Blog #9

The statistics posted by the National Center for Children in Poverty reflect that 18% percent of the nation’s children live in poverty. Now we are talking about the richest nation in the world and we have 13 million children living in poverty. How is this possible? First of all, as found by the NCCP it takes about twice the poverty income to actually make ends meet for a family of four. With the rising cost of living, the working mothers are less able to provide adequately for their children resulting in neglected care and supervision of the children of the working poor. In Arizona, the rate of poverty among children is 20 % and in other states it is higher but particularly among minorities that are twice as likely to experience financial hardships. According to the NCCP, minorities are living in poverty at the rates of between 29% among American Indians and as high as 35% for African-Americans compared to a 10% rate of poverty for their white counterparts. In a border state such as Arizona, having immigrant parents (as I do) increases the rate of poverty by 10% (from 16%-26%) compared to children with native born parents.
The conditions of working women make it difficult for them to not only earn enough to enable them to provide for the children’s basic needs but also increase the vulnerability of the children because they lack adequate nutrition and health care. Because a large percentage of poor children do not have healthcare coverage and because their mothers cannot afford to take the time off of work let alone pay for a doctor visit, children are often sent to school sick and the parents themselves have to go to work sick. Overall, the situation of the working poor is one that places both the parents and the children just shy of homelessness and children should not have to worry about those insecurities at such a young age.
As a mother, I strive to work hard to provide my two children with everything they need but if I lost my job tomorrow and my husband was the only one working, I too would find my children among the 13 million children in poverty and my heart breaks to watch these hard working parents trying to do everything they can to provide for their families and it is still not enough.