Punishing the poor: Michigan adopts law to take away families’ food assistance if kids miss school

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http://www.rawstory.com/2015/06/punishing-the-poor-michigan-adopts-law-to-take-away-families-food-assistance-if-kids-miss-school/



Punishing the poor: Michigan adopts law to take away families’ food assistance if kids miss school
Joan Shipps
12 Jun 2015 at 14:33 ET

The Republican governor of Michigan signed a law this week that makes families of students who miss school ineligible for government benefits designed to combat child poverty and hunger.

On Thursday, Governor Rick Snyder inked his support for the “Parental Responsibility Act,” which cuts off Family Independence Program assistance for relatives of children in Michigan caught being absent without proper documentation.

“To break the cycle of poverty, kids need an education to position them for future success. We have to do everything we can to see that they are regularly attending school,” Snyder says of the legislation on his website.

Michigan League for Public Policy President Gilda Jacobs tells MLive that nearly three out of four cash assistance recipients are children, with an average age of seven. “With more than half a million Michigan children living in poverty,” Jacobs says, “and the needs of too many families unmet, our state should be doing everything possible to lift them up, not push them deeper into economic crisis.”