Journal Article — Welfare Beyond Teaching: Caring for Children and Their Parents — by Jan Michele Chilion

Social welfare is a topic I knew very little about. When I received the assignment to write a paper on how I view welfare, how it has affected me, how it will affect me in the future, and what I should do about it, I didn’t really know where to start. I come from a stable family: two parents, two sisters, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, who are all very close to me. My family was never hurting for money, we were always pretty well off, or at least I thought so. We would go on vacations and family outings. Frequently I was allowed to bring one of my friends. Those trips to Long Island were routine for me, but it was usually the first time out of Chenango County for my classmate. Now I can see my parents were always creating ways to offer experiences to the other children.