Courtney Trent, right, of Save the Children, visits with Britny Hurley, left, and her 19-month-old son, Landon, in Jackson, Ky. Credit Jonathan Palmer for The New York Times
“Profiting from a child’s illiteracy” by Nicholas D. Kristof in the NY Times of 12/9/12 who cites specific cases where the “safety net” has created unhealthy dependency on government checks. He also tells how a counselor, trained and supported by Save the Children organization, who was assigned to a single mother, made a difference. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/opinion/sunday/kristof-profiting-from-a-childsilliteracy.html
For the other side:
“The poor are still with us,” an interview with Peter Edelman, a professor at the
Georgetown University Law Center and former adviser to President Clinton, makes clear how the welfare
reforms of 1996 (he resigned his adviser role because these reforms cut programs such as Food Stamps and the
Earned Income Tax Credit) have created serious problems for the poor. http://www.christiancentury.org/article/2012-10/poor-are-still-us
[A way out may be to avoid just giving money by adding to it trained counselors who see the family face-to-face.
– the Editor]
