Providing family assistance has many facets.
Many do not think about the pros and cons of providing family assistance when the economy is doing well and most providers have jobs and can support their families. But when job loss increases, the need for providing family assistance also increases. There are very real pros and cons when dealing with providing family assistance that affect both those who receive assistance and those who provide it.
Friends Meet Needs
When there is a need for family assistance, often the first to step into the gap are family and friends. Most do not want those they care about to suffer either physically or financially, especially if that means the inability to buy food, provide for their children, pay basic bills or come up with the funds to meet huge unexpected medical obligations. Many times the community also gets involved with fundraisers when medical needs or personal tragedies are involved. This personal aid not only provides family assistance when most needed, but also does so without the red tape, time and hassle of government paperwork. This local assistance can lift up rather than pull down a family and help the members know that people care. This assistance helps the family when they need it most.
Critical Needs
Beyond a particular need met by family and the community short-term, many families need assistance of a more long-term nature. Often the adult or adults in the home have been laid off and, while they have searched for work, there isn't anything available that fits their particular skill sets. Especially when children are involved, family assistance can mean filing the paperwork for government assistance so the family can purchase food, make sure the children receive medical care and the basic bills are paid. As with any government assistance, the goal of family assistance is that it be limited and temporary. Still, such programs are needed as a safety net for those who've tried everything, but still have critical financial needs.
Government Assistance
Providing government assistance long-term often keeps individuals and families from rising above their need and keeps them mired in government programs. Long-term government subsistence sometimes translates what should be a necessary temporary provision for those with critical financial needs to an outlook that such family assistance is a right instead of a privilege. Some recipients end up refusing to take responsibility for themselves or their families, until their children become generational victims of the very system meant to help. At this point, providing family assistance becomes disabling for those who might otherwise seek a better, more fulfilled life working for a living.
Attitude
There are times and circumstances during which families need assistance for a period of time. Whether provided by family, friends or the community or by the state or federal government, prolonged assistance for one reason or another can become problematic. Those who provide such assistance and others in the community aware that the family is receiving assistance may begin to see the members in a different light. Instead of regarding a family in need of long-term assistance as equals, third parties and onlookers may begin regarding them as "dead beats" and "freeloaders." The stigma may "stick" even after the family no longer needs or accepts assistance. Others who are provided family assistance get mired in government red tape and requirements, making it harder to move beyond such assistance.
Tags: family assistance, government assistance, providing family assistance, assistance that, assistance when, basic bills, critical financial
