Welcome Welfare Changes in Maryland
After 60 years of a welfare system that breeds welfare dependency, it is all too plain that, for the most part, the problems of poor school performance, truancy and teen violence, rooted in poverty, have not been solved. Instead, they have worsened.</br></br>Although it comes too little and way too late, Maryland's new welfare reform, which makes benefits temporary and contingent upon finding employment, is a welcome change.</br></br>The recently released 1994 Kids Count Data Book, the sixth annual study of child well-being in the state and nation, shows how dire the situation has become. While Maryland has the sixth highest per capita income in the nation, it ranks 30th in the well-being of its children.</br></br>A breakdown of the statistics shows a grim situation: Maryland ranks 46th nationally in juvenile crime arrests, 42nd in children in single-parent families, 32nd in infant mortality rates, 29th in students graduating from high school, 29th in child death rate, 20th in births to single teens and 22nd in teen violent death rate.</br></br>Homicide is the second leading cause of death for all 15- to 24-year-olds in the state and is the leading cause of death for African American males in this age group and has been since 1969.