It is vital to make federal institutions more accessible to the impoverished population in order to strive toward social inclusion. Many American’s who fall beneath the poverty line restrain from seeking federal aid due to the complicated path of receiving financial relief. In 1996, the Welfare Reform Act was passed and on the surface seemed to present a wide variety of benefits and provisions for those who rely on welfare. According to reports, within three years of the reforms existence millions of Americans who previously relied on welfare declared themselves financially self-dependent. In addition, agencies reported a reduction in the number of social welfare cases. As mentioned in Edin and Shaefer’s novel, these reduction in social
