I did something kind of crazy.

I purchased my first Thirty-One product two years or so ago at a party I attended. It was a Thermal Tote personalized with “Cheeky Sweetie” and it served me well through both my road warrior job and later, my office job. It saved me money and helped me lose weight. It still looks brand new today, so I knew the quality was really good. I also saw my mom adding to her collection of Thirty-One products and I never heard her say a bad word about any of it.

So, in February, I hosted a party. Only a handful of guests showed up, and my girl Laci ordered from afar, but I still wound up with $90 in free credit, 2 items at half-price, and 2 hostess exclusive items. My consultant, Katie, made over $125 at that party. I just lost $435 a month in income, and my eligibility for Pell Grants has ended, so making over a hundred bucks for talking about cute products for 30 minutes seemed pretty interesting, even considering the time in admin activities for the party and the mileage to and from my house.

When I got my order, I was ridiculously happy. It’s really so simple, and I could have recreated what worked for me with a mismatch of products from other places, but the coordination factor is already figured out for you with Thirty-One so you look so well put together with so little effort! I have tried purse organizers to facilitate my frequent purse changing habit, but nothing really felt like the best solution for me so I just kept looking. I ordered a tote, a wallet, a zipper pouch, and a soft glasses case in a cute yellow and neutral print and a coordinating scarf for a little kick. My idea was to use this set as a school bag, which worked so well that sometimes I just used it as an oversized purse, too. The tote was easily big enough for my 13″ MacBookPro, a couple of textbooks, a 5 subject notebook, and the zipper pouch. My wallet went into the outside pocket and my phone and sunglass case went in the other. My zipper pouch was key-I use it to corral all of my loose items like earbuds and lip gloss and hair clips. Some bags are great, except for the way they FEEL to carry. I do not like rounded straps because the outer one won’t stay on my shoulder, and the drop has to work with the length of my torso and the exaggerated hips I’m sportin’. This one worked SO well, but the best part was that it looked adorable.

Yes, I am totally admitting that fashion is a factor in functionality. For me and for many of you, I imagine, or Vera Bradley and Coach wouldn’t be in business because we would all just carry our things around in plastic grocery bags.

After considering it at length and encouragement from my friends and family, I decided to try Thirty-One for myself.

Everyone I know that is familiar with Thirty-One loves their products and they have great monthly customer specials. The hostesses are spoiled, as I experience for myself. Consultants earn 25% commission to start, and the promotion process is very reasonable, especially in an undersaturated local market.

The kit to begin was $99, and I figured at worst, I’d do badly and get to keep a kit worth three times that. But hey, whaddaya know, I earned my kit investment back and and then some in my first month. I’ve had time to check out the incentives and career path that Thirty-One offers and I’m excited. I have set some goals and I’ve already achieved one of them. I earned the first Start Swell level that will give me about $90 in products and business supplies for free. If I have three more parties in the next 30 days,(two of which are already underway thanks to the internet reach of a catalog party in 2012 lol), I will earn level two, another $80 in products and supplies. There are two more levels I can work toward in the next 30 days, too. Incentives are offered throughout the year, and there are two BIGGIES I will be working toward next year: a conference pass/$750-1500 in gift cards and an all expenses trip to Cancun.

I think I can do this, for two reasons.

First, the products are functional and they make functional look great. They provide solutions for this busy, whirlwind lifestyle that most of us in 2012 live. Whether you are single or have a houseful of kids, you are probably trying to simplify your life by getting organized. When you have a system, you can save time and spend more time doing what you love. Thirty-One provides ways to tame the clutter in your life, and with variety of prints and personalization, it’s FUN to do so. Products like that are EASY to sell, because they sell themselves. I believe in them, and I believe they can save you time and frustration, so I can be confident in presenting them as an option.

Which brings me to the second reason; I think this can change my life if I let it, and not just financially. Yes, earning just $500 a month will ensure I can finish school. But more importantly, if I can overcome my social anxiety by working Thirty-One parties, can you imagine the impact that would have on my future or on my relationships? Interviews wouldn’t be paralyzing. Outings wouldn’t be shadowed by my inevitable meltdown. Family functions would be something to look forward to. I could act silly without that gripping fear of judgement. I could dance without feeling like I was naked in front of my classroom. I could be more involved with organizations at my college. I could take on more leadership roles…I know I have the brains and the heart for leadership. But this crippling anxiety keeps me from breaking rank to step ahead. I’ve had enough, and I want control back.

