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 to all citizens, sometimes referred to as public assistance. In most developed countries, social assistance is largely provided by government and, to a lesser extent, by charitable organizations, informal social groups, religious groups, and intergovernmental organizations. (April 22, 2014) In the United States, we have a welfare system that was started in 1935 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The social protection system we know today has undergone many changes and reforms. In 1909, President Theodore Roosevelt called a conference at the White House on how best to solve the problem of poor single mothers and their children. The conference said it was better to preserve the family in the home than to place the poor in institutions, widely criticized as costly failures. (www.crf-usa.org April 22, 2014). This was one of the first steps in a national social welfare program. During World War I, 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. Women became widows because of the war. They had children and left without a way to support their family. Children went from being workers to being dependents. Faced with this period of financial hardship for families, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave birth to the Social Security Act in 1935. (Conference, Spring 2014). During World War II, men went to war again and women went to work again. But this time, when the war ended in 1945, women kept their jobs. Women were now part of the workforce and the need for child care was now... middle of paper... full of negative and false stereotypes. -reform.html “Facts About Welfare Reform of 1996.” Facts about the 1996 welfare reform. Np, and Web. April 22, 2014. http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/federalbenefitprograms/a/welfarereform.htm “Your assumptions about welfare recipients are wrong. » Think about RSS progress. Np, and Web. April 22, 2014. http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/12/18/3081791/welfare-recipient-sending/"CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS FOUNDATION Bill of Rights in Action." BRIA 14 3 a How welfare began in the United States. Np, and 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.