The Scarlet Letter is alive and well.

Sanchez, who is 33, expected more than financial assistance from the state — in part because she was distantly aware of the history of welfare reform, a federal law that passed 25 years ago this summer. Given that legislation’s emphasis on putting welfare recipients to work, she said, she thought that welfare officials would push her to get a new job: “In fact, I really hoped they’d help me with that.”

Instead, the New Mexico Human Services Department caseworker who called the next day fixated on an unexpected question: Who was baby Avery’s biological father?

You can’t get public assistance if you don’t name your child’s father, the caseworker said.

“She was really adamant about it,” Sanchez said. “It was all she wanted to talk about: the dad.”

Now imagine if that child was the result of a rape…

propublica.org