I think Thirty-One is going to help me get it.

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I have a most excellent excuse for neglecting the three people who still read my blog.

Meet my first grandchild.

Aidan James.

Born on March 28, 2012, at 2:31 am.

7 lbs 9.9 oz, 21 inches.

Completely perfect, even with his little conehead.

He turned a month old yesterday. It’s been one of the most stressful and most beautiful times of my life. I never thought I could love anyone like I love the four kids I’ve raised, but my grandson proves that thought wrong. Not that it’s been all rainbows and butterflies, but I am so very proud of his parents. Aidan always has his needs met. They love him and cuddle him and talk to him and keep him clean and fed and warm. I’m just…completely blissful with this new little love in my life. He’s brought such joy and hope to my heart.

Welcome to the world, Aidan.

Love, MiMi

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My mom retired a couple of years ago, after decades of busting her ass cleaning houses, driving a Leggs truck, waiting tables, etc. followed by nursing school and 25 years at a Tampa hospital. She’s *earned* those golden years, and that really doesn’t even take into consideration the hell my brothers, my dad (actually, both my father AND my dad), my brother’s dad, and I put her through.

But, my mom is a generous soul. To a fault, really.

See, my cousin is in a bad place. I love her dearly, but her down and out status isn’t due to bad luck, it’s due to bad decisions. I tried helping her last year and I felt very taken advantage of, so I drew the line. I know I’m not the only one who tried to help, and others were burned far worse than I. She’s addicted to painkillers, and it’s just gotten so bad that I don’t even know her anymore. She’s with a guy now, and from my perspective, she’s only gone downhill since he came into the picture. She had a problem before, but she hated that she had that problem. She talked to me about what she could do to campaign to take Oxycontin off the market because of how destructive it can be. Now, it seems like she’s completely unaware that she needs help. She has this expectation for people and agencies to help her, without doing much of anything to help herself. She seems depressed, but unable to see how her actions repeatedly get her in the situations she needs help to get out of.

To make matters worse, she has four kids. The youngest is not even a year old, the eldest will be 15 in May.

The Department of Children and Families (DCF) is involved. They sheltered the kids last fall, but a judge returned the kids with the stipulation that my cousin and her boyfriend complete tasks such as getting substance abuse evaluations and treatment if indicated, maintaining stable housing, complying with probation, getting the kids into counseling, etc. Well, in five months, their progress had been less than satisfactory, and DCF pulled the kids again. The younger kids had grandparents they could be placed with, but the oldest didn’t have anybody who could and would take her.

And here is where DCF goes into the WTF realm.

They wouldn’t let me take her because of Christian’s record. Okay, I mean I guess I sort of understand the reasoning behind that. Kinda. So, my mom stepped up. She turned her life upside down to keep this girl we love out of a foster home. She was told she could get food stamps and relative caregiver funding to help support the girl, who gets no support from either biological parent.

And then, her bitch of a DCF worker who came to do the home study decided that since my mom is not a blood relative, she doesn’t qualify for  relative caregiver funds. See, my uncle married the girl’s paternal grandmother when her father was just twelve. There was never a formal adoption, although my uncle finished raising him. My uncle and his wife raised the girl for years, and I have always been in her life; her mother and I were roommates multiple times over the years before I married. But the connection is through marriage, not biology. And so they denied my mom the financial assistance. They denied her food stamps for the girl, too, because my mom’s social security and her pension are “too high.”

The reason I’m so pissed off about it is that if she *did* go to a foster home, the foster family would receive almost TWICE the $230 that my mom would have received in relative caregiver funds. In ADDITION to food stamps. The state is willing to spend THREE TIMES AS MUCH to strangers to care for her than they are willing to spend to help her own family care for her. And as far as I know, that is *without regard* for the foster family’s OWN income.

What. The. Fuck.

