Childhood Poverty: Breaking the Cycle of Pain and Suffering

No decent mother would want their child to grow up without a father-figure, but there are many circumstances or unfortunate events that could lead to single parenting.

This means that many single mothers have trouble providing for the basic needs of their children, inching the whole family closer and closer into poverty. It doesn’t help that the economy stinks and the government is putting welfare up on the chopping block.

The problem with this is that poverty tends to be generational – if you are poor, chances are your children will grow up poor as well.

This vicious cycle is a problem both on the macro or national level and on the micro or personal level. Looking at the macro, employment and education are the two only real solutions to the problem of childhood poverty.

Only by giving the parents and the children of America a shot at a decent career will poverty be dealt with, so we have to pressure our government to start creating jobs and giving everyone a better shot at a future.

“Safety nets” like Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (aka SNAP aka the Food Stamp Program) and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (aka CHIP) serve as stepping-stones from poverty to prosperity. Performing well on the job and studying for an exam can end up for nothing if your family is starving or the children are sick in bed and have no money for treatment.

All this would, of course, be translated into reality if only our government stops its bipartisan bickering. Rep. Chris Van Hollen stresses that “Now more than ever, Congress must shed partisan politics and come together to break the cycle of childhood poverty. It is not only a moral imperative, it is good policy.”

Then there is the micro aspect of breaking the cycle of childhood poverty. Single moms must exhaust all available means to find a decent-paying job. This means getting an education and striving hard to balance between work and family. Support systems – family, federal aid, state aid, NGOs, even church groups – can provide a lot of much-needed help for single mothers.