation and divorce is difficult and stressful for everyone in the home, including the children. Financial assistance in the form of child-support from the non-custodial parent is needed to keep the household afloat. When the absent parent of these children stops taking care of their children and do not take financial responsibility of them, they must get assistance through the federal assistance programs which are designed to help families in need. These programs take care of the emergent needs with allotments such as monetary assistance, medical assistance, and food stamps. It then becomes the obligation of each state to seek financial reimbursement from the non-custodial parent for restitution owed to the state. This description is becoming more the rule and not the exception in America. Children who are poor need all of the financial support allotted from the non-custodial parent in order to maintain daily living needs.

Social policies are guidelines set in place through policies and legislation to aid in the betterment of the human condition and welfare. It is a subject that deals with assisting with the improvements for a better state of living. Children are the most affected by these policies, some having to live up to the full eighteen years in poverty. Federal assistance has been put into place to aid these children in poverty. In 1998, roughly 40 percent lived in poverty in the U.S. compared to today, with almost 48 percent currently live in poverty. Those numbers are staggering when you recognize the amount of children that live poor are 16.1 million and rising every year (CDF, 2013).

There was only a small amount of single-mother-headed families in the 1950’s. That’s when the Federal Government began to notice the child support issue. The Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) act was amended to include notification by welfare agencies to notify the local police if they saw or heard of any single-parent situations and the police would track down the absent parent and make them pay the support. From 1950 through 1975 the government focused on only the children with the worst situations of poverty. By the early 1970’s, separation and divorce had run rampant and the