My sweet Momma is literally going to food banks to keep afloat, and that pisses me off. Her parents are supposed to be responsible for the girl’s welfare. They didn’t do such a hot job, so the state decided THEY were taking responsibility. But now they are shirking financial responsibility. “Oh, we’re gonna take your kids because we can do a better job of taking care of them. Oh wait, we aren’t going to take care of them at all when they are with people who love them…only if they go to strangers!”

**I just got an email from my mom. She was saving to have her dentures fixed; they are so bad she can’t wear them unless she has to in order to eat because the break keeps pinching her. She has gone through everything she’s saved. I’m going to figure out a way to pay for her damn dentures to be fixed, but, hey Florida? Fuck you for putting her in that situation by choosing to do the right thing. And a DOUBLE fuck you to my cousin for choosing drugs over her kids.**

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Which one of you did THAT shiz? Because you’re fired. >:-{

I don’t know why I can’t seem to write. I’m seriously starting to think I have ADD or something, because I sit down to do something, even something I enjoy doing, and I can not bring myself to JUST DO IT. (Unless not doing it will screw up my GPA. Then I can manage, but it’s REALLY FREAKING HARD.) I have opinions on crap that is happening in my world, and in the bigger picture, so why the hell can’t I just express them easily anymore? (My family would say I express my opinions JUST FINE, thank you very much. LOL)

School is going along okay…I’ve got four A’s and a B so far. Things are very much in the air though, because my campus has been in the center of a huge political storm. I enrolled here because it offered an IT degree rather than Computer Science, which I felt would have more of a theory focus than I wanted, and because it was a part of USF, which has a good reputation. Florida Senator JD Alexander has been on a crusade to break my campus off into an independent polytechnic university. I didn’t know this when I enrolled, and when the student body was polled, over 80% of the respondents were not in favor of a split, myself included. The Board of Governors or BOG, (which oversees the public university system in Florida), agreed in November to move ahead with the split, but put in place certain benchmarks to guide the process, which could take several years. Senator Alexander, hereafter known as the big bully, wasn’t satisfied with that plan and slipped a bill in that would immediately sever the school. He also proposed a 58% cut to USF’s funding for next year, (a full 20% of the $400 million dollar cuts to higher education were to be placed on USF), which many of us felt was retaliatory because USF didn’t just bend to his will. Thankfully, we have some bulldog senators who fought for our funding, and the burden of the budget cuts was more evenly distributed when the Senate was done. On the other hand, the bill for an immediate split was passed. Because of this, I really have no clue what will happen. I do know that this new institution will not be accredited for some time, contrary to what the big bully presented, which was one of the major benchmarks in the BOG’s plan, of course. No accreditation means no federal student aid, including Stafford loans, and obviously it means a degree worth MUCH less. Supposedly current students will have the option of finishing our programs at the USF Tampa campus, but the bill specifically says according to that campus’ criteria, and I don’t meet the completion ratio requirement to attend the Tampa campus…so what does that mean for me? Why do we even have a BOG, which costs taxpayers $6 million dollars annually to operate, if the legislature can just do whatever the hell it wants anyway? Grrrrr. I’m starting to get all breathing-in-a-brown-paper-bag-y about it so I’m moving on to another subject now…who the hell has brown paper bags just lying around anyway? I may live near a liquor store but I am not a frequent patron. Maybe I should be…

Moving on, guess what? My grandson is due in three weeks!!!! Wait, let me just type that again because it still feels surreal. My grandson is due in three weeks!!!! Holy shitballs. I can’t wait to see his little face. This hasn’t ever really been a mommyblog kind of blog, but y’all better brace yourselves for some bragging on my grandbaby. I think I am going to be pretty amazing at this grandmother thing. I’ve spent so much money on this little man already…I can’t wait to spend TIME with him. The kids painted their room and put the crib and changing table up…the house is ready for the takeover and so are we.

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This is an extremely long, and emotionally charged post.  I was raised to believe that the police are there to protect us.  I have always known there were some bad cops, but I believed they were the exception.  I believed that if you tell the truth, you will prevail.  Maybe I should have known better, looking back.  But these are ideals ingrained long before I ever had any personal contact with law enforcement.  In order to understand the impact what I am about to tell you has had on me and my family, you have to know about two prior incidents.

