How is the current social welfare system organized?
JAS: The U.S. social welfare system has always included both government agencies and private sector agencies that provide services. The prior system developed slowly through the states in the 1880s-1920s as mother’s pensions and only became a small federal program as part of the 1935 Social Security Act. Many eligible people were kept off the rolls by idiosyncratic local rules until welfare rights initiatives in the 1970s. Before that time, poor families relied primarily on their own networks, congregations, and private charities for support. The current system is very fragmented, with separate sets of agencies providing income supports, education and training, emergency services (food, shelter, clothing), health, and recreation. In general, four overlapping systems provide the range of services that families need to meet their goals: 1) the government-contracted social welfare system, where government provides cash assistance, employment, and training services either through governmen
