"Research has found that among young poor women, a 10% increase in cash welfare yields a 12% rise in illegitimate births" (Wattenberg, 5). It is obvious that not only does welfare promote illegitimacy, but the plan to end poverty, maybe the one thing promoting it.
Many proponents of welfare claim that when denying public assistance to mothers we are only hurting the children. Much like the elderly, children are unable to provide for themselves and should not be punished for the mistakes of their mothers. However, does simply giving away money really help or harm the children? "Recent studies have shown that girls who come from welfare families are far more likely to drop out of high school, to have children out of wedlock, and go on welfare at some point than compared to women of similar age and background who were not raised on welfare" (National Center for Policy Analysis, "Does Welfare Harm Children," 3). As this shows welfare seems to be an endless cycle, and from the moment children are born into welfare families, they are immediately put at a disadvantage. The same is for boys born into welfare families. "Boys raised on welfare are also more likely to engage in criminal activities" ("NCPA, Does Welfare Harm Children," 3). Parents are their children's greatest influences, and when children do not see their parents working for their money, many will follow in their footsteps. So while many would like to argue that, when asking single mothers to work full time will often lead to less time spent with children, sometimes seeing your parent as a productive member of society is better than seeing them twenty-four hours of the day.
Besides imposing a major social obstacle to children, welfare has also led to a significant intellectual disadvantage. "A recent study found that the longer families stayed on welfare, the lower they scored on tests measuring cognitive skills" (Lewin, 1).