When he was 14, my son was convicted of something he did not do, and spent five months in a juvenile program in North Florida.  He believed that the videos would prove his innocence.  When they didn’t prove either him or the ‘victim’ right, they were sent to the state attorney’s office, along with statements from the ‘victim’ and her friend, who wrote another boy’s name on her statement.  We never thought the state would file charges, but they did.  His public defender, (who handled every single juvenile case I ever saw get a public defender at five court dates over five months), essentially told us the judge wouldn’t believe him and our best bet was to take a plea deal.  Since juvenile cases do not have juries, we were scared.  We know that you tend to get punished even harder if you go to trial and get convicted, and he was having some other issues at home, and so we agreed it would be best to plea out.  To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t sure if he really was innocent, until the day he pled out.  When we arrived in court and his name was called, the victim’s advocate stood and said the victim agreed to the plea deal, but only because she had been harassed at school by my son ever since she reported him to the school resource officer.  I knew she was lying then, because he never set foot back in that school after that day.  He spent five months in that program, knowing he was being punished for something he didn’t do.  The strain on my family, emotionally and financially, was immense.  He learned then that the law is not about the truth.  He learned then that the law is about the perception of the person you are dealing with, and once you get involved with law enforcement, the truth doesn’t matter anymore.

My son was also assaulted while being held in the county jail, awaiting transport to the juvenile detention center in Ocala, Fl.  I saw bruising on him, and made a complaint.  The sergeant I spoke with initially was in charge the night of the incident, but he denied there being any incident to me on the phone and told me there was no video surveillance in the area in which my son was taken to and assaulted.  He did help me make the complaint, however, and a few days later I received a call from a detective from the jail, who told asked me to explain again what happened.  I did, including the conversation with the sergeant, which confused him because he did have an incident report.  I asked to see the video of what happened before my son was removed to an unsupervised area.  In a day or two, he invited Brian and I to come view the tape.  He showed us the area in which the incident took place, and then showed us the video.  I was torn after watching the video.  To Brian and I, it proved the officer was over aggressive, and what was described as my son aggressively waving his arms was actually him raising his two hands, palms up, as the officer approached him.  It was not arm waving…it was surrender.  When you lie about one thing, how can I believe you about what happened once you were out of the camera’s eye?  Nothing I saw refuted any part of my son’s story.  I wrestled with what to do.  I could have obtained a private attorney, or asked for an IA investigation.  Neither my son nor I wanted to ruin this man’s career.  What we wanted was an acknowledgment that he was wrong, and most importantly, that a regulation be introduced that prohibits taking an inmate into an unsupervised area for ‘redirection.’  We received neither, but I chose not to pursue the matter, because I was naive and I believed in what law enforcement stood for…I thought it must have been an isolated incident.  He went along with it because he believed that the truth of what happened didn’t matter; it was his word against an officer’s, and he was very familiar with how law enforcement took his word.  Now I regret that decision very much.

On Sunday, June 24th, at around 8-ish pm, Brian and I and our two daughters, ages 7 and 9, returned from a BBQ and pool party at my friend Adam’s house in the Orlando area.  It was a great day, and a quiet trip home, as everyone slept but me.  Our two teenaged sons had been home while we were gone, with several friends over.  I don’t recall the house being a mess or anything upsetting when we got home; it was just a nice peaceful ending to a fun day.  Or so I thought.

It being summer when it is easy to lose track of the days, (especially since I am not working and am on break from school, too, and Brian isn’t working regularly, either), and since I had mistakenly told the boys the party was Saturday for several days before I realized it was Sunday, the kids didn’t realize it was Sunday night.  My son and his girlfriend went to the corner store to get a drink, but when they got there, they saw it was closed and realized their mistake and headed home.  There was a car parked there, with four or five boys in it, who said something to them.  When my son’s girlfriend saw three boys jump out of the car with a weapon and run for my son, she screamed at him to run and she screamed for me.  He ran around the corner and made it to the edge of my yard before they tackled him and began to beat him with the weapon.  His girlfriend was trying to call me, but in a panic she must have misdialed or the call wouldn’t go through and somehow in the melee, one of the boys grabbed her phone out of her hand and threw it.

