Apparently the government doesn't want you to breastfeed if you need welfare

[Beckula]

I have had to apply for welfare (Merry Christmas) recently and in the process was told that i would have to find a daycare for my kids one of which is 5 weeks old in two months because in order to recieve the crappy benefits ($400 bucks a month for a family of four) I have to find a job and work at least 30 hours a week. Now I know i can pump but I've never had much luck with the pump and I'm afraid my new DS will stop nursing once he has a bottle. I DO NOT want to give him formula because he has terrible reflux and that will make it so much worse. Now it gets worse, yesterday I recieved a letter in the mail stating that I was required to show up for mandatory job training on Mon. 12/17 for 5 Hours!!!! WTF, less than a week to find a daycare for my kids. My Baby just started sleeping long enough between feedings to pump. I have 3 oz so far in the freezer. Now I called and found out that my DH could do the hours 35 a week for both of us which is great because he can but what if we were in the position of not being able to do that.

My point of this sharing is that what is wrong with our government that it is not giving the Women and Children in the highest risk catagory for everything the chance to make the best start. They are practically requiring welfare Mom's to FF their Babies. When I asked if I could get time to pump you could practically hear crickets chirping on the other line. This is something that I thought needed attention from my fellow lactivists. I'm sorry if this wasn't entirely coherent lack of sleep and the fact that I have just been floored by this.

[rmzbm]

I'm sorry...

[songbh]

Welcome to "welfare reform." Because nothing helps America's youngest and most vulnerable citizens like having mom away 30 hours a week -- plus travel time! -- at a crappy minimum-wage job. Every 3mo nursling should learn that there's no such thing as a free lunch, right?

I'm biting my tongue, believe it or not. Hang in there -- best of luck to your family.

[rmzbm]

Originally Posted by songbh

Welcome to "welfare reform." Because nothing helps America's youngest and most vulnerable citizens like having mom away 30 hours a week -- plus travel time! -- at a crappy minimum-wage job.

I'm biting my tongue, believe it or not. Hang in there -- best of luck to your family.

[velcromom]

Wow, that sucks.

[Ruthla]

I wonder what we can do to try and change this.

[krystyn33]

I'm sorry you are going through this and ITA that the absurd policy needs to change!

[darsmama]

Originally Posted by Beckula

I have had to apply for welfare (Merry Christmas) recently and in the process was told that i would have to find a daycare for my kids one of which is 5 weeks old in two months because in order to recieve the crappy benefits ($400 bucks a month for a family of four) I have to find a job and work at least 30 hours a week. Now I know i can pump but I've never had much luck with the pump and I'm afraid my new DS will stop nursing once he has a bottle. I DO NOT want to give him formula because he has terrible reflux and that will make it so much worse. Now it gets worse, yesterday I recieved a letter in the mail stating that I was required to show up for mandatory job training on Mon. 12/17 for 5 Hours!!!! WTF, less than a week to find a daycare for my kids. My Baby just started sleeping long enough between feedings to pump. I have 3 oz so far in the freezer. Now I called and found out that my DH could do the hours 35 a week for both of us which is great because he can but what if we were in the position of not being able to do that.

My point of this sharing is that what is wrong with our government that it is not giving the Women and Children in the highest risk catagory for everything the chance to make the best start. They are practically requiring welfare Mom's to FF their Babies. When I asked if I could get time to pump you could practically hear crickets chirping on the other line. This is something that I thought needed attention from my fellow lactivists. I'm sorry if this wasn't entirely coherent lack of sleep and the fact that I have just been floored by this.

Pretty much. Oh, and they'll pay someone $2500 a month to watch your kids while you work some dead end job, but not give you the whole $1000 (after foodstamps, cash and hud) for you to raise them.

[mzfern]

I'm sorry, mama. It's certainly a deeply flawed system. Blessings to your family and I hope you find a workable arrangement for your nursling.

[jennylou]

At least in Ohio the work requirement can also be met by school.

