Innocent: Confessions of a welfare mother is a memoir that defies the stigma that comes along with welfare and poverty. It outlines the trials and tribulations of a single Caucasian mother and her ability to maintain her family. Forced to make pivotal decisions and keep the best interest of her family in mind, she must take welfare handouts to get through her financial struggles. This memoir is a way to highlight the obstacles it takes to keep a stable household and get by at the worst times in a single mothers life. At a time of racism and despair, this single mother was able to find a place to call home and give her family a comfortable life. Barbara Morrison, an educated woman who grew up in a nuclear family home, their home included “[her] parents and children living in one household” (Moore& Asay, 2013). They lived in Roland Park in Baltimore Maryland. Living the “Average” lifestyle in her parents’ home she felt as if she were an outsider. Morrison decided to go to Western Maryland and pursue her collegiate education. She could not take the racism that went on in 1970 and decided to uproot her life for the better. Worcester, Massachusetts is where Morrison’s life would further take its course, she finally felt at home in this city. Morrison met her closest friend Jill who would also be an important benefactor in Barbra’s life; the first thing that she explained to Morrison was “The vast majority of people on welfare were white and lived in rural areas, not inner cities” (Morrison,2011).Morrison did not understand this until she was faced with the reality of poverty. In order to survive she needed to bring in resources, which are “anything identified to meet an existing or future need” (Moore& Asay, 2013).In Morrison’s case ... ... middle of paper ... ...o get Welfare assistance was a smart decision, but while on welfare she could have been in search for a better job. She didn’t want to take any time away from her children, but it may have been necessary in order to give them an even better life. Morrison did not weigh in the fact that she could have lived even more comfortably, having a well-paying job. When deciding to get welfare, another alternative could have been to teach in a place where her sons could also attend. Morrison was a good care provider for her children, but if she would have altered her ultimate plan slightly, it could have changed her life in a tremendous way. Works Cited Morrison , B. (2011). Innocent: Confession of a Welfare Mother . (1st ed.). Baltimore,MD: Apprentice House Moore, T. J,. & Asay, A. M. (2013). Family Resource Management. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications inc.
Hays found that initially most welfare workers were optimistic and even excited about the changes. Most workers felt that the Act represented real progress and allowed for positive changes which would positively impact the lives of their clients. Hays spoke to one welfare who said that welfare reform “offered the training and services necessary to 'make our clients' lives better, to make them better mothers, to make them more productive.'” But as she was soon to find out, welfare reform, while it did have a positive impact on the lives of some welfare clients, made the lives of most clients more difficult, not to mention the stress that it caused for the welfare workers who had to deal with the often confusing and illogical new rules.
The first part of the moral prescriptions described in Flat Broke With Children is the Work Plan/Family Plan that is an important part of Welfare reform. (Hays, 23) The Work Plan and the Family Plan are two different means of getting people out of Welfare that contradict themselves at times. The Work Plan and Family Plan have completely different moral goals in the end so it makes sense that they would contradict. The Work Plan is aimed to get women jobs and the Family Plan is aimed to bring families together and extort money from fathers who have abandoned their children. The Work Plan values independence and productivity while the Family Plan values community and commitment to others. (Hays, 23) Bot...
More than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City (Issues of Our Time)
One of the most prominent concerns of Evicted is the issue of inescapable financial instability as it relates to eviction. In the very first few pages of the book, Desmond reveals that the majority of poor renting families in America spend over 50% of their income on housing, with an even more astonishing one in four spending over 70% of their income on it (4). When families are spending the majority of their already meager income on housing alone, it is no surprise that they have little money left for savings or self-betterment programs such as a college education. Compounded with this is the fact that some welfare systems are constructed in a way that discourages long-term financial responsibility. For example, Supplemental Security Income, a program that provides monthly stipends for low-income elderly or disabled individuals, is revoked if individuals have too much money in their bank account (217). For
To the modern white women who grew up in comfort and did not have to work until she graduated from high school, the life of Anne Moody reads as shocking, and almost too bad to be true. Indeed, white women of the modern age have grown accustomed to a certain standard of living that lies lightyears away from the experience of growing up black in the rural south. Anne Moody mystifies the reader in her gripping and beautifully written memoir, Coming of Age in Mississippi, while paralleling her own life to the evolution of the Civil Rights movement. This is done throughout major turning points in the author’s life, and a detailed explanation of what had to be endured in the name of equality.
