Single Mothers in Poverty

Single M another(prenominal)s in Poverty Midterm Essay 1 After doing the exercise of creating a budget for a bingle bewilder with cardinal kids who is hard to make ends meet on a marginal-wage job, I confound come to hand over so much compassion for those attempt with this dilemma. The odds ar elevatedly against a pitiable woman trying to do her best raising her children on a low-income job, around readiness even say that it would be impossible to do al angiotensin-converting enzyme.The hurdles of valuable dayc atomic number 18, the rising cost of housing, the low-availability of welf are for women already working, the demanding natures of jobs which dont cater for paid medical leave, and the skyrocketing costs of health care, all contribute to the exiguity of individual gets. While I was pickings a deeper look into this problem, it became copiously clear to me that this is definitely a big commonplace issue that of necessity to be speaked from a well-disposed po licy standpoint. One of the biggest issues approach America today is beggary.One of the hotshot virtually contributing factors of need is single-parent (namely single return) households. Certainly its easy to look at individual families want these and see a string of individual choices. Yet, it goes far beyond individual(prenominal) trouble and is definitely considered to be a public issue (a public crisis one might say). As Mills sates in The Sociological Imagination, peradventure the most fruitful distinction with which the sociological fancy works is amidst the personal troubles of milieu and the public issues of kind social system (Mills, pg. 2).Lets zoom stunned and look at the bigger picture here. The scantness evaluate among children is higher(prenominal) in the United States than in most other major horse opera industrialized nations (Leon-Guerrero, pg. 44). When looking at the single mothers who raise these children, the exiguity rate in the U. S. for these women is far above the average in other high income countries, even though the single mother employment rate in the U. S. is also above the average. Less generous income support programs in the U. S. process explain the exceptionally high poverty rate for single mother families in the U.S (forbes. com). This clearly demonst judge the legitimacy of this being a public issue. Its true that more and more children are growing up in single parent households, and m each of these families struggle to get by. In fact, children are more likely to exsert in poverty than Americans in any other age group (Leon-Guerrero, pg. 44). But thats non an shot of inadequate choices while single parenthood has been skyrocketing, weve also been paring underpin the supports that could help these families stay afloat. Single mothers have an especially hard epoch getting out of poverty.Households headed by single mothers are four multiplication as likely to be poor as are families headed by married co uples (Leon-Guerrero, pg. 46). Not only that, but, Single-parent families are more vulnerable to poverty because there is only one adult income earner, and female heads of household are disadvantaged even further because women in general make little money than men do (Leon-Guerrero, pg. 46). In fact, Families with a female householder and no spouse present were more likely to be poor than families with a male householder and no spouse present, 28. % versus 13. 8% (Leon-Guerrero, pg. 45). And because the legal age of single-parent households are headed by single-mothers, this inevitably increases the rate of poverty nationwide. Most of these mothers live in sexual intercourse poverty, which refers to, a situation in which some pot fail to achieve the average income or lifestyle enjoyed by the backup man of society (Leon-Guerrero, pg. 40). Take childcare for instance the high cost of taking care of ones child is crippling to a single mother qualification minimum wage and almost immediately plummets her into relative poverty.On average, a poor mother spends 32 percent of her total hebdomadal income on child care. This percentage nearly doubles when more than one child needs care (forbes. com). When a family is faced with relative poverty, the affects spreading wide. Income loss appears to affect the well-being of children indirectly through negative shock on family relations and parenting. Single parents experience a variety of stressors cerebrate to poverty (i. e. , financial, emotional, social). Single mothers must obtain sufficient money to upside the most basic needs, such as food, shelter, and clothing. Wealth is a curiously important indicator of the individual and family access to life chances. Wealth is a special form of money not used to purchase milk and shoes and other life necessities. More often it is used to raise opportunities, secure desired stature and standard of brisk, or pass kind status along to ones children (Leon-Guerrero, p g. 39). So, what active solutions? The sociological imagination allow for also help us make a help connection the one between social problems and social solutions (Leon-Guerrero, pg. 23).When looking at public issues, the textbook makes it clear that, Solutions require social action in the form of social policy, advocacy, and innovation to address problems at their structural or individual levels (Leon-Guerrero, pg. 20). It is essential that we take a fresh look at our national policies and their dismal results. Not only are U. S. poverty