Hickman County Times 1208 S. Jefferson Clinton, KY 42034 September 2, 2011 Dear Mrs. Bencini: I am writing in regards to a social welfare policy issue that needs attention, Child Support Enforcement. Although there are more detailed laws and harsher penalties than in years past, there are still many non-custodial parents who slip through the cracks. These fathers, and in some cases mothers, are able to live their day to day lives with little worry of the repercussions of not paying their child support for one simple reason- they live in a different state than the custodial parent. Over the last decade, state and federal governments have spent approximately $3 billion to collect over $14 billion in child support which is, in itself, an
The common perception of marriage is that it was originally weighted heavily in favour of the male member of the couple, and that this has shifted slowly to a more even-handed arrangement in recent years. This essay will examine the question of how accurate this belief really is. Historically, marriage was highly unequal. While the husband took the role of breadwinner and went out to earn the necessary money to support the family, his wife was expected to stay at home and look after the more mundane tasks that make up the day-to-day running of a household. As the former role was commonly seen as more valuable than the latter, this often meant that the husband held most of the power, such as deciding where they would live, how resources were distributed, etc.
Foster Children and the Struggles Faced Within LIFE IN FOSTER CARE 10/16/2012 When the economy is low, the foster care system sees a rise in abandoned, neglected, and abused children adding more than the normal amount of cases. “In 2011 there were 401,100 children in foster care” (Child Trends, 2012). These children depend upon the people that work within the system to help and provide them with guidance and security. Foster children usually receive their basic needs while in the system, but older children tend to experience more difficulties than younger children do in foster care. He or she is likely to end up in trouble with the law than their peers without the proper support (Cowan, 2004, p. 1008).
Amy and Gilbert had a father and a mother fulfilling their roles to some extent, for a much longer time, when they were children, than Ellen ever did. The age and therefore the phase of development they were in when their father committed suicide or their mother became dysfunctional were different. Therefore their perspective taking and reactions to life events also differed. The fact that they lived in a small town also affected how they developed. For example, seeing a morbidly obese woman would hardly be as much of a spectacle in big and busy city like New York.
Generational poverty usually passes on the lack of motivation, money and education from one generation to the other. Children affect by poverty usually don’t receive quality education as well as healthcare. There are many families solely but incorrectly depended on welfare for their source of income. We can think of several ways to break this cycle. One way is to get something to do for income.
SINGLE PARENT: Can a Child Be Raised Properly Darrell Stokes September 18, 2012 Single Parent: Can a Child Be Raised Properly Raising a child properly or shall I say a respectful child being a single parent is one of the hardest feats a mother or father can take on. The stresses are bound to be more than that of a double parent family. I am a product of an economically challenged single parent family coming from a household of 10 siblings the stress on my mother was something unbearable. My mother had to take the place of that absent parent. Some people become single parents by choice and some under uncontrollable circumstances.
“What about the positive for society effects of caring for the elderly?” The family structure has changed considerably over the years. We are now a more mobile society with more emphasis on the nuclear family. After children are grown, they tend to leave their parents in search of their own families. The elderly parents tend to be left alone and after retirement in most instances, they do not have adequate fiancés for medical care. Through Medicare, the society is able to contribute to the elderly Medicare care indiscriminately.
Poverty can exist in rich and civilized countries to an extreme extend In many other countries, people believe that poverty doesn’t exist in the U.S. They believe that every individual has the resources to survive and provide for the families, but that is not true. It may not too very obvious for other people to see, but there are many people who face poverty and are looking for ways to get out of it in the U.S. Due to lack of resources, people struggle to break out of the cycle of poverty. According to Census Bureau Report (2001), "The official poverty rate in the U.S. increased for four consecutive years, from a 26-year low of 11.3% in 2000 to 12.7% in 2004, and then declined somewhat to 12.3% in 2006. This means that 36.5 million people (approx 1 in 8 Americans) were below the official poverty thresholds in 2006, compared to 31.1 million in 2000, and that there was an increase of 5.4 million poor from 2000 to 2006 while the total population grew by 17.5 million The poverty rate for children under 18 years old increased from 16.2% to 17.8% from 2000 to 2004 and had dropped to 17.4% in 2005 and 2006".
Hopes for using the family as the primary institution for child welfare has faded in the absence of economic and social supports to keep families intact. Lacking such supports, most families were reliant on the labor market to generate income to meet essential needs. Although some of the benefits of unprecedented prosperity and low unemployment began to trickle down to poor families by the end of the twentieth century, many welfare and working poor families continued to struggle. The 1996 imposition of welfare time limits cast a long shadow over poor families. In the absence of a coherent national family policy, poor families were less able to care for children; as a result, child welfare services protective services, foster care, and adoption have attempted to compensate for severe family deficits.
The recommended amount of support from welfare she receives is determined by how much she makes and if she is unwed. But because of this fact, she is more likely to have less expenses and more money in her pocket to spend. She will have fewer expenses than a married woman with a job paying $70,000, and only a slightly lower living standard. (Pethokoukis) This has become a controversy for the struggling middle class. Not all of those eligible for federal or state support exploit this system, but many do.