Welfare reform was necessary. Is it a perfect system? No.

And while it sucks that a nursing mom might have to pump in order to get her welfare, moms have to pump everyday while they work. It's a fact of life here in the United States if you can't be a SAHM.

[Breastfeeding Insomniac]

Can you contact wic and ask about what kind of pumps they offer working moms? Also if ypu have one, contact your local perinatal coalition and ask for case manegement if its available, its good to have a case manager on your side to help advocate for you.

[songbh]

Originally Posted by Beckula

When I asked if I could get time to pump you could practically hear crickets chirping on the other line.

Originally Posted by jennylou

... moms have to pump everyday while they work. It's a fact of life here in the United States if you can't be a SAHM.

Accommodation for expressing breastmilk in the workplace is very much an issue of class privilege in the U.S. The kind of entry-level minimum-wage job that most workfare mothers get are also the jobs that are least likely to provide enough time or space to pump their breasts often enough to maintain a milk supply.

Women are often fired even for using their break time to pump. With no legal protection for lactation in the workplace (in most states), moms like the OP are very much on their own and usually SOL when it comes to combining paid employment with breastfeeding.

Let's try to be mindful that what may seem like a "fact of life" for some people more closely resembles an unattainable luxury for others. It's tough to talk about economic disparities and social class in our society, but this is an issue that is currently front and center in lactivism, feminism, and labor rights.

[songbh]

Originally Posted by Beckula

my DH could do the hours 35 a week for both of us which is great because he can but what if we were in the position of not being able to do that.

I'm so glad you have this flexibility so that you can stay home with your nursling and your other children during this time. But you're right -- what about the mothers who don't have this kind of family support?

Did anyone here see the Michael Moore film "Bowling for Columbine"? It's about the epidemic of gun violence in the U.S. One segment looks at the youngest school shooter so far, a little boy in Michigan maybe 6 or 7 years old when he brought a gun to school and shot and killed another child.

Moore follows this case and finds that the little boy's mother was on a workfare program that required her to leave home very early in the morning to ride a bus out to a suburban mall and work an entry-level retail job. Her child was in the care of a non family member in her absence and clearly not well supervised.

Moore follows the money and asks who really benefits from workfare? Not the children left in substandard care. Not the single parents with horrendous commutes on public transportation just to get out of their economically-stagnant neighborhoods to the minimum-wage retail jobs in the suburbs. Rather, those who employ the welfare recipients, at least in this one case in Michigan from the 1990s, got a big tax break or kickback -- I don't remember the details, but there were substantial financial incentives for the employers.

Whether welfare reform was necessary or not is a political question, and not one that we are likely to all agree on. But -- and I can't stress this enough -- it is really vitally important that we understand that stuff like this is the backdrop for breastfeeding issues. Breastfeeding is not one thing, not a universal experience of sisterhood for all women. What we think of as "natural" or "a fact of life" may be very different for families in other circumstances.

[Ambrose]

Yep they did it to us too- and we only get $213 a month. DH is p!ssed about it because he is adamantly against daycare and cannot stand the classes he has to go to since he has no job. I have to juggle things around in order to work and watch DD while he's in class. PAIN... but because I have a 'disability' (my bipolar/depression/anxiety) I can use some of those 30 hours towards doctors appointments and therapy related things. So I make appointments often... physicals, dental appts, etc and just don't specify what doctor I go to. It allows me to take DD with, even if it's a bit of a hassle just so I don't piss off my work too much with schedule changes/pickiness.

[Ambrose]

Originally Posted by songbh

Accommodation for expressing breastmilk in the workplace is very much an issue of class privilege in the U.S. The kind of entry-level minimum-wage job that most workfare mothers get are also the jobs that are least likely to provide enough time or space to pump their breasts often enough to maintain a milk supply.

Women are often fired even for using their break time to pump. With no legal protection for lactation in the workplace (in most states), moms like the OP are very much on their own and usually SOL when it comes to combining paid employment with breastfeeding.