Brian was having a cigarette out front and he saw the boys running after my son, but he thought it was just some of his friends goofing around.  Until he saw one swing at my son’s ribs with a weapon, and my son hit the ground, the three boys on him.  He ran screaming toward them and pulled the boy with the weapon off, pinning him to the ground, while a close friend of ours who had just been dropped off pulled another boy off, who started screaming at Brian that the boy he had pinned was a minor.  That minor had the crow bar, and he hit Brian three times with it in the head and face, striking him on the top of his head, under one eye, and in the mouth, chipping his tooth.  The boys still in the car had pulled it around by now, and my guys released the boys they had.  When they ran to the car, one of them reached in, yelling, “You want that fire??!!”

I didn’t know any of this had happened.  I heard Christian come in and order his sisters and our friend’s son into a bedroom, later I realized it was because he was afraid the boys had a gun, and he didn’t want the kids in danger.  I didn’t know what was happening, but I could hear in his voice that it was serious, so when Emily started objecting, I yelled for her to do as she was told and came out to see what it was.  I saw my son, covered in dirt all over his back, wild eyed and out of breath.  And then I ran out front to find out what was happening.

I will never forget the warzone I stepped into when I stepped out of my house that night.  I saw a red car careen from my yard down to the next lot, pull a u-turn into an empty lot across the street, passing between a power pole and an electrical box, and then head toward what I thought was the back end of Brian’s car.  I stepped forward, and the tree between Brian and I no longer blocked my view.  It wasn’t the car they were racing toward.  It was Brian.  I was barefoot, but I took off running, and screaming.  I screamed so loud in those seconds that my urine ran down my legs as I thundered toward the car, running through broken glass but never feeling a thing, and my voice was gone for almost a week after.  I don’t know what I meant to do…but I wan’t going to tell another child that their father was dead without doing something to try to stop it.  I didn’t know it at the time, but he had already tried to hit him once and missed.  He pulled that u-turn to try to hit his mark again.  He accelerated as the car flew toward my daughters’ father.  There were no brake marks, when the dust settled.  Brian jumped out of the way, but the fender hit his ankle.  He didn’t even realize it right away, because of the adrenaline pumping through his veins.  I called 911, frantic, panicked…and I learned what had happened before I came outside.

I really thought they would help us.  I thought they would find the kids who did this-we knew two names, for crying out loud!  I thought the police were there to protect citizens against violence and crime.  But I was wrong.  I’m not really sure *who* the police protect, but I learned that week that it sure isn’t me and my family.  The true attack was yet to come, and Hernando County Sheriff’s department allowed those boys to use them as a weapon against us in a second, more devastating attack.

To be continued, when my heart can take it…

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I’m seeing people that I really respect reposting a message about the new Florida drug testing for welfare law, and I just have to address it.  I believe in the right to free speech, even when I disagree with the message, but I also believe that people should look at all sides of an issue before taking a position, especially publicly.

I wonder how many of those people have actually applied for state benefits.  Those who have not tend to think of welfare as an easy to get handout.  They tend to think of welfare recipients as stereotypes: lazy, having babies to get state benefits instead of working, making money that goes unreported so they can net more benefits, driving Lexus’ to pick up groceries with food stamps, etc.  The common thread is the mentality that people on welfare WANT to be on welfare rather than being independent.  In my opinion, making that assumption is comparable to judging someone based on their color, religion, sex, disability, sexuality, or any other factor independent of character.

I’m on welfare.  Or, I was, until the end of May.  I applied for benefits when I was laid off from my job in December.  I’d like to share my experience….a much more common experience than the rare abuse of the system that people seem compelled to believe is the rule rather than the exception.  I applied for food stamps and medical coverage.  The income limits are so low for cash assistance that even with only $720 income monthly for four people, (which is enough for my $600 mortgage and my power bill, when I am not running the heat or a/c), I knew did not qualify so I did not bother to apply.