rates extremely high, with one out of five children living in poverty (Leon-Guerrero, pg. 40) crime rates are also high, with all the resulting costs not only to crime victims, but to taxpayers in court, prison and other legal tender public expenses.Even more costly is the enormous price our nation is paying, and will pay, if we continue not to put in a remedy to this poverty crisis. So, if single parenthood and poverty are so closely relat ed, some people say, we should spend hundreds of millions of dollars promoting marriage to help children avoid poverty (and other problems). Thats what the government has done, with money from the welfare budget. Even if it worked (which it apparently doesnt) its only one approach. What around reducing poverty?And, more specifically, what about reducing the relative likelihood of poverty in single-parent families versus those with married parents? That is, address the poverty gap between the ii groups, rather than the size of the two groups. This has the added advantage of not singling out one group single mothers for social stigmatization. And, because it defines the problem as economic rather than moral, may make it easier to conformation public support for helping the poor. Although, Helping our nations poor has been an administrative priority of many another(prenominal) U. S. presidents (Leon-Guerrero, pg. 0), the poverty problem does not wait to be getting much better. M aybe we need to change the conference about were facing here. The conversation about single mothers should way on how the extreme poverty of U. S. woman-headed families is a symptom of failed U. S. policies. And the conversation about the U. S. economy should focus on the urgent need for a condole with economy. We are clearly lacking a caring economy when we are compared to other soaked nations, U. S. wage and welfare programs are much little than similar programs in other countries (Leon-Guerrero, pg. 46). Issues have to do with matters that transcend these topical anesthetic environments of the individual and the range of his inner life. They have to do with the organization of many such milieux into the institutions of an historical society as a whole, with the ways in which various milieux overlap and interpenetrate to form the larger structure of social and historical life (Mills, pg 2). The issue of poverty clearly stems from the larger structure of social and historical life. It is sad to know that our efforts as a wealthy society are not effectively healing this tragic situation.The poverty level of single mothers affects so many areas of our society as a whole, and our nations children get the brunt of it. Not only are they raised(a) poor and impoverished, but their quality of education is compromised, the food they eat is low-quality and unhealthful, and most of them never find their way out of poverty. Writing this paper has truly touched my heart and I long to reach out to single mothers and their children who are desperately in need of compassion and support. More importantly, I would like to reach out this election year and see what I can do to promote the well-being of these mothers who are struggling so hard.Budget Summary for Single Mother in Delta County, Colorado The most juvenile report for minimum wage in Delta County, Colorado is $7. 25 an hour. The total monthly income for a person working full-time at minimum wage is $1198 (aft er taxes). Explanation of calculation 7. 25 * 40 = 290 (a week) 290 * 52 (weeks in a year) = 15,080 15,080 / 12 (months) = 1256 1256 * . 0463 (income tax rate in Delta County 4. 63%) = 58 1256 58 = 1198 Housing Costs $616 Food Costs $536 Other Necessities health check $412 Clothing $35 Transportation $439Childcare $996 Phone $40 washing/toiletries/cleaning supplies $52 School supplies and fees $20 Appliance and furniture $17 Miscellaneous $47 Nonessentials Entertainment $20 Cable $0 Cigarettes and inebriant $0 Eat out $25 Lottery $5 constitutional $3260 *This budget reflects the fact that there is absolutely no public passage in or around Delta County, so the transportation costs hold car payment, insurance, and gas costs. This budget also reflects that I would not invest any money in cable, cigarettes, or alcohol.Also, the cost of childcare for two children in Delta County is exorbitant At any expense, I couldnt have my 7 year-old child be a latchkey kid so young. The mer riment and costs of eating out are kept to a minimum. I would (just in case) spend $5 a month on the lottery. Clearly, this mother (hypothetically, me) would be nowhere near making ends meet. I would be living in relative poverty, scraping by every day, living hand-to-mouth, and I would have to be very creative with my time and imagerys. I would have to make almost TRIPLE what I am currently making in order to live comfortably.Most likely, I would reach out to neighbors, perform members, community support groups, food banks, and any other possible resource to keep my head above water. Works Cited Covert, Bryce. The Rise and Downfall Of The American Single Mother. Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 16 July 2012. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. http//www. forbes. com/sites/brycecovert/2012/07/16/the-rise-and-downf all-of-single-mothers/. Leon-Guerrero, Anna. Social Problems Community, Policy, and Social Action. k Oaks, CA Pine Forge, 2011. Print. Mills, C. Wright. The Sociological Imagination. New York Oxford UP, 1959. Print.