Let's try to be mindful that what may seem like a "fact of life" for some people more closely resembles an unattainable luxury for others. It's tough to talk about economic disparities and social class in our society, but this is an issue that is currently front and center in lactivism, feminism, and labor rights.

not to mention some states are a right to work state and that means that they really don't need to give a reason to fire you. It happened to me.

[ReikiMommy07]

Originally Posted by jennylou

At least in Ohio the work requirement can also be met by school.

Welfare reform was necessary. Is it a perfect system? No.

And while it sucks that a nursing mom might have to pump in order to get her welfare, moms have to pump everyday while they work. It's a fact of life here in the United States if you can't be a SAHM.

Yeah. But to NEED to do it to get "WELFARE?" That's wrong. It's not like your money/life/children/etc is/are your own like they are when you have a job. (Not totally when you're working either, but you do have more control than when you're on welfare... Believe me, I know...) Certain welfare progs are quite invasive... I for instance had to sign a form stating (I'm paraphrasing here) I would get my DS vaxed... Uh, no. I have an exemption. But the point is, the govt runs enough, and now they want to run the way children eat/drink? :

OP and nursling!

So as a PP asked, WHAT can we do to get our voices heard on this?

[ReikiMommy07]

Originally Posted by darsmama

Pretty much. Oh, and they'll pay someone $2500 a month to watch your kids while you work some dead end job, but not give you the whole $1000 (after foodstamps, cash and hud) for you to raise them.

: That's part of what I was trying so unsuccessfully to articulate as well...

[Beckula]

Originally Posted by Ambrose

not to mention some states are a right to work state and that means that they really don't need to give a reason to fire you. It happened to me.

Like mine. There is no real industry in my area, just tourism and as it is the off season i would be hard pressed to even find a job that provides 30 hours a week. The part that PO'ed me off was the assumption I would be able to even find a daycare in less then a week.

[soso-lynn]

I really feel so happy about being Canadian when I hear stories like this.

I think the main problem here is not even pumping in the workplace. The real problem is the fact that the American government does not believe in maternity leave. Here, we have 1 year paid maternity leave and everyone agrees that it's not enough. Welfare or not, no new mother should have to go to work when she has a newborn baby.

As for welfare here in Quebec, having children under 1 equals more money because you are considered unable to work. They also give a 50$ supplement every month if you are nursing. Welfare is generally seen here as a safety net that any of us could need, not as a 'free ride' or anything like that. I'm not saying it's perfect, but it's pretty decent.

We also have 7$ a day daycare and free health care, but this is another topic.

I think that all these issues are related nonetheless. The entire philosophy of the government in the US makes the things we take for granted in Canada impossible. Even the richest capitalists in this country would never dare disagree with decent maternity leaves or health care. It's not even a debate.

[homemademomma]

Originally Posted by soso-lynn

I really feel so happy about being Canadian when I hear stories like this.

I think the main problem here is not even pumping in the workplace. The real problem is the fact that the American government does not believe in maternity leave. Here, we have 1 year paid maternity leave and everyone agrees that it's not enough. Welfare or not, no new mother should have to go to work when she has a newborn baby.

As for welfare here in Quebec, having children under 1 equals more money because you are considered unable to work. They also give a 50$ supplement every month if you are nursing. Welfare is generally seen here as a safety net that any of us could need, not as a 'free ride' or anything like that. I'm not saying it's perfect, but it's pretty decent.

We also have 7$ a day daycare and free health care, but this is another topic.

I think that all these issues are related nonetheless. The entire philosophy of the government in the US makes the things we take for granted in Canada impossible. Even the richest capitalists in this country would never dare disagree with decent maternity leaves or health care. It's not even a debate.

are all women eligible for paid maternity leave? even the woman flipping burgers at McDonalds? is it a function of your previous wage, or an across the board type of thing?