Blog 12, "Low income families struggles"

The name of the article that I read was called “Sandy amplifies struggles for low-income families.” This article was about how the eastern part of the country, including the largest city in the United States, New York, was effected by the hurricane name Sandy. This hurricane affected millions of people. The process of rebuilding has begun, but they stated that the people who struggled before the storm are the people who will have the hardest time getting back on their feet. They said, that one of the main organizations that is really helping these families receive their basic needs is The United Way. In the article, they said that the poverty rate in New York has been on the rise in the last few years. “One out of five New Yorkers can not afford basic needs.” Since the hurricane happened, families are losing out on the money that they did make due to jobs being close because of flooding. Some could not go to work, because they had no way to get there. These families have been homeless and have not been able to get back to their home. The United Way is doing their best to help.

This article really hit home for me, because this is where all my family lives. Many of these families have already had a hard life due to living in poverty and now this storm has really put people in a bad place. I have family that does not have much money and has lost all of the things that they did have. Poverty is a terrible thing to live in, and a terrible storm like this can make life so much harder than it was. This is a very sad situation but it is very good to know, that the United Way is trying to take some of the burden away.

10:19am

11-16-12

http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/12/us/iyw-help-sandy-united-way/index.html

blog 11, “South Sudan Women Choose Family Planning, Longer Lives.”

 The name of the article that I read was called “South Sudan Women Choose Family Planning, Longer Lives.” This article took place in Juba, South Sudan in the continent of Africa. It talked about how this country lacks education and health, and women marry early. Also, since the country is in poverty, the maternal mortality rate is the highest in the world. The average woman in Sudan has seven children. Agencies in the country are now working to help women live longer. In this article, they stated that Sudan has one the lowest availability of contraceptives coming in at 1.7 percent. Also, they said that early pregnancies have increased from one-fifth to one-third of teens. Mothers in this article were getting a birth control that allows you not have have children for five years. These mothers said, that families are happier when there is a gap between children. This birth control will allow them to have a gap between children. Another mother said that, it is very hard for her to support her five children due to her husband's job as a soldier. She said that with the money that he does make, she pays school fees for the children. If she gets a job working from sun up to sun down, she can make 100 dollars a month. The agency family planning has started three programs in Sudan for contraceptives. They said that family planning is empowering women and girls of reproductive ages. They hope to help lower maternal mortality rates.

This article was very interesting. One thing that was interesting was that seven children is the average amount of children that women have, which is really high. Another interesting thing was the hard work that they do for a little bit of money. I think that family planning is doing a good thing for these families in Sudan. Hopefully, since they are over there helping, maternal mortality rate will drop down. This was a very good article.

12:31

11-9-12

http://www.voanews.com/content/south-sudan-women-choose-family-planning-longer-lives/1541917.html

blog 10, Adoption Day

The article that I read was called, “28 children find forever families on Austin Adoption Day.” This article took place in Austin Texas. This article was about about a day in Austin Texas that they called Austin day. This day was filled with adoption and happy families. In the article they said that 6,300 children are waiting to be adopted, and in Travis County where these individuals reside, there are about 200 children waiting for adoption. On Austin day there were 28 children adopted. These children where so happy to have home and family to call their own. The article talked about two guys that where getting adopted on that day. These two boys where 18 year old Alex Vega-Wells and 17 year old Eric Huerca Thibideaux. These two boys were happy and excited to be out of the system, and ready to begin their lives with their new families. Out of the 6,300 children waiting for adoption, 42 percent of these children are between the ages 10 and 17. The children that are around these ages have a less chance of getting adopted. They said that 36 percent of children that are not adopted by age 17 ended up in jail or become homeless. These two guys that got adoptive parents on this day also received a 500 dollar scholarship from Denise Hyde Scholarship Fund.

This article was very interesting. It is very sad that most children over the age of ten will not get adopted. What is even worst is the chances of them being homeless or behind bars. It was really nice to see people do there part in society, and make a difference. These young men that were talked about has a better chance in life to do great things. They also get the love and a family, which is what these children really want. 

