Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 3, 1994 TAG: 9406030111
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Low-income families begun by teen-age mothers receive $34 billion a year in health and welfare benefits, and a new study concludes these single women are the least likely to earn their way out of poverty.
The General Accounting Office, in a series of reports that profile the nation's growing welfare population, said nearly half of all single mothers on the rolls had their first child as a teen-ager.
An early draft of President Clinton's blueprint to overhaul the welfare system suggests that more than half of all mothers on Aid to Families with Dependent Children began collecting welfare as teen-agers.
The costs of supporting them and their children are staggering.
Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders, in congressional testimony last week, said the government spent $34 billion in 1992 on AFDC, Medicaid and food stamps for families begun by adolescent parents.
In 1990, according to a separate estimate by the Center for Population Options, those costs totaled $25 billion.
"Moreover, the children of adolescent parents are more likely to become adolescent parents themselves, perpetuating the cycle," Elders said. One million teen-agers get pregnant every year and about half give birth.
GAO, the congressional watchdog agency, said teen-age mothers tend to have more children and less education than other women on welfare. They also are much poorer.
GAO's findings this week are the latest word in the debate over illegitimacy and teen-age pregnancy. Conservative Republicans say the problem is one of the most serious threats to American society and that while welfare may not cause illegitimacy, it is its "economic lifeline."
The administration's welfare reform proposal, due to be released in mid-June, will single out the youngest of the 5 million parents on AFDC, the principal welfare program.
The plan would give young mothers two years of cash benefits and the education, day care and training they need to get a job. Those still unemployed after two years on welfare would be required to enroll in a work program.
"Our approach will include both sanctions and rewards to encourage them to stay in school, live at home, go to job training as appropriate, and to take parenting class to help them deal with the demands of single parenthood," a senior administration official explained.
"Clearly, teen-agers are the most at risk for long-term welfare dependency and have the most to gain from welfare reform. The focus of the administration's plan will be these young mothers, many of whom do not have high school diplomas," the official said.
by CNB