Manchin's work requirement for child benefits would throw grandparent-led families under the bus

[Celerity]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/10/18/manchins-work-requirement-child-benefits-would-throw-grandparent-led-families-under-bus/


Melissa Boyles of West Virginia with her granddaughter, Nevaeh. (Family photo)

“Why should my granddaughter be punished because of my disability?” That’s the question West Virginia resident Melissa Boyles would ask Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and any other politicians advocating work requirements for Democrats’ child benefit program — conditions that would throw Boyles’s granddaughter under the bus. Boyles, 62, is among an unsung generation of Americans caring for their grandchildren. These households have swelled over the past decade, as public health crises such as the opioid epidemic claimed the lives of many parents of young kids, and rendered other parents unable to provide stable homes.

As of 2019, roughly 6.2 million children lived with grandparents; within that population, 1.1 million had no parents present in the household. The numbers have likely grown since covid-19 struck. Grandparents are often neither physically nor financially prepared to raise another child. Some are still working, but most grandparents responsible for their grandchildren are no longer in the labor force. They’re often retired, disabled or both. Such is the case of Boyles, who lives with her husband, Michael, in Clarksburg, W.Va. Both spouses had worked, but now Melissa, a former house cleaner and hospice worker, has a herniated disk and some psychological issues exacerbated by the sudden death of her son in 2005; Michael, who worked at the union local, has had multiple strokes and has reduced lung function due to complications from bypass surgery.

Even with their disability benefits, money has been tight for a while. But when her then-14-year-old granddaughter, Nevaeh, asked to live with them last year, Melissa didn’t hesitate. “She needed better care and wasn’t getting it,” Boyles said. Nevaeh, like many children, landed with her grandparents after a series of traumas: first the loss of her father, when she was a baby; then her mother, when Nevaeh was a teen; then unsafe conditions living with another relative, including inconsistent access to food. Boyles wasn’t sure how she’d manage another mouth to feed. Especially since paying off her mortgage — which she thought had been financially responsible — rendered her ineligible for food stamps, thanks to the program’s asset limits. Boyles began receiving a monthly caretaker’s stipend of about $400 from the state, but it wasn’t enough to cover her additional expenses. “She needs clothes. She needs things for school. She needs shoes for her feet. She needs food in her belly,” Boyles told me.

Then, this year, a godsend: Lawmakers temporarily expanded the existing child tax credit into a more generous benefit, which would be disbursed monthly. They also made the benefit available to those suffering the most from poverty, including those who make too little money to file a tax return. Nevaeh’s family became eligible for $250 per month, no strings attached. (Children under 6 receive $300 per month.) Boyles has devoted some of that $250 to food (maybe even an occasional steak, for special occasions) and a new bed. Mostly, the cash goes toward the odds and ends of American childhood: tickets to a high school football game, so Nevaeh can finally attend with her friends. Or last weekend, a homecoming dress, purchased for $70 at a consignment shop.

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[Rhiannon12866]

1. K&R! Excellent point and needs to be publicized widely

The monthly child tax credit has been a godsend for so many...

[Jon King]

2. Manchin's proposal is ridiculous, its to help the kids, regardless of guardians!!!!

The work requirement destroys the entire purpose of the credit. It is designed to help the children without any regard as to why they are in poverty. The status of the parents or guardian is besides the point. Whether they are disabled, lazy, between jobs....it is all irrelevant.

The child tax credits lifts kids out of poverty by putting money into the family coffers. Manchin is truly missing the entire point of it.

[yaesu]

3. only fascists demand work requirements and Federal judges have been blocking work requirements

for Medicaid so maybe they will do the same for this. Can't wait for the day that fascism is weeded out of politics.

[Withywindle]

4. Very good article, thanks for posting it!

Here's the thing: right wingers (yes, I am including Manchin in that. He's a right wing Democrat. They exist and he is one) are so devoted to a 1950s television idea of what a family should look like: heterosexual married couple, Dad is the breadwinner, Mom cooks and cleans - that they will absolutely engineer public policy to punish any family that doesn't fit that mold. Which is the majority of American families.

Means-testing, work requirements, all of that is always, ALWAYS just another kick in the teeth to people who are just trying to get by, and the people who suffer most are always the children.