11-2-12

10:17

http://www.kvue.com/news/28-children-find-forever-families-on-Austin-Adoption-Day-176868321.html

Blog 9, “Families fear not being able to feed children”

The name of the article I read was called “Families fear not being able to feed children.” This article was about a poor family from Ireland, who was experiencing hard times. In the article, this family is having a hard time, because the father who is the breed winner lost his job. He work a low income job before losing it. The story talks about what the mom does to trick her three children into thinking that their refrigerate is full. She said she takes the food that are in tinned cans and put it in the refrigerate. This family also lost their Family Income Supplement. The mother of this family said that she is afraid that she will not be able to put food on the table. From the stress of the financial struggle they have aged ten years, and worst of all the mother is worried that her husband will end up committing suicide. This interview was done on a number of families from Ireland. This article reported that thousands of families are experiencing the same thing. Another family that they talked about was a single mother with three children. Her child support stopped because her ex-husband lost hours. Her bills consisted of a 7,000 dollar loan, 700 dollar electric bill, 90 dollars for school books, and pays 75 dollars a week to money lenders. The money lenders are taking her to court, and she recently got a notice for her electricity bill. Ireland's president spoke on this problem, and asked the government to do something with the budget to make sure these families get their basic needs.

Reading this article mad me feel so bad. Knowing that these families go through situations like this is depressing. Especially the story about the women who was scared that her husband would commit suicide. Hopefully since their president spoke out on it, something will get done soon.

10-26-12

3:21

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/families-fear-not-being-able-to-feed-children-3272806.html

blog 8, “United Way shifts funding to target children, families in poverty”

The name of the article that I read this week was called “United Way shifts funding to target children, families in poverty.” This article talked about the organization called The United Way. The United Way is starting to focus on children and families that are living in poverty. The United Way is giving over 3.2 million dollars to agencies that support things like health and education, help with income assistance, or create a safety net for basic needs. The article talked about eight new agencies that are benefiting from this money. One agency called Columbia Housing Authority talked about their program called Powered by Moms. This program will be benefiting from the 69,040 dollars that was donated. This powered by mom program helps mothers that are raising children by having someone to help advise them on child-rearing, educational and financial issues. This program is based on mothers getting help from other mothers in the community and turning that into a program. The United Way said, that most of the money will be distributed to education at 24 percent. The second highest amount will go to safety net services at 21 percent. Next will be health and income programs coming in at 19 and nine percent.

This program The United Way is a really good one. I think targeting poor families is very important. The programs that they chose are awesome also. Education is very important and could give these families something to take with them forever. I also like that these programs help with health, income and give a safety net. These things can also help these families with every day struggles. The United Way is doing something really good with this new program. The United Way supports my internship, which help children by educating parents, so they will have a good home. Seeing this organization first hand, I know that the United Way is great.

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2012/10/18/united-way-releases-new-list-funded-agencies/

10-19-12

12:54am

blog 7, “Abuse rate 10 times higher in welfare families: study”

The name of the article that I read was called, “Abuse rate 10 times higher in welfare families: study.” This article did a study in New Zealand and found that more children of families on welfare are neglected and abused. This study was done by the University of Auckland. The study was conducted for the white papers on vulnerable children. One thing that they found was that, children that are abused or neglected in the first five years of life were that of families on welfare. The cause of the abuse and neglect came to be the cumulative stress of being chronically short of money. The way that they said they could measure to see if a child is at risk of maltreatment was by something called “Risk Assessment Tool.” This tool would look at things like children past maltreatment, their parents maltreatment in their childhood, single verses two parent home, birth intervals between the children, parents ages, and parents education. This studies purpose was to be able to intervene before any harm was done to the child. The controversy that is going on right now is that politics are against using this tool, because they say that it would only benefit children that are on welfare. The people that did the study say that this is not true and will be used eventually for all children.

This article was very interesting to me. This study was amazing and has the potential to stop violence toward children that are living in stressful family situations. I think that the tool called Risk Assessment Tool should be used for all children and not just children on welfare. Millions of children go through abuse and neglect, and this tool could save them from these types of issues. I just wonder if they used these tools for all children around the world, how would they get these people to get involved.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10839993

10:19am

blog 6, Children From Black Families Exposed to More Background TV.

