Blog #9: child/women poverty

I for one think that child poverty and the poverty of poor working women go hand in hand. According to Robert on “Has Welfare Reform Worked” a NPR podcast, since 1996 when the welfare to work reform was initiated, poverty rates for single working mothers and child poverty have both decreased. Children, especially young children, are dependent on adults for care. It would stand to reason then that if a mother was living in poverty then her child will be living in poverty as well. After looking at the graphs and statistics that were presented in the “Who are America’s Poor Children” article by Sarah Fass and Nancy K. Cauthen and comparing it to the statistic presented in our course material there is a direct correlation between minority women living in poverty and minority children living in poverty. I agree with one of the points that were brought up about TANF being an incentive for working women (Welfare Reform Changes Women’s Lives). This in turn does set a good example for the children, not necessarily even the woman’s child, but children in general. If children see the importance of working hard and getting an education and staying out of trouble I think they will be more inclined to make their life better. Children living in poverty face a lot of the same challenges that poor working women face. Both groups of people worry about whether they will get to eat in a particular day. Both groups worry about whether or not they will have a roof of their heads when they close their eyes to go to sleep. Finally, both groups have concerns about what will happen if they get sick or are hurt in an accident. How will they get the help they need when they do not have any health care. Child poverty is due to women in poverty. If a woman cannot support herself, she cannot support her child. If a child sees their mother struggling to make ends meet then I think they are more likely to get caught in the same cycle. To help the children of America we need to help their mothers.