Welfare and families in the United States: changes and reformsWelfare is defined by Wikipedia as the provision of a minimum level of well-being and social support for all citizens, sometimes referred to as well as public aid. In most developed countries welfare is largely provided by the government and, to a lesser extent, by charities, informal social groups, religious groups and intergovernmental organisations. (22 Apr 14) In the United States we have a welfare system started in 1935 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The welfare system we know today has undergone many changes and reforms. In 1909, President Theodore Roosevelt called a White House conference on how best to address the problem of poor single mothers and their children. The conference declared that preserving the family in the home was preferable to placing the poor in institutions, which were widely criticized as costly failures. (www.crf-usa.org 22 Apr 14). This was one of the first steps towards a national welfare program. During the First World War, in 1914, men went to war and women worked. When the war ended and the men returned home, the women stopped working. The Great Depression hit in the 1930s, leaving families financially devastated. The women were widowed due to the war. They had children and left with no way to care for their families. Children went from being workers to being considered dependent. Recognizing this as a financially difficult time for families, President Franklin D. Roosevelt enacted the Social Security Act in 1935 (conference, Spring 2014). During World War II, men again went to war and women again went to work. This time however, once the war ended in 1945, the women remained at work. Women were now part of the workforce and the need for child care was now… front and center… full of negative and false stereotypes. Works Cited http://nwcitizen.us/oldsite/usa/welfare -reform.html"1996 Welfare Reform Facts." 1996 Welfare Reform Facts. Np, nd Web. April 22, 2014. http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/federalbenefitprograms/a/welfarereform.htm"Your assumptions about welfare recipients are wrong." ThinkProgress RSS. Np, nd Web. April 22, 2014. http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/12/18/3081791/welfare-recipient-spending/"CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS FOUNDATION Bill of Rights in Action." BRIA 14 3 a How welfare began in the United States. Np, nd Web. April 22, 2014. http://www.crf-usa.org/bill-of-rights-in-action/bria-14-3-a-how-welfare-began-in-the-united -states.htmlStein, Gary. “Where are all the couch potatoes and welfare queens?” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, October 14, 2013. Web. April 22. 2014.