Blog Post #9

More and more children are becoming impoverished as the statistics for the amount of entire families entering poverty increases. Many people right now are losing their jobs and cannot get back on their feet so we are seeing many more children in poverty as a result. This can become increasingly problematic for those children who are younger than school aged children because the parents need to be able to provide them with care. Since the parents cannot even afford the basic things in life, they really cannot afford child care. This puts children who cannot go to full time school in a potentially bad situation as they cannot go into a quality day care that stimulates the development of the child. The 1996 Reform Act has forced more women into work. While this seems good, it forces these children into poor quality forms of day care. In the news story “More Families Find Themselves Homeless amid Economy,” say that those children who have experienced long bouts of poverty or homelessness experience depression. Also, Clinton said,: Welfare should not be a second chance, not a way of life,” but the reform forced these women to make more money which decreases the amount of government help they can receive and this greatly affects the children of these working mothers. The money these women are now making does not even come close to covering all of their expenses. The jobs that parents of young children work generally make less money because the people that work them tend to be young and inexperienced. Even though women feel more empowered, and seeing the mother go to work is good for the children, their quality of life has still not improved. Many of the women feel that employers are judging them and it stops them from getting good jobs. There has been a drop in the amount of children born out of wedlock which is a main cause of poverty but there is still a significant amount of children growing up in poverty. The statistics in now about 1 in 5 children are impoverished according to the National Center for Children in Poverty. Recently, we are seeing many more children going hungry or being food insecure. The prices of goods are rising but the wages we are paid are not. These children and families actually need the lunch programs at school in order to eat. In the video, “US families Struggle to Eat” one family talks about taking up hunting just to feed their children.