The name of the article that I read was called “Children From Black Families Exposed to More Background TV.” This article was about television and children. There have been studies done on the effects on children that watch too much television. Recently, a study was done on African American families and television. The study showed that African American children are watching five and a half to six hours of television a day compared to other races at four hours. They said most of these black families are those of low income and single mothers. These families can also have parents that are less educated. They also talked about the dangers of the television on in the background. They said that when the television is on in the background it can still be detrimental. There were several problems that could come from this. One thing was “low sustained attention during play time.” Another thing was “low quality parent-child interactions and the last thing was reductive performance on cognitive tasks.” The best thing they said to do was to limit television as much as possible,such as television during meal and bed time.

I really like this article, because this is such an important issue. There are so many poor families that put their children in front of the television for some down time. So many of them probably do not know that too much television is not healthy. Putting this information out there can help them with these issues. Five and a half hours of television is way too much television for children in one day. Children should only watch two hours of television a day including video games. They should spend more time playing, so they are getting adequate exercise. One reason I believe that this is common among black poor families is, because the lack of resources. These parents do not have the means to put their children in extra curricular activities, which can lead to more time in front of the television. I really liked this article.

2:10am

http://www.bet.com/news/health/2012/10/03/children-from-african-american-and-low-income-families-exposed-to-more-background-television.html

Blog 5, FAMILY SERVICE INC INTRODUCES NEW PROGRAM

The name of the article that I read was called “FAMILY SERVICE INC INTRODUCES NEW PROGRAM.” This article was about the organization Family Services, who helps families deal with poverty. This organization came up with a new program that would help these families in a better way. The name of the program that they came up with is Family Advocacy. This program was established to give these families the tools, that they need to live a better life. This is a way to help these families help themselves. They do this by giving each family a counselor. Family Services will council more than 20 dozen families. The executive director of the Family Services talked about the importance of education. He said “Education starts from when you are a child, and that they help the families to protect their children by doing this.” They also want to educate people by helping them get their GED's. They said, that one of the problems with this is transportation. One solution to this would be to build more offices to have classes at. Other tools that they give to the families are things, such as ways to balance a check book, how to talk to people, and using people as resources. With this program, they plan to help over 30 families in the first year. This program starts in January of 2013.

This organization has been serving families since 1906, which is outstanding in itself. I really like this program, that they are about to start. Families that are in these situations, such as poverty, need the right tools to help them help themselves. I believe if you educate these people and give them the tools to live a productive life, there would be less families living in bad circumstances. It is a good thing that this organization is starting such a good program. Hopefully this program will lead other organizations to do the same thing as well.

http://www.kulr8.com/news/local/Family-Service-Inc-Introduces-New-Program-171515961.html

3:05pm

Blog 4, “Bangladesh: 'discriminatory family laws fuel female poverty”

The name of this article I read was called “Bangladesh: 'discriminatory family laws fuel female poverty'.” This article talked about the discriminatory laws that are in place when it come to marriages, divorce and separations. Women that live in Bangladesh are more at risk for experiencing abusive marriages, and when the marriages subside, they are more prone to experience poverty. They said that plenty of women that are divorced or separated then take on the role “head of their household.” These women and their children are experiencing food insecurity and poverty. A woman's rights leader said that discriminatory laws need to be change. They need to fix family courts, and have state assistance for poor women. One law that hurts women going through a divorces is that she does not have equal rights to marital property. They also said that 55% of women are married by the age of 10 years old.

The main reason for women that are the head of their house are in poverty is because of marital instability. Another thing is their religion. Gender inequality is embedded in religious beliefs. Their personal law has not been reformed because of this reason. It is now known that Bangladesh is in violation of human rights laws. The United Nations is stepping in and saying that they have to change their discriminatory divorce laws, and have to give women equal rights to marital property.

I think that this article is very sad. I say that it is sad because of what these women have to go through. They have to stay in abusive marriages. If they do get a divorce, they are looked down on. The women then have to provide for themselves and their children. These women are in poverty and have no way of getting assistance because of the discriminatory laws. One thing that I think is very good is the UN experts stepping in to say that this is a violation of human rights. Maybe now, some laws will be changed to help these families get out of this problem.

Danielle Holmes

9-21-12

4:40pm

http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/Bangladesh/Bangladesh-discriminatory-family-laws-fuel-female-poverty/Article1-932284.aspx

Blog 3 “Welfare Officials Expanding Homeless Families Program By $35 Million.”