I had to provide:

• signed statements from my old employer (and then the payroll company when they would not accept the paper from my employer-faxes I paid for since I don’t have a fax machine at home)
• proof of the kids’ immunizations
• birth certificates (which I had to replace at $10/each)
• proof of my son’s Survivor’s benefits (I’m sure they have access to that info electronically, but I had to drive to a neighboring county to the office to get a letter)
• proof of enrollment in school
• divorce papers (I had to pay to fax this multipage document three times because they kept losing it)
• my bank account numbers and balances
• information about all my property and its value, essentially just my vehicle in my case

In all, I’d say it cost me about $75 to provide them with all the information they required to make a decision.  I stood to gain more than that in benefits, so it was a good investment, and thankfully I applied before I was down to nothing.  Most people who apply don’t WANT to apply…they don’t want to be dependent on welfare.  So they try everything they can to handle it on their own, and by the time they apply, there isn’t anything left to invest.  I’d love to know how many cases that would qualify are denied because of not providing data that the state can access electronically.  I know Child Support Enforcement can use the IRS database and birth records to track noncustodial parents…I’m sure DCF (Department of Children and Families, Florida’s agency for child and elder protection and welfare) does too.

But I still wasn’t done proving myself worthy.

There is a state statute that says that welfare recipients must comply with Child Support Enforcement.  I objected to registering with CSE.  My girls’ father and I divorced in 2005 and he was ordered to pay $300/month in child support.  I asked for a smaller amount than I was entitled to because he has full custody of his son, without receiving any financial support from the mother, ever.  I knew he couldn’t continue to provide for his son on his own if he had to pay more, and $300 was all I needed to pay his share of their food, clothing, and shelter.  In the years since our divorce, if he wasn’t living with us and providing direct support by sharing the bills, he was paying support.  Every payday, he put cash in my hand.  I have to say that he has always been reliable about providing support to our girls.  Had he paid it to the CSE system, it would have delayed my receipt of these funds by up to a week, AND they charge HIM a fee for their ‘services’.  Another factor is that I am terrified of CSE.  In the early days of our marriage, every year they would take him to court for arrears in support for his oldest daughter…every year we gave our tax refund to satisfy the support we owed, but for some reason that makes NO sense to anyone, they hold the funds for 180 days before releasing them to the custodial parent.  We went in with proof that the funds needed to catch up our account were already given, but they didn’t care.  They threw him in jail every year, leaving me alone to provide for our two children and even HIS son.  (In a twist, had we been on welfare then, we probably could have been able to pay support for her without starving our own children.)  I’m petrified that’s what they will do again, and what good will he do ANY of his kids while sitting in jail…how are parents supposed to support their kids from jail?  They denied food stamps for me based on my ‘lack of cooperation’ with CSE because I won’t hand over control of my child support situation to them.  The kids can still receive benefits, but not me, because I am ‘noncompliant’. (You would think they would be happy that my family doesn’t need these additional services-it is only costing taxpayers MORE money to force everyone to go through CSE whether there is a need or not.  So much for small government.  Not EVERY family or personal issue needs to be handled by Big Brother…but essentially I was penalized for having a fantastic relationship with my ex-husband.  And even worse?  The alternative was that he would be penalized even though he has never been noncompliant in supporting our children.  I wonder how many well-functioning families have been thrown into turmoil because of being forced to hand over control of their child support situation to this agency.)

After about 30 days, the children received Medicaid and food stamps.  (I had Medicaid for 14 days, then it was pulled, even though my case says I was eligible.  I have no idea about that.)  The food stamps have ensured my kids have been able to have a decent dinner every night, and I am thankful for them.  Now that school is out, and I have them home all day, I will need the help even more.  I really don’t mind that I only eat once a day.  I’ve lost weight, as a result.  But my kids need healthy food, whether I’ve been able to find another job or not.

My certification ran out at the end of May, so I submitted a review on May 10th to be sure there was plenty of time for them to look it over.  I thought, they already have everything they need..it shouldn’t be an issue.  But now they want me to prove that I receive ‘child support privately’. I’m not sure how I’m supposed to prove that, so I just had Brian write a statement and I’ve been trying to fax it for weeks now.  The fax number is always busy.  June 6th was the deadline.  I have no idea what to do now…I just keep trying to fax the paper, every day..even though it’s probably too late now.

