bleak future on welfare
Amanda fell pregnant at the age of 16 and started off her adult life as a single mother on welfare. Since then she has gained a college education, but the only change it made to her circumstances was the additional burden of an education debt."When my little girl started pre-school the welfare officer found me a casual job but I lasted two days in it," sighs Amanda. "It was a horrible job, I was treated like a slave. A few months later, I was offered another casual job but it was worse than the first one."
"I was trying to get my life together but I couldn't get off the ground because the help given to me was inadequate," explains Amanda. "The help I received wasn’t geared to ensuring me a successful life. Instead, it was geared towards getting me off welfare. There's a big difference!"
"I am now 25, back on welfare to supplement the pittance I receive from a part-time casual job," says Amanda, "and I hold out no hope whatsoever for the future."
"My future is pretty well mapped out," sighs Amanda. "I will eventually get another menial casual job, get fired when the company profits go down, get back on welfare, and then do it all over again until such time as I go insane and become eligible for a disability pension - or I get old and become eligible for an aged pension. Bleak future, isn’t it?"
This scenario of basic survival possibly would have been Amanda's life whether or not she fell pregnant at 16, but looking back she thinks the best thing she ever did was to go ahead and have that baby because her daughter is more precious to her than anything else in the whole world.
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