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The issue of poverty in America has been widely debated especially in the 1990's when lawmakers chose to tackle the issue of welfare reform (Williams, 2006). One of the biggest issues facing the health and human services industry today is that of law makers and their interest in health and human service programs. The welfare reform act removed the duties of the federal government and welfare and placed the control of the programs in the hands of individual states without national guidelines other than the requirement to move a majority of welfare recipients into the workforce (Williams, 2006). In the eyes of many lawmakers, the program was a success since the number of welfare recipients decreased by more than half by the end of the 1990's (Williams, 2006). Unfortunately, statistics also show that the national poverty rate has barely decreased as a result of welfare reform (Williams, 2006).
As lawmakers continue to attempt to control budgets and look at ways to control government spending, social programs will continue to be removed from government budgets causing a larger reliance on private funding of social programs. Private organizations often focus their funds toward specific groups or religious affiliations which means that the nations poorest may be left without needed assistance causing the poverty cycle to continue in the poorest families and communities. As a result child abuse, child neglect, poor health care and poor education continue to rising areas of concern in these American communities. .
When dealing with the poor, the health and human service workers has multiple obligations that require them to not only help their clientele but also abide by laws as well as the mission and purpose of their organization. In this type of situation, if the service is not provided in a delicate manner, the poor may be the ones to suffer and as a result the health or human service workers have not performed their obligation to the clientele as "advocate's for social injustice" (Burger, Youkeles, 2004).