Drug Testing and Welfare- The Harsh Reality

[Guinhyvar]

I've seen this particular issue raging around the internet the past few days, weeks, months, this drug testing for welfare recipients. I've seen threads about it in different groups, I've seen journals written about it, I've seen polls on it, I've seen a lot of opinions expressed... and I have to say, I haven't seen anyone who has had parents who were drug addicts and were on welfare speak up.

Hello, my name is Jenna, and my parents did drugs. We got food stamps, welfare, WIC, the housing allowance, medicare, and help with our utilities. Does this piss you off? Does this anger you? Yeah, it angers me too. It sucked that my parents had these problems. It sucked that my brother and I grew up like this. But guess what, folks... WE DIDN'T GET TO CHOOSE. We were kids. We were the victims of those choices, the hostages of our parent's addiction.

Without all of that aid, WE WOULDN'T HAVE EATEN. Had a place to live. Had health care. Had heat in the winter. And we wouldn't have been able to stay at home, with our parents, because a positive drug test meant them getting arrested, social workers, and foster care for the kids. Maybe that would have been better, you say? That we be taken and placed elsewhere?Well, since I lived it, I can say, with authority, NO. It wouldn't have been better to be placed in the foster care system, probably, most likely, separated from my siblings and other family. That would have been a bad thing. Especially considering that as the eldest, there would be no happy adoption for me, or my brother, because we were too old to be cute and innocent anymore, and people wouldn't have "trusted" us because of the kind of family we came from. How does that strike you?

Drug testing for welfare recipients sounds easy on the surface, it's just a drug test, who cares if you get embarrassed and uncomfortable? But then what, when they test positive? Take away or deny their benefits? Doing drugs is illegal so... now what? Get the cops involved, CPS, remove the kids? Where? To foster care? Group homes? And then what... arrest the parents? Put them in jail or have the government pay for rehab? Do you have any idea how much it costs to house inmates, especially those that are in a rehab type situation? ANY idea? How much it costs for one kid in foster care or a group home? Because if your solution is to move forward with drug testing, do some research, then some math, and TELL ME that we're saving money that way... and I will call you deluded.

And if your solution is to just deny them benefits, then tell me who the biggest loser in that scenario is. C'mon, think about it. It's not  the parents, that's for damn sure. It's the kids. The kids who don't get a vote, a say, in what their parents do. The kids who don't get to choose what their parents ingest. The kids who don't eat, get health care, get housing, get the benefits of welfare. Explain to me how that's going to work... THOSE are the losers, these kids, who already have a tough fucking life, already have to start life with all these issues, and I know because I am one of them.

If I could have made my parents not do drugs, godsdamn if I wouldn't have. But I couldn't- that had to be their choice.  I didn't get a vote or a say. So godsdamn if I'm going to get behind something that denies children the very little help that they get from welfare because their parents can't or won't make better choices for themselves. Sorry, I would rather pay for a bunch of druggies to feed and house their kids than take that away.

I know that there are a lot who abuse the system, I know it sucks- I pay taxes, too. I pay into that system, so yes, I am invested. It IS personal for me, for a lot of reasons. I hate drugs, hate hate hate them. My family has been torn apart because of drugs and the choices made by the adults. Don't get me wrong here, I don't advocate the use of drugs, not at all, not even a little bit. But I cannot, will not, advocate for drug testing for welfare recipients, either. There has to be a better solution. We can do better than that. This is not the way to do it; this has the potential to cause way more harm than good.

I don't know what the right answer is, or even if there is a right answer. I know that there are millions of people on PA who don't do drugs, and I know that for them, this too is a very personal issue, because, at the end of the day, this affects them the most. I know that it outrages them as much as it does the rest of us, that people abuse the system that sustains them, and threatens their ability to make ends meet, to feed and house their kids.

Drug testing sounds really good in theory, at first, but look beyond it. What happens then? Where does this road really end? What is the end game, the point, the goal? What is it that you hope to accomplish by drug testing welfare recipients, really, and who is going to benefit the most, the least, from taking such action?

Peace.

[sati769leigh]

Feb. 22, 2010 at 3:14 PM

thank you for sharing from your personal perspective.

[KelleyP77]

Feb. 22, 2010 at 3:15 PM

I can not agree enough!

[mcqueenmom]

Feb. 22, 2010 at 3:26 PM

Thank you for sharing, I agree with you. Your a strong mom, Big hugs to you.

[Xynyth]

Feb. 22, 2010 at 3:28 PM

Awesome post and I couldn't agree with you more.

[Charlies_mommy]

Feb. 22, 2010 at 3:28 PM

Thank you for sharing!~ You just gave me my topic for my final project for my college English course! :D

[mirit.rose]

Feb. 22, 2010 at 3:36 PM

i also agree without state aid we wouldntbe ableto survive 

[cleanaturalady]

Feb. 22, 2010 at 3:41 PM

Jenna you are a million kinds of awesome.

[parrishsky]

Feb. 22, 2010 at 3:44 PM

I have thought about this very thing when I read another journal on this issue. I have friends that were addicts and it would have been too painful to witness their kids being taken from them. My best friend is a recovering alcoholic and on the right track now, thankfully. She never rec'd assistance as she was a functioning alcoholic but there are many that fall into the system instead of being helped, and in the end it's the children that suffer the most.

[RanaAurora]

Feb. 22, 2010 at 3:56 PM

Thank you Jenna.  I think a lot of people neglect to actually THINK about the people that their little policy ideas would effect. 

[used2chaos]

Feb. 22, 2010 at 4:03 PM

I agree with you, my Jenna.  Drug testing is not the answer...I don't know what is. 

I'm glad you got this journal out there for everyone to read.  Well done, sweets!