Inadequate Programs Assisting Mothers in Poverty

There are many different issues facing the American welfare system. One of the fastest growing concerns is that of young mothers in poverty. This concern grows as the teen pregnancies and out of wedlock births rise, and as women gain their financial independence. "The number of single-parents with children under the age of 18 doubled from 3.8 million in 1970 to 9.4 million in 1988, and single-parents now make up 27% of all family groups with children (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1989)" (Fox Folk 277). One of the major concerns of young mothers in poverty is that of child care. There is a tremendous need for adequate, reliable, cheap childcare. The problem is that there is really no good inexpensive means of caring for children while the mother works. In this paper I plan to examine reasons why women are becoming teen mothers in poverty at an increasing rate, what is being done to curb this epidemic (primarily in the areas of child care, training and education, and social and emotional support), and what the repercussions are for the children. Many of my ideas about the welfare system stem from Social Welfare by DiNitto (2000). The chapter on implementation helped me realize all of the complications associated with development and practice of new social policies. However, chapters four, six and eleven on "Preventing Poverty," "Temporary Assistance for Needy Families," and "Racism and Sexism," respectively, made me take a new view on how unfair and inadequate our bureaucratic, capitalist system is. The video we watched on single mothers in poverty (Poverty Outlaw) helped to tie all of this together and highlight the problems facing young mothers in poverty. If we do not set up a dependable, positive welfare plan for these women soon, they and their children are doomed to poverty by society. Many causes surround the issue of why women often become young mothers in poverty. The first is that they were born into poverty and/or were raised, themselves, by single mothers. This correlation tends to be truly apparent in poor urban minority groups. "The probability of an unmarried teenager giving birth increases for those girls who experienced disruptive events in childhood, those whose mothers themselves gave birth prior to marriage and those whose mothers lack education. Girls are also more likely to have children out of wedlock if their own mothers obtained welfare" (Chong-Bum et al. 195) Another major factor is lack of education. Many young mothers drop out of school when they become pregnant, leaving them to either face jobs with inadequate pay and no benefits on which to raise a family, or attempt to go to school or get a G.E.D.--which requires childcare. A final reason why these women enter and remain in poverty is a lack of a positive support system--which should include caring individuals to emotionally and psychologically support them in the areas of childcare and housework as well as to supplement their income. This epidemic is spreading; "current data show that public assistance to support welfare dependents now touches 14 million persons in the United States... Of these, about 95 percent of adults on welfare are single mothers ... 56 percent of whom live in central cities" (Ntiri 34). Changing views in America have caused much confusion in the ideals of the traditional family. As we change our ideal of what the family consists of, from a husband and wife raising their children, to a myriad of possibilities usually revolving around a mother and her children, we also begin to change our expectations of a mother. We used to believe a mother took care of her children physically, emotionally, psychologically, and cognitively. Now we expect that either the mother does all of that and financially support herself and the child, or that the aforementioned areas be taken care of by child care centers while the mother pays for the child care and supports the child and herself financially. In her article, "The Transition of Female Heads of Household from Welfare to Work: Implications for Adult Education," Daphne Ntiri quotes a passage from the Michigan Law Review which discusses this as it relates to welfare reform, specifically with recent cut back and reforms to AFDC. …