is getting done about it. The readings from "Babies and Benefits" by Sheila

Holbrook-White, the article on poverty by Michael J. Paquette, and

"Keeping Women And Children Last" by Ruth Sidel made me view the

issues of poverty in a different way. I never realised what kind of people

were living in poverty, and the true reasons why they are there. What

amazes me the most is how much these people need help, and how little the

government is doing to help them. The government should set up work

programs for these people to help them get better jobs and make enough

The politicians in Washington D.C. and all over the U.S. want

nothing more than to cut back on government funding for the people in

poverty. The government doesn't believe that most of the people actually

need this money from AFDC. They can't get it because they don't meet the

proper criteria set by the government. Either they're not poor enough,

they're not poor in the right way ' or they need the money for the wrong

The reading in the book Keeping Woman and Children Last, showed

critics of the choices and behaviour of poor woman speak about marriage as

to quit school and go back to work full time." (Sidel, 1998, p.64) These

babies for benefits"(Holbrook-white, 1998, p.1) comes from. Politicians like

Some common words found in the essay are:
Statistics Alabama, Women Children, Woman Children, Program HEOP, Washington DC, Ruth Sidel, Robert Rector, Poverty Staten, Poverty United, people help, York City, women children, 1998 p60, welfare reform, keeping women children, keeping women, government funding people, p60 marriage, help people, afdc checks, staten island, funding people, 1998 p60 marriage, programs people help,
Approximate Word count = 1123
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)