Welfare Reform, Children’s Issues Topics for First Lady

Wednesday, Oct. 23, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

"There is no more welfare system, that bureaucracy is gone," she told some 100 people at a political forum. "So we're going to have to pick up the slack."

The first lady said new programs and cooperation from the business community would be needed to provide training and jobs for those leaving the welfare rolls.

President Clinton vetoed two welfare bills before finally signing the existing measure because the previous bills "didn't have enough child care, enough child support provisions," she said.

Using a children's museum as a setting, Mrs. Clinton met with working mothers and local and state political figures to discuss the topic of working women.

She praised the family leave bill, saying the time allows a bonding between mother and child and "creates that emotional connection" that can change lives.

And she challenged parents to take a more active role in the lives of their children, from school to issues such as the V-chip, which can control the type of television shows children watch.

"We have to persuade parents they are their child's first teacher," she said. "We have to invite them (parents) back into the schools."

Raising a child includes providing "a safe environment where they can grow and explore," she said.

She recounted an experience when her husband was governor of Arkansas, and daughter Chelsea wanted to ride her bike from the governor's mansion to a Little Rock library a few blocks away.

"I had to say no, it isn't safe," she recalled.

"Our first obligation - something the president is working on - is to give childhood back to our children," Mrs. Clinton said.

Rearing children can be particularly tough for the "sandwich generation" - adults caught between raising their own children and taking care of elderly parents, she said. Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are particularly critical for that generation, she said.

Members of a panel expressed their views on working women and the needs of children.

Beverly Mathis, principal of Kermit R. Booker Elementary School, told of programs she has initiated to help impoverished youngsters from her district. She told of coining the phrase "It takes an entire village to raise a child" years ago.

Mrs. Clinton's new book is entitled "It Takes a Village to Raise a Child."

The educator told the first lady the success of her programs are based on a triangle consisting of home, school and community.

She said some call the area she serves "at risk" but she prefers "at promise."

Debbie Hawkins, the head of a production company and mother of three daughters, said the Clintons "know what it's like for working mothers" and offer hope.

"People without hope are very dangerous," Ms. Hawkins said.

Suzzane Dessaints-Prince praised the medical leave act, saying it gave her three months to bond with her newborn daughter.

Colleen Roth, a waitress and union steward at a local restaurant, said she has to struggle financially, since her husband is unemployed. But she said she felt the economy is "going good under the Clinton administration."

Joanne Angerson, the head of a Clark County advocacy program, told of the struggle of raising five children as a single mother. Four have graduated from college. She told of a period when she turned to welfare for help, calling it "one of the most bureaucratic, dehumanizing experiences" in her life.

State Sen. Bob Coffin, the Democratic candidate for Congress from Nevada's 1st District, called Mrs. Clinton "a model in the mold-breaking generation of American women."

Mrs. Clinton, who addressed a student rally and gave a lecture at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas on Tuesday, left for Columbia, Mo. following Wednesday's forum.