Early in our marriage my husband went back to college to change careers and at the time we had our oldest daughter Jordan, but shortly after moving back to Stillwater for him to return to school I found out I was pregnant with our second children daughter Lauren. We were extremely poor at the time and we survived on the food items we received from the Women, Infants and Child (WIC) food program. Our daughters were so young they don't remember that time in our lives so I don't think it effected their development. My parents provided a strong support system for us. They provided so many things that our children that our girls never knew that we were poor. We were so poor at the time we did not even have a telephone so if my parents needed to get in touch with us they called the family that lived a couple door down and they would come get us. That almost does not seem real now. I have worked in Head Start for many years so I have seen first hand where poverty impacts children and sometimes their development if they don't have proper nutrition or adequate housing. We were poor, but we were fortunate that we did not experience life changing poverty.
I was reading in the Kids Count Oklahoma website and almost 16% of Oklahoma's children live in poverty according to 2010 data collection (The Anne E. Casey Foundation, 2012). This percentage has grown every year for the last four years. This is a continual problem for children in child care in the state of Oklahoma.
I think some of the resources available to children and families in poverty include WIC, Food Stamps, Head Start, Early Head Start and Medicaid. We were able to access part of these programs for our family and they made a big difference in our children's lives. My middle child Lauren had lost of medical issues as a child and has continued to have medical issues throughout her life, but having Medicaid so that we could take care her to the doctor when we needed to was such a relief. We are very fortunate now we both have great jobs and are not in need of these services, but because of our past it has made me a true advocate for children and families in poverty. Most of them are not living in poverty because that is the life they want they are there because of an unfortunate circumstance. Many people are just one chronic medical issue away from poverty.
I chose to look again to Venezuela since that is the country of origin for my husband. He still has most of his family still living there so we are well aware that the country is struggling with poverty. I was able to find an article about a music program that they have implemented to bring the joy of playing musical instruments to children in poverty. The article even stated that the government has put 64 million dollars into the program and that Chavez, the President is a supporter of the program (Walkin, 2012). These programs are operated in the schools after school so it is a way of protecting the children by keeping them off of the streets. The program serves pre-K through sixth grade.
Poverty is everywhere and it is our duty and responsibility to ensure that we have programs and support families in poverty. I think that programs like Head Start and Early Head Start are amazing because they provide a quality environment for the children grow and development so that their economic situation does not impact their development. Additionally, they also provide a parent component so that parents can learn how to better themselves as well.
References:
The Anne E. Casey Foundation. (2012). Data center kids count. Retrieved from: http://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/bystate/stateprofile.aspx?state=OK&loc=38
Walkin, D. J. (2012, February 15). Fighting Poverty, Armed with Violins. The New York Times. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/16/arts/music/el-sistema-venezuelas-plan-to-help-children-through-music.html?pagewanted=all
Hello Jill
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful demonstration of children’s resilience and love! When children have enough food to eat and more importantly are well taken care of by their parents, they thrive. I am glad that you did not experience the type of poverty that leaves people without any resources nor people to turn to; poverty scares people because they do not know how to handle relationships with the poor who are seen as faceless and outcast. To hear that people live in poverty of their own volition only reflects ignorance and a lack of empathy! What do you think of universal preschool and universal healthcare? I think schools are safe havens for children.
Jill,
ReplyDeleteI really think that people who have never experienced poverty really have a hard time understanding how dificult some things are that all of us take for granted. You are right programs like Head Start and Early Head Start can make a big difference because they work with the whole family. They not only support the health and development of the child but work to moe the family out of poverty! Great post
Leslie
I agree poverty is something that affects many children. I look back to the days when I first started off in my marriage. It was a difficult time. We were young and just starting out. It was too expensive to put all three children in daycare so I ended up being a stay at home mom. Now we are doing much better financially unfortunately we are no longer married. I remembered a few years back when I was in school for my Bachelors degree and I applied for a scholarship, one of my focuses was on poverty in America. One of the things that I read that will always stick out to me was how this article defined poverty for children in America. It stated that most children in America that lived in poverty had some type of game system and televisions in their homes. Even though parents may receive government assistance the children still had these amenities in their homes.
ReplyDeleteJill thank you for sharing your story. It is true that so many children do live in poverty. But I do think that sometimes parents take advantages of the resources provided like WIC. But having providers like you will help those parents that really need assistance and are trying to better themselves.
ReplyDelete