Unit B - Blog 5

When Chaudry states “we are asking the least fortunate to strive and work harder, we are deeply discounting our public responsibility for the children born into poor families and disadvantaged communities,” she is essentially saying our society’s structure is set up in a way that it hurts the children in the long run. The way our government reformed some of its structure and policy to encourage a work based society, it didn’t take into consideration the impact it would have on the children. When the policies were reformed, many low income families lost a lot of their financial resources and were forced to work. Chaudry acknowledges that there were able adults that could have been working, but basically abused the policies to get free income. However, she really emphasizes the other end of the scope, the individuals that the previous policies were in place for. The families that couldn’t afford childcare while the parent was working and the ones that needed that extra income to provide for their children. The new policies push for these parents to work, or still work, but don’t give them the extra income they need to provide food, shelter and health care. In the youtube video Working With a Hole in Your Pocket they talk about the poverty line, which is $20,614, and that anyone that makes a dollar more than that is not considered to be poor by the government. This means that they will not qualify for any type of welfare or other benefits. Families in poverty no longer get that little extra that use to make a big difference. Back to Chaudry’s argument, this is significantly affecting the children born into poverty. The children are receiving awful childcare, don’t have the food, clothing shelter and other necessities that they would have under previous policies. Other videos indicated that this is a social problem and not an individual. Our society sometimes traps people into poverty. Many people that are able to get out of the poverty level had to accrue debt to make it out. This debt is nearly impossible to get out of. Our society also places restraints on the poor. The jobs they can get don’t offer healthcare. Their transportation required maintenance. If they can’t afford to maintain their transportation, they won’t make it to work. Some people need that extra little boost from programs to get them over the hump, to allow them to have childcare, to maintain an automobile. If our society can’t give that little push, these individuals will be stuck and it will result in the poor upbringing of children, homelessness, and the future of our society not even having a chance.