I recently received this letter and have permission to post. I'm thinking
that some of you might have info ready at hand or even letters that could
be modified and utilized... Thanks for helping me and writer to save time
and provide powerful persuasion:

"A few months ago my husband and I experienced a financial crisis and went
into our local social services office to inquire about receiving aid.  We
were informed that we would have to attend a three hour class in order to
be eligible for assistance.  At that time my daughter was about fifteen
months and because I was still nursing (and am still nursing), I asked if I
could either bring her to the class with me or have my husband wait outside
with her and alert me if she required a feeding.

I was informed that no exceptions were made for nursing mothers and so I
declined pursuing financial aid.  Although we are no longer in need of
financial assistance, I have contacted the supervisor of our county welfare
to work program to discuss having the breastfeeding policy changed.  To my
surprise, he is open to revisiting the program's breastfeeding policy, but
has asked that I submit a report that he may review and share with policy
makers.

My primary objective is to illustrate first the importance of breastfeeding
for both emotional and physical reasons.  I want to then highlight how the
policy causes the mother/child breastfeeding relationship to be interrupted
and would ideally conclude the report with numbers explaining how much
money the welfare system would save if they supported and encouraged a
mother's choice to breastfeed.

.... I am unsure of where to find numbers to prove that breastfeeding would
eventually save "the system" a great deal of money.  Do you have any
suggestions for me?"

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