B) Create an even bigger welfare system that keeps people at the bottom rung of society, or C)incarcerate and enslave anybody who is too poor, too black, too Latino, etc. and force them to work for free for corporations that expose the very worst corners of our society.” This book has given me a sense of necessity to fight for equal treatment and justice for all people, regardless of race or other socio-economic status. This cannot be who we
As people live to this day’s constant demands, they often mention how their lives are ‘horrible’, but no life can be more horrific than just one day in the groove of Wanda Bridgeforth’s life growing up during the 1930’s. Wanda Bridgeforth was a survivor of The Great Depression, and she has quite a story to tell. Surely, she can relate to someone like Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird, although her skin is a different shade. Wanda would had never known what it was like to grow up as an African American if she didn’t primarily reside in what was known as the ‘Black Metropolis’, if she didn’t have major money shortages in her family, if she didn’t live in a constantly cramped housing space, or if she wasn’t transported away to live with a whole different group of people.
3) In Throwaway Moms: Maternal Incarceration and the Criminalization of Female Poverty, authors Suzanne Allen, Chris Flaherty, and Gretchen Ely specifically focus on mothers incarcerated for drug offenses. Furthermore, they discuss the negative effects incarceration has had on the relationships between mothers and their children. The article involves the interviews of 26 mothers incarcerated in a Kentucky prison in 2007. According to the authors, maternal incarceration is surrounded by a large number of issues and policies. This includes poverty, addiction, federal legislation, the War on Drugs, child welfare, and other financial issues that mothers in particular face (Allen, S., Flaherty, C., & Ely, G. 2010).
Momma Welfare it’s poem written about a woman's experience of poverty. She is African American from southern states. This women doesn't have enough income to provide food and shelter for herself and her children's. She don't have a job because of her disability, she is overweight. Her children are suffering from the poverty as well. They don't even have even toys to play “Her children, strangers To childhood's toys, play Best the games of darkened doorways,” In the poem the “darkened doorways” this line describe their living condition.
Article 1: The first article based on Boo (2001) and Burch (1991) were based on social problems primarily on the story written about Katherine Boo who lived in the ghetto area of Washington, DC, where social issues and racism continue to be prominent. Boo’s story present a typical example of how the social-economic double standards have worked for years within the American society. The article also brings forth the truth regarding the post-welfare policy which conceals the reality of the double standard approach to distinct social layers in the U.S and the social transformations in the ghetto district of Washington, D.C. after the enactment of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act.
Programs that help people who are in poverty are known as Public-Assistance programs that only help citizens whose income doesn’t meet the law standards of living and as well to those who are not covered by social insurance (Katznelson 326). These programs are known as “undeserving” as they are not indexed and organized by the state. The programs include supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) known as food stamps, Temporary assistance to needy families (TANF), and Medicaid. These programs are set to help Americans who are struggling, but unfortunately, these programs have been abused.
The family lives in a public housing subsidy tenement and received public assistance from the State. Her first child, who she called "Mongo", because she was born with a disease called Down syndrome lived with her grandmother, but on days the social worker would visit the grandmother would bring the child by to visit. Though the grandmother was very much aware of the abuse that was taking place in the home, she turned a blind eye. I personally think she was one of the contributor to the dysfunction, though it never show her hurt or abusing precious the fact that she pretend like everything was okay and would help the mother lie to the social worker, so she could continue to receive benefits from the state for her daughter and granddaughter show how e...
The United States Government has pumped more than $3.5 trillion U.S. taxpayer dollars into welfare but, ironically, the poverty rate is higher than when they started (Tanner, Welfare Reform). This outrageous amount of money proves that welfare will lead United States into debt. The original intent of current welfare benefits has failed; therefore the national welfare system must be reformed. To fully understand how to reform the welfare system Americans must know what the history of welfare is, illegitimate births’ obvious connection to crime and welfare, how welfare has failed to keep the poverty rate down, the great problem of dependency, and finally what reforms must be made. Welfare reforms will greatly help this Nation become stronger and have a more secure future.
The struggles Cecelia faced as a single mother working to complete a degree and support herself and her son did strike a familiar tone with me. Although I did raise my daughter as a single mother in California for almost six years, unlike Cecelia I was well employed, had completed my bachelor’s degree, and was in my thirties. Even so I also struggled more than occasionally with bias against my status as a single mother, albeit a successful professional, and the unanticipated ways this affected my daughter. There were clear biases evinced by teachers, child care workers, doctors, childless friends and coworkers, who all believed that they had not only the right to judge my d...
Motherhood in never guaranteed to by easy. Children definitely do not come with instruction manuals and even if they did there are so many variables, such as the national economy and unexpected single motherhood, that are beyond our control. The choices a mother has to make can cause numerous moments of second guessing and immense guilt. “I Stand Here Ironing” explores the perceived failures and gnawing guilt of a post- Depression era mother as she contemplates the childhood circumstances of her oldest, overlooked, and seemingly troubled child. Throughout the story Tillie Olsen takes us through the depths of a mother’s guilt due to pressures of the economy and society on parenting during her time and how much blame she puts on herself for her