Welfare Mothers and Education

I am writing regarding the article on a San Diego Family Court judge’s ruling against a mother on welfare (“Judge’s Edicts to Mothers on Welfare Bring Legal Appeal,” Part I, Nov. 27). Judge Thomas Murphy ordered Shelley Anderson, a 26-year-old student at SDSU, to get off welfare and get a full-time job to support herself and her 5-year-old child, even if it meant quitting school. Anderson already has two jobs, a full course load, and raising her child alone.

How can Murphy expect her to quit school, the only realistic chance for her to get off welfare? How can he expect her to get off welfare if she gets a full-time job flipping hamburgers for minimum wage at some fast-food joint? Murphy’s judicial order was based on his policy of requiring welfare mothers with young children to get jobs and get off welfare. A single mother with a child over 3 can be ordered off welfare, and then she must set up five job interviews a week. Murphy’s policy, instituted three years ago, is ridiculous. People on welfare must be encouraged to further their education.

Programs such as Massachusetts’ Employment and Training Choices Program must be adopted in order to get people off welfare. It encourages people on welfare to sign up for job training, remedial education, and career planning so they can then apply for higher-paying jobs to support themselves.

We must realize that most people on welfare want to get off it and be independent, and we must create programs to help them, not hinder them. It will take a lot of tax money to fund programs to help get people off welfare, but I feel that it is worth it. Drastic measures must be taken to help those in need, and kicking people off welfare isn’t the answer. We must help them to support themselves so that they can get off welfare on their own.

JOHN STEVENS

Dana Point