Welfare May Hinge On Identity Of Father

An advisory committee working on ways to improve the Idaho welfare system is recommending that women who can’t identify the father of their child should be denied welfare.

The Governor’s Council on Welfare Reform said that would promote personal responsibility, especially among teenage parents. The council will report to the governor and Legislature by the next session with recommendations on how to change the system.

“I am concerned that we would be hurting children,” said council member Denise Baird. “But do we really want to have a woman keep a child if she doesn’t know who the father is, or would we rather have that child be adopted?”

Because some women may not know who the father is, a mother would have one year from the date she applied for Aid for Families of Dependent Children to identify the father through court-ordered genetic testing or other means.