Trading Sex for a "F--cking Happy Meal?" Mom Can't Get Food Stamps After Drug Offense,

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/trading-sex-f-cking-happy-meal-mom-cant-get-food-stamps-after-drug-offense-resorts-prostitution-feed

Trading Sex for a "F--cking Happy Meal?" Mom Can't Get Food Stamps After Drug Offense, Resorts to Prostitution to Feed her Kids



Carla walked into my office with despair in her eyes. I was surprised. Carla has been doing well in her four months out of prison; she got off drugs, regained custody of her kids, and even enrolled in a local community college.

Without much prodding she admitted to me that she had retuned to prostitution: “I am putting myself at risk for HIV to get my kids a f---ing happy meal.”

Despite looking high and low for a job, Carla explained, she was still unemployed. Most entry-level jobs felt out of reach with her drug record, but what’s worse, even the state wasn’t willing to throw her a temporary life preserver.

You see, Carla is from one of the 32 states in the country that ban anyone convicted of a drug felony from collecting food stamps. With the release of the Global Burden of Disease Study last week, it bears looking at how we are perpetuating burdens among the most vulnerable Americans with our outdated laws.

[HiPointDem]

1. kr. so you can't get work, can't get food. such a safety net. her kids will eventually be taken

from her, one way or another. likely adding to her sense of failure and dismotivation.

i'd use drugs too, with things stacked against me like that. i'm not sure what people are supposed to do. their only hope is to get lucky with an employer willing to overlook her record. pretty much eliminates corporate employers.

[eShirl]

2. horrifying

[wildbilln864]

3. k & r! nt

[valerief]

4. Yeah, but you have to look at the flip side. Rich people still need to get richer.

In America, we know which side tips the scales. So Carla *must* do without.

[another_liberal]

5. Social Darwinism

Wealthy greedheads just love the idea.

[Initech]

25. The wealth addicted in this country will stomp on anything and everything to get their drug.

And just like any other addict they can't get enough.

[freedom fighter jh]

8. I'm sure none of those rich people ever do illegal drugs. nt

[valerief]

11. It's not illegal if you're rich. nt

[ewagner]

6. The "dead-beat Dads" bill does the same thing

It criminalizes failure to pay...puts them in jail..gives them a police record...makes them unemployable and the cycle goes on.

It's disgusting

[blueamy66]

15. Don't forget that some have their drivers license suspended

therefore making it harder to get to a job.

Too many stupid laws in this country...

[hootinholler]

18. Plus if the mother is on welfare

The child support is taken to offset the aid paid by the state, even if it is more than the aid. The problem is that other forms of assistance require welfare to qualify. My sister was trapped in this position while going to school via pell grants as a single mom.

[ewagner]

19. I am a County Board Supervisor...

I have brought this up time and again in committee and time and again, I have been ignored.

[The Wizard]

7. Another war casualty

War on drugs is a fucking hoax. It's a war on the poor.

[Fumesucker]

9. She wouldn't have that problem if she had just killed someone with a gun

It's only drug convictions that disallow help.

[RC]

13. Guns are good, Drugs are bad. /sarcasm

All the other countries have come up with workable solutions for the underprivileged. But we, with our "Not invented here" refuse to do the obvious, because... Well it wasn't our idea. Low gun crimes, Universal Health care, to name two biggies.

[Whovian]

10. Makes me want to cry

what we have allowed this country to become.

[AnnieK401]

12. What kind of third world country is this kind of horror happening in? - Oh Wait.

this can't be us.

[99Forever]

14. Funny that this has been how it is for ...

.. a very long time, yet it seems to come as a surprise to many people.

American has become a heartless shithole, run by the new royalty.

[Zorra]

16. We really need to purge the last vestiges of Reaganism from our country.

Poor Carla and her kids.

[sammytko]

17. I thought only the offender was banned, not dependents

The kids are still allowed their stipend, but probably have to be handled by someone else.

[woo me with science]

20. The lack of food will motivate her to be a better person.

I guess it works for children, too, or they wouldn't be doing it.

[thesquanderer]

21. Felons don't need to eat?

They give you food in prison. How they can they deny you the ability to get it once you get out? Basic human needs should have nothing to do with your past. And supposedly, this is after you've paid your debt to society, besides!

[DavidDvorkin]

22. We know someone in a similar situation

My wife and I were talking about her tonight.

It strikes me that the system is designed to destroy people, not rehabilitate them.

[RKP5637]

29. It is ... it's a deeply flawed system designed to make those disadvantaged even

more disadvantaged. And worse, the system works to make even more people disadvantaged. Fall through the cracks and one is in the trash heap, and the plow is working to push even more people through the cracks.

And also some wonder why so many elderly drink so much or are on drugs. There's a delight in USA, Incorporated, my country right or wrong, in seeing people fail, I think. It's the capitalistic way. Money first, greed first and enjoy watching others fail because for some it feels so good.

[seabeyond]

23. she is just really really horney....

really. that is what i am told. it is all cool. right?

ya.....

i am being really snotty. i am all on this womans side... for those that dont know.

[MadrasT]

31. She's obviously *empowered* by her sexuality.

(That sarcasm thingy isn't dripping nearly enough.)

It's her free choice, right? That's what we're told right here on DU.



We live in a fucked up world and this stuff depressed the crap out of me.

[seabeyond]

32. me, too.

it is why i am reduced tho this.... images. cause the life i live and what i read on du come no where close.

[marmar]

24. This is a warped country.

nt

[SammyWinstonJack]

34. I've heard Obama say that we are the envy of the World.

[RKP5637]

26. But ain't America just a fucken great place! n/t

[Ghost in the Machine]

27. I told everyone from the very first time i heard about this proposal that it was the CHILDREN who

would suffer the most from this bullshit. It needs to be ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court...

Stop the madness NOW!

[kestrel91316]

28. TPTB want all felons dead, apparently. Because that's what

fate awaits them if, AFTER PAYING THEIR DEBT TO SOCIETY, they still are not able to find a job, keep a roof over their head and food on their table, etc etc.

Why don't we just admit what we want for felons - we want them all to receive the death penalty.

[geckosfeet]

30. How to create a permanant underclass, by The US Congress. Available now.

[Kennah]

33. Maybe the Maya really did predict the end of the world 'cause this sounds like it.

It is almost as though we have instituted laws against "Mortal Sins".