Author Archives: jessicaa

This is an interesting article regarding the “Family Caps” that we spoke about in class. The article has a more conservative lean, which I thought might be appealing.  <http://www.i2i.org/main/article.php?article_id=439>

My favorite part of the article is when the author points out that when a working family has more children, their employer doesn’t go and give them a raise—similarly, why would welfare recipients expect increased benefits when they have more children? It just doesn’t make sense.

Some highlighted points in the article:

“A system that tells a mother with two small children on welfare, “Go ahead, have more children, and we’ll give you more money,” is not doing the right thing for the mother or for her small children.”

“The more important effect of the cap was its moral message: The government will not subsidize irresponsible behavior. Of course, everyone…is still free to have as many children as they want, but not with a public cash bonus for having children at the wrong time in one’s life.”

“Under the family cap, a person who is already on welfare, and who then has additional children, does not get extra cash for having the additional children. The new children are still fully eligible for Medicaid and the family gets additional food stamps for them. The adults, however, do not receive extra cash.”

The article also has some statics which prove that unwanted pregnancy has decreased in states that have enacted the Family Caps program.