Urgent stories from the intersection of automation and social welfare, told by people around the world fighting for access and resources to care for themselves and the people they love

Sixteen first-person narratives from around the world share experiences of seeking support through public systems of social insurance including housing, health care, child care, education, and cash assistance. The narrators come from nine countries-Australia, Colombia, Finland, Indonesia, Kenya, Spain, Uganda, the United Kingdom, and the United States-and range in age from their twenties to their eighties. They offer an intimate look at what it means to rely on social welfare in times of need and the challenges that come with it.

These stories cross borders and share a common thread: the struggle to find dignity and fairness within systems that are increasingly automated, impersonal, and difficult to navigate. Through their words, readers encounter parents, students, caregivers, and workers who persist with courage and creativity despite exclusion and precarity.

More than a study or policy report-this is a chorus of lived experiences. Together, these narratives invite us to rethink the meaning of care and community, and to imagine a future where social support is built around human need rather than efficiency.

For readers interested in social justice, inequality, and the everyday realities behind public systems, this book offers an unflinching yet deeply compassionate portrait of what it takes to survive within the modern welfare state-and why it is worth protecting.