Rising Poverty and Homelessness
NOT TO BE IGNORED
Rising Poverty in the Nation's Young Families, Children and Homelessness
Census Bureau (2010) reported that, for the three consecutive years, the number of people living in poverty has been increasing and reached 46.2 million or 15% of the total population. Overall poverty rate for all U.S. families went up from 9.8% in 2007 to 11.7% in 2010. Recession in the late 2007 has strongly cut through all ages, both genders and all race-ethnic groups. But the most severely affected are young families, headed by adults under 30, with one or more children. This condition is seen to assert long-lasting negative effects of children's cognitive achievement, education, nutrition and physical and mental health as well as social behavior. These developments are likely to have long-term consequences on the nation's economy and social future U.S. Census Bureau). But professionals and parents can buffer these threats to promote health early development in these young populations (Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, 2012). . Interventions include building nurturing, supportive and respectful relationships with parents, which can strengthen young people's functioning and capability to care for their own young and reduce the risks of poor development (Conrad N. Hilton Foundation).
The Effects of Poverty on Children
This study bolsters evidence that family income may be selective, but substantially still affects the child's well being (Gunn & Duncan, 1997). It also appears to assert greater influence over a child's ability and achievement more than emotional factors. It found that children who live in extreme poverty or who live below the poverty level for many years tend to suffer the worst. The timing of poverty is also a major factor. Children who experience extreme poverty in preschool and early school years had lower rates of educational completion than those who experience extreme poverty in later years. As they are, these findings strongly suggest that support and interventions in early childhood would be most effective in addressing and reducing the impact of poverty on these vulnerable children (Gunn & Duncan). .
Homelessness and Its Implications
D. Hoffman and Rosenheck, 2001 as qtd in David, 2012) reported that as many as 70% of homeless mothers endure separation from at least one child below 18. Separations range from 44-56%. Separations present as additional difficulty to finding an appropriate dwelling, keeping in touch with already separated children, and tackling negative emotions resulting from separation. The mother is sometimes compelled to decide to separate from her children in her desire to provide for them or to protect them from the harsh consequences of homelessness. She often entrusts the children to relatives or friends at least temporarily. At times, the separation is the decision of the child welfare system or by shelter policies. When she agrees to surrender her parenting role up, even temporarily, the separation can damage her sense of adequacy as a mother. It can also basically adversely affect her sense of meaning and purpose in life (David).
Women who are separated from their children become so-called "invisible mothers" while they live and thrive alone in adult-only shelters or on the streets (David, 2012). In this "invisible" state, it becomes very difficult for them to hear about and access the services they need, such as housing and reunification with their separated children. The emotional toll that separation takes on infant, toddler or preschooler can be only an estimate and certainly not well-understood. There is deep need to undertake more research on separating children from their mothers and placing them, whether temporarily or permanently, with relatives or foster families. This should be contrasted with devoting resources to unification and enhancing childcare environment at a period of homelessness (David).
Helping Hands
The Ascend (2012) Program at the Aspen Institute offers support from compassionate investors to help parents, especially women, and their children move out of poverty and a bid for educational achievement and economic security. It applies a two-generation approach to accomplish these ends. The approach consists of creating opportunities for, and addressing the needs of both parents and children together. The core components for the approach are education, economic supports and social capital. By creating partnerships across programs, policies and systems currently focusing on children and their parents separately, economic security and educational success can be achieved by letting these pass from one generation to the next (Ascend).
Parents and professionals can help young children who live in poverty and/or homeless rise from their trauma (Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, 2012). One way is for these helpers to determine what each child needs and enjoys. These helpers can then create clean, child-proofed and organized in introducing safe play and exploration. Then they can create opportunities for listening, talking and sharing. Parents and professionals can realize the gains by sensing the children's individual needs, providing them safe environment for nurturing interactions, and by appropriately and sensitively responding to cues and messages by very young children to...
Rising Poverty in the Nation's Young Families My goal is to make a positive change in the lives of young children, families, and the early childhood field by targeting childhood poverty. Concepts Poverty is increasing most rapidly in families with young children. While poverty only rose by 1.3% in the childless 30-64 age bracket, it rose by nearly 8% in families with a head under 30 years old with one or more children
families are living in poverty. Many of these families are living in such extreme conditions that they cannot afford even such basic needs as food for every meal. Living and growing up in such conditions affects every area of life and ultimately the country as a whole. The escalation of poverty among families create tremendous challenges for children. It can negatively impact a growing child's mental and physical health,
Crime is not the only issue where homelessness is concerned, however, and homelessness in and of itself can be very difficult for someone to deal with, especially if the homelessness was unexpected or there are many familial obligations that suddenly will not be met (such as in the case of a single mother, for example). When homelessness occurs this way and causes these kinds of problems, there can be very
Homelessness in the United States has been a growing social concern. It has also become clear that measures to deal with the problem have not been significantly effective. Specifically vulnerable to this problem are women, often the sole care takers of young children. The problem then imprints itself not only on the unemployed, but also upon those who depend upon these individuals for their livelihood. Homelessness then becomes a vicious
Poverty A recent study on demographics found that white Americans, currently about 63% of the U.S. population, will peak in 2024 and drop below 50% of the U.S. population by 2043. In fact, since the Immigration Reform Act of 1965, about 650,000 new immigrants a year come from Latin America and Asia, which outnumbers the mass European Immigration from 1920-1920 (Lee, 2013). African-Americans, as of the 2012 census update, comprise about
Foster Children/Foster Care Issues of a Foster Child Child Abuse Families and Children Served through Foster Care The Policy Framework This thesis reviews foster care in the United States: the reasons why children fall into the category of children who need to be taken out of their families and placed in care, the numerous emotional and psychological responses of children in foster care, and the psychological and emotional care that is given to children that
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