should people pay back welfare assistance?

yes I believe people should have to pay back welfare. I got help once when I lost a job with my back rent and I had to pay it back and I was fine with that. unfortunatly the system where I live is not designed to get people back on thier feet because the people who work and cant make ends meet cant get help however other people that dont work and have 2 3 or more kids find loopholes around the work incentive programs and get money. People that refuse to work and keep having kids should get less help than someone that works and pays taxes and needs an ocasional hand up but that is not how it really works.

Well the father would be liable for paying it back in the state of Illinois from what I understood. I understand that lots of people are living on it as a way of life because they are too lazy to look for work, but again, in Illinois, they have what they call a workfirst program. What that does is make the parent (in most cases the mother) work for their cash assistance. Depending on how old the child is determines how many hours you need to put in each week in order to get that cash. They are very strict with this and make sure to always check up on you. If you miss a day due to a doctor's appointment or any other event whether personal or not, you must make up your day(s) and will not be excused just because you have somewhere else to be. The workfirst program is designed to place you at work sites that would best suit you with the intent of hiring you after a short amount of time, but they screw around with their people just because of the fact they are on aid. They want to make it challenging for them so they give them the run-around. The funny thing about all of this is that they act like they are paying you so much money and it is coming out of their pocket. They give people no respect and automatically assume people are lazy which most of them are, but for the ones who are truely looking for work, it is a shameful situation to be in because you are pretty much owned by the government until you are employed.

Actually when they sign up for welfare, they do sign a paper and if they ever reach a point where they have money then they are to pay it back. Women with children....the state goes after the father for child support and the state keeps that child support which pays back a good portion of the money that is given out.