I’ve worked since I was 16 or 17.  I’ve paid taxes most of if not all of my adult life, so people just like me have help in situations like mine.  I don’t mind it at all.  I think it’s my responsibility as a member of this society to contribute toward others.  I am the very reason these programs exist, but even I have had to jump through hoops-sometimes repeatedly.  It’s not easy at all to qualify for the assistance these programs provide.  Had I not had the money for copies, faxing, gas, etc, or a home address for paperwork to be sent to, or a phone to receive or make calls to the caseworker…or the intelligence to field the barrage of requests for things I had already submitted, I wouldn’t have been approved at all. And people without those things probably don’t have family to turn to for help.  They just go without.  (Until someone reports them to DCF for not providing for their kids properly and then the very agency they went to for help takes their children away.)

Getting back to drug testing welfare applicants…

I anticipate that the drug test will cost around $35, and that cost is paid up front by the applicant.  If the results are negative, the applicant will be reimbursed.  (Although I have to question with what method reimbursement will take place, and how long it will take for that to happen.  From my experience, the government is quick to take our money and slow to return it.)  If the results are positive, they can designate another adult to receive benefits for any minor children, but that adult will also have to be drug tested, with the same conditions.  There is nothing in place to provide any help to those who test positive with substance abuse counseling, education, or treatment…all they get is six months of being barred from applying for benefits.

The number of families who do not have $35+ to pay for a drug test is going to be huge.  These are families who are already struggling or they wouldn’t be applying for help…$30 is a water bill unpaid, a week or two of diapers, several meals, gas to job hunt for the week.  They will either go without, or turn to other agencies to help bridge the gap this requirement will create, only raising their dependency on public assistance programs.  Another issue I have is with the other adult appointed to receive benefits for children whose parent has tested positive.  Testing negative on a drug test is not a qualified indicator of morality…I wonder how many families will have their benefits stolen by unscrupulous appointees.

This regulation relies on many assumptions:

• that if you test positive for drugs (which, in the case of marijuana, may have been used well before even applying for benefits) you must be using state benefits for your children to pay for them.  That assumption is full of holes, beginning with the fact that the people tested haven’t even been awarded benefits yet, which means the assumption ACTUALLY is:
• that if you test positive for drugs, you must be a bad parent and morally corrupt enough to spend your children’s benefits on your drug habit. Using drugs does not, in and of itself, make you a bad parent, and it certainly does not mean you would spend your babies’ benefits on your drug use, any more than passing a drug test means you are morally superior and would never spend your babies’ benefits for other selfish reasons.
• that if you test positive for drugs, you are a regular drug user and buyer.  Who can say they don’t know someone who occasionally will smoke a joint or do a line with friends, but never buys it or has their own stash?  I’m NOT making any moral statement on that practice.  I am SIMPLY saying that testing positive, especially for something that could have been consumed just once, at any time within the last month, does not mean you are an addict or that you have a dependency, and it does NOT mean you spend any money on drugs.  It certainly CAN mean that, but this regulation makes that assumption, across the board.

It’s not that I disagree with the sentiment that it’s unfair that job applicants get drug tested and welfare applicants don’t.  That really *is* incongruous and I don’t have a solution for that.  What bothers me is that this perpetuates the myth that the average welfare applicant or recipient is not worthy of helping and places the onus on the applicant to prove themselves beyond financial need, and even more so, that this places yet another barrier for families that need the most help. Welfare reform is a valid concern, but this tactic will only temporarily reduce the bottom line.  Rick Scott’s leadership style is to satisfy the taxpayers of today with reducing spending, regardless of the effect it will have on future taxpayers.  His education budget cuts alone prove our children (our future!) are not his main concern-the budget is.  We may pay less out in state funds due to this regulation and his other cuts for a time…but in the long run it will cost us, not only in other programs that will be more heavily relied upon but more importantly, in our future, as a society.  I agree that something needs to be done about wasteful spending…but am I the only one who sees that the people responsible for cutting the budget are almost never willing to look at their own offices and salaries and those of their high ranking cronies?  No, they look to the poorest, the little people, the low man on the totem pole to bear the brunt of their slashing.

And, you really ought to know that just before taking office, the governor who signed this law turned over his company which specializes in drug testing, to his wife.  In his mind, this is not a conflict of interest.  But I can not help but be suspicious. Among other things.

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