Source: Mass Live
The amount of welfare assistance a family receives is determined by its size. However, under the Massachusetts 1995 welfare reform law, children born into a family that has been on welfare are not eligible for additional assistance, whereas children who were born before a family receives welfare are, in fact, eligible.
According to Deborah Harris, a senior staff attorney at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, over 9,000 children are ineligible for welfare. As a result, their families are unable to receive any assistance to care for them, even if they are very poor.
Diane Sullivan, an anti-poverty activist, personally experienced the severe consequences of not having access to financial support, when she discovered she was ineligible for any financial help after reapplying for welfare for her children.
In hopes of providing adequate resources for poor families with children, State Representative Marjorie Decker and State Senator Sal DiDomenico have sponsored a bill that would allow children to qualify for welfare assistance, regardless of when they’re born.
Read full story at: Mass Live