The name of the article that I read was called, “Welfare Officials Expanding Homeless Families Program By $35 Million.” This article took place in Miami, Florida and was about Federal Child Welfare expanding a program to help families that are at risk of their children being put into foster care. The way that these families will be helped is by providing housing and case workers for them. Over a few hundred families will participate in this. For these families to benefit from this program, they have to have been homeless for at least a year and have one case of abuse. Their reason for doing this is to give children a safe home and environment, so that they will not have to put the children in foster care. In the article, they said that they did this housing in New York in 2007. They said that the results from this was that families had stable households, and children had better attendance in school. From creating these homes for families, the government saved over 2 million dollars.

This article took place in the United States, but poverty is something that impacts people all over the world. I think that this program is a good thing. The article said that once a child is in the system, they are usually in there for a extended amount of time. I believe that keeping the children out of the system is a great idea. The article also said that they helped these families by job training, substance abuse and mental treatment, trauma counseling, and parenting classes. It is nice that the government is giving these families homes, but even better that they are trying to fix the root of the problem. They are doing this by having these tools to help these families move forward healthily. It is an overall good thing, and this will help the fastest growing portion of the poverty population which are families.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/13/homeless-families-welfare-35-million_n_1881713.html?utm_hp_ref=impact#s540481&title=6_New_Mexico

Danielle Holmes

1:20am

Blog 2, 17.9M U.S. Families Struggle To Buy Food

The name of the article that I read was called “17.9M U.S. Families Struggle To Buy Food.” This article was about families that are living in the United States and are experiencing some type of money issue. Due to these money issues, people who are experiencing this are having a hard time buying food for their families. The article stated that “1 in 6 U.S. residents, struggle to feed their families due to lack of money.” In the article, they worded it as lack of food security. They said that families are having to deprive themselves of food because of the lack of resources. The article also said that families that have single mothers or fathers are at higher risk for being food impoverished. This also goes for families who are apart of the African American and Latino races. Because of these reasons for food insecurity, there are over nine million children living in households like this.

Reading this article made me very sad. To know that there are so many families struggling to eat is a problem. Poverty is a very big global issue that affects so many people around the world. When I see this happening here in the United States, I automatically think about the children in other places of the world, who experiences this also. When I read this article, one of the main things that stuck out to me was the amount of children not getting the nourishment that they needed due to them being food deprived. Since this is happening, the children's education and development can suffer or be delayed. A child can not learn effectively if their stomachs are empty. This is an issue that really needs to be looked at more in depth. More policies need to be put into place, so that families do not have to deal with these types of issues.

12:50pm

http://personalliberty.com/2012/09/06/17-9m-u-s-families-struggle-to-buy-food/

blog 1 "Personal coaches help Haitian families" Danielle Holmes 8-30-12 11:30

The name of the article that I read was titled “Personal coaches help Haitian families try to get out of poverty.” This article takes place in Boucan Carre, Haiti, which is one of the poorest places in Haiti. The World Bank is overseeing an experiment that is being done here. The experiment is to send out several agents that will serve about 5000 families. These agents are suppose to help these families by teaching them tools to get them out of poverty. The agents will do things like give vaccinations and teach them things about health, finances, and be their social worker simultaneously. There will also be a controlled group that will go about there normal lives. If the experiment works, they will be offered it also. The agents are people who are from Haiti, that were put through training for weeks. They were taught everything that they will be doing to help these families. In the article, they said that the agents will be earning 175 dollars per month. The agents will be eligible for a bonus if the families who they have worked with have improved. The people who are running this experiment are doing this to make sure that the agents do their jobs.

When I read this article, there were some good and bad things that could come out of this event. Poverty is something that effects millions of people all over the world, and anything that might relieve some of the problems is a really good thing. The fact that they are trying to help Haitians by giving them the tools to get out of poverty is something that they can take with them forever. It is a good thing that they are not just trying to do it for them but are giving them something that they can use in everyday life. Another positive feature from this is giving Haitians the opportunity to teach and help their people. Sometimes, when people from other countries try to fix the problem, it only makes it worst, because they are not from that area. The agents are also getting paid which is also helping to keep them out of poverty. I really hope this experiment works for the best. so that others that are going through this social problem can have a chance to climb out.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/for-haitian-families-trying-to-get-out-of-poverty-personal-coaches/2012/08/29/72a5a2ea-c15b-11e1-9ce8-ff26651238d0_story.html