Summary Of Too Poor To Parent

In “Too Poor to Parent” Gaylynn Burroughs sheds light on what it is like to parent children while living in poverty. He gives examples of multiple women who despite their best effort are caught in an endless cycle spurred on by the system. As system that is supposed to protect them. Each of these women have in common that due to their low income they are being seen as unfit. In the first reading the author brings forth an interesting idea that as a nation we are controlled by policies of the state and the government and they are in control of things that take place in our lives. Unfortunately for these women the states cut and dry policies don’t take in to account effort. For Monique she was trying to get her ailing son the medical care

that she needed. However, because she needed the help of the state in order to receive access to these appointments she was left waiting. Unfortunately the very system that was “helping” her also took her kids away from her for issues of “neglect, not seeking medical treatment for her child. (Burroughs 2008).
To expand upon the idea of the state as the governing body. Lee and Shaw state in the Chapter 11 introduction titled State, Law, and Social Policy that the state works alongside with other institutions and distributes and assigns roles resources, regulates, and provides guidelines behaviors and roles and ultimately has a lot of power (Lee & Shaw 2007) Unfortunately for individuals in poverty and more specifically women they have to depend more on the state for this resources than those who are living above the poverty line. While the resources provided can be a help it unfortunately can lead to undue termination of parental rights and an unending cycle of dependency as seen in the article by Burroughs. As well, Chapter 11 speaks of the storied and sometimes conflicting relationship that women have had with the government. A lot of what people view as the cut and dry image of feminism is women fighting against the government for things such as voting rights and equal pay, however we know there is more to feminism than this.
This particular issue for me is very personal. My mother was a single parent and we grew up in poverty, although that is a term I do not like to use for I feel it is so despairing yet my child hood was full of hope. There were times when my mother had to depend on outside help and resources and particularly those from the government. However, she always made sure to never need this assistance long. However, not all women or individuals in poverty have the ability to live without assistance. It is very easy to look down on the women in Burroughs narrative and say they aren’t trying hard enough, or they are lazy for needing assistance. Fortunately I know first-hand that so many people in poverty are some of the hardest working individual that I know. They understand that in order to survive and have access to basic things such as food and shelter they must hustle from sun up to sun down and sometimes even more.
One thing that I have learned from taking this course is feminism is only about women, it is about everyone. Feminism began as a way to gain equal rights for women but along the way we recognized that there are so many groups of individual that need to have a voice as well so we gave them our platform to lend them a voice. I believe that the issue of poverty is feminist issue but more importantly it is a people issue something needs to be done to address the cycles of poverty that are created.

Statistics show that children of poor families are 22 times more likely to be involved in some capacity in the welfare system. One interesting finding from the readings is that although it is known that poverty is by far one of the leading cause of children being placed in the welfare system black mothers who lose their children are citied for different things rather than poverty. There are claims made that they are neglectful for not providing food, adequate shelter clothing, or a safe home environment, when the correlation between all of these things is poverty. As interesting as this finding is what presents itself as more of an issue is that while the spending on foster care increased greatly in the 80s programs to combat poverty didn’t grow. We need to recognize that poverty isn’t an individual issue it is a social issue (Burroguhs 2008).

Burroughs (2008) states that, Until the disparity in funding and services is addressed, and until this country comes to terms with its culpability in allowing widespread poverty to exist, poor black mothers will continue to lose their children to the state.

And we will continue to label these women “bad mothers” to assuage our own guilt. (p 619)
This statement immediately brings these questions to mind. Is poverty a feminist issue, social issue, or an individual issue, or all of the above? What can be done to address this issues of widespread poverty in our country? These are the first questions that come to mind and the answer is one I do not know. However, I do believe that it will take a few passionate individuals to make a change in public policy in order for issue of poverty to ever change.
“Until the disparity in funding and services is addressed, and until this country comes to terms with its culpability in allowing widespread poverty to exist, poor black mothers will continue to lose their children to the state. And we will continue to label these women “bad mothers” to assuage our own guilt.” This text is taken from the reading “Too Poor to Parent?” by Gaylynn Burroughs. Do you agree with his statement? Is poverty a feminist issue, social issue, or an individual issue, or all of the above? What can be done to address this issues of widespread poverty in our

country?