Welfare is a support system offered by the Office of Family Assistance, which is a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Family Services. Welfare comes in several forms, depending on a family’s level of need.
The overall goal of the welfare program is to ensure that all children and their families living in the United States have access to basic necessities, like a roof over their heads, food on the table, education, and healthcare.
In this post, you will learn who qualifies for welfare benefits and how to apply.
Who Gets Welfare?
Welfare benefits are typically given to pregnant women, children, and the parents of children who have little or no income, or who have a disability that prevents them from working. In these cases, it can be very tough to pay the bills, and when you cannot afford to pay the bills, that means you don’t have food to eat or a safe place to live.
For example, if you are a single parent, who is responsible for raising several children, and also caring for your parents, this might be a tremendous financial burden. You need a lot of money to cover your basic daily living expenses. Not only would it be difficult to hold down a normal job, do all of your family obligations, but there’s also a chance even if you have a job, it doesn’t pay you enough money. Once you add up all of your costs for rent, food, transportation, medicine, clothes, and other costs associated with raising a family, you might need some extra support to cover those costs. And that’s where welfare comes in.
Next, let’s take a look at how to apply for welfare benefits.
How to Apply for Welfare
1. Locate Your Local State Welfare Agency
If you want to apply for welfare benefits, the first thing you have to do is find your local state welfare agency. That’s because you don’t get benefits directly from the U.S. Federal Government. Instead, each state within the U.S. has its own agency where you have to apply and get benefits. So, the Federal Government pays those State agencies money that’s then passed down to welfare recipients in each state.
Locate your local welfare or TANF agency here. You can also send an email to [email protected].
If you live in Pennsylvania, for example, you would contact the Pennsylvania Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. If you are unsure of how to use their website, you can give them a call at (800) 692-7462, and their main office is located here:
Department of Public Welfare
625 Forster St.
Harrisburg, PA 17120
(717) 787-1870
However, make sure to check on their local office hours. Many state agencies are either closed or running on limited hours due to the current pandemic.
2. Apply For Benefits Online
Once you locate your local state welfare agency, the next step is applying for aid online. But this is where it gets a little tricky because each state has its own website and system for applying.
Using Pennsylvania as an example, you can find out where to apply on their TANF page, and you can apply right online using their COMPASS portal. If you don’t have internet access, you can also apply through a local services center. Here is a list of all of the local agencies in Penn.
Again, due to the pandemic, many of these offices are running on reduced hours, so make sure to check their website or give them a call before you visit.
3. Fill Out The Application Carefully and Truthfully
Finally, it is very important to fill out all of your information correctly and honestly. If you enter the wrong information it can cause serious delays with you getting aid. Also, if you fill out the wrong information, you can even get into trouble. That’s because it is illegal to lie about your income and family status to get aid.
Your Welfare Needs
Just like every family is different, so too is each family’s financial need. If you need help paying the bills, don’t wait. Apply today.
