Fragile Families: Articles and How They Contribute to Family Policy This paper will review two articles pertaining to “fragile families” and assess how they help contribute to family policy. “Fragile families” are very pertinent to the core of family policy. In the 1990’s the term “fragile families” originated out of a need to describe families not fitting into the traditional married – unmarried couples with children (McLanahan, Garfinkel, Mincy, & Donahue, 2010). Over a 60 year period non-marital births of children increased significantly. In 1940, 4% of children born were to non-married parents. However, by 2007 this number reached a high of 40%. These families can be compromised of cohabitating couples, non-cohabitating couples, or single mothers (Kalil & Ryan, 2010). They are deemed “fragile” because they are more likely to experience difficulties economically and relationship wise. They tend to be more impoverished, experience material hardship, and have absent fathers. More importantly fragile families are of great concern because they often lack stability as a family unit. Yet, fragile families have become one of the new family types and seem to be a permanent structure steadily on the rise. Bogenschneider (2006) stated that one of the main underlying issues of the family policy debate is the conflicting ideas of families (types). These conflicts are evident when you look at the 3 perspectives with regard to family policy: Concerned, Sanguine, and Impatient. This is why there has been increased focus on this new type of family. One of the issues that need be assessed with regard to fragile families is mothers’ economic conditions and their support systems. (McLanahan et al., 2010). Kalil and Ryan (2010), discuss mot... ... middle of paper ... ... Craigie, and Gunn, 2010). Second, address factors that place the child at risk such as a lack of parent involvement. Third, directly address children’s risk through early child hood education amongst other things. There are also policy changes that can be implemented with regard to mothers’ economic plights and the resources available to them. There should be a strengthening of community based programs that aid mothers and a focus on them working efficiently (Kalil & Ryan, 2010). Safety nets provided in the form of things such as food stamps need to be strengthened as well. Policies should support these resources and have an ultimate goal of economic self sufficiency for mothers in fragile families. The issues presented allow policy makers to be well informed of the possible risks associate with fragile families and the issues they face, especially economically.
These detrimental effects affect kids life and sets some up to fail. Poverty creates many negative effects and should be addressed more. Some preventive methods include increasing employment and making work pay more for adults with children, Ensuring children’s basic needs are met, boosting housing subsidies, and investing in preschool and child
Chapter 10 of Teresa Ciabattari book Sociology of families talks about the social policy and the future of families. The chapter starts by giving the readers a brief review of what we have learned so far in chapters 1-9. The chapter discusses the different approaches to what a family is and the changes of what the meaning of family is in the united states. The propose of the chapter is to get a better understanding of the book’s ideas yet to also see what the types of impacts they’ll have in our future society. The chapter is spilt into many categories such as Defining family, family change, family continuity, family diversity, inequality and social policy; housing policy and family inequality, state welfare policy and family, and so forth.
Today 's generation have changed many ways since the beginning of the century. In “The American Family”, Stephanie Coontz discusses many situations that has occurred during the beginning of the 21st century and suggested solutions to solve those issues in the future. For instance, she argued that women are being treated unfairly, family are not discussing their problems openly, and institutions need to change to fit the families’ requirement. In “Complexity of Family Life among the Low-Income and Working Poor” Patricia Hyjer Dyk, argued that women still doesn’t have enough choices, low income families doesn’t have enough jobs, and Government are not helping many families. Dyk’s review of the scholarly research on low-income families support Coontz’ evaluations of the problems faced by 21st century families and the solutions Coontz recommends, like improving women 's lifestyle, discussing problems openly, improving institutions and changing institutions so it can to fit to fulfil families need. .
There are multiple causes of why a family or individual can fall into poverty, which includes but is not limited to, disability, unemployment, age, and recessions, as we have seen through the 2008 recession and the Great Depression. Throughout this paper, I will address poverty as a social problem and its causes. I will also focus on how children and family households headed by single mothers are affected by poverty, and how Temporary Assistance for Needy Families came about to help children and families in poverty. Before we can explain the causes of poverty, one must first define what poverty is. If you were to ask someone for their definition of poverty, you would get several different definitions.
There are 15 million more people living in poverty than in the year 2000. Moreover, America has become a low-wage nation. The median paying job in the country now pays about $35,000 a year for a full-time job. It is barely more than it paid in 1973. With the salary being $35,000 it has people in America living in poverty because that amount of salary isn’t even enough to even live in a one bedroom house. It maybe is enough for one person, but for a person who has a family, it sure isn’t. In most cases in America, many families don’t have both parents. Single mothers were and are in trouble, with a poverty rate in excess of 40 percent. With this being said single mothers are the ones who are being affected and who are one of the cases that live in poverty. They live in poverty due to being the only ones that are bringing money into the households and with their salary being $35,000 is not enough to provide for themselves along with their children. Family structure plays a big role in poverty. “The poverty of single mothers with children at home, of all races, is the highest among demographic groups, higher than any minority or age group.” states Edelman, Peter. (2014). During the great recession when many single mothers were living off of food stamps and they soon destroyed the legal rights of benefits the Food stamp
Around the 1950’s, the media perpetuated the idea of the picturesque family unit; children made the shift from being a necessary evil to a symbol of status. Children were no longer meant to help sustain the family, so much as meant to be trophies of the parents’ competentness. Children became an outlet for parents to mold and live through vicariously: the more perfect your child was, the better parent you were. The problem is not that people want to have children, but that many cannot afford to take care of their spawn. Whether you are a young mother utilizing the assistance of government programs such as WIC or simply writing off your children on your taxes, you are making use of government incentive to procreate. Reproduction is completely natural; however, once backed by government incentive, the motivations for having children can take an unnatural turn. Children may be a symbol of love and unity, but it has expanded beyond the family unit. Many children have become the responsibility of the Unite...
Smith, Kristin and Adams, Nicholas, "Child care subsidies critical for low-income families amid rising child care expenses" (2013). The Carsey Institute at the Scholars' Repository. 5 May 2013. Paper. 19 Nov. 2013.
In today’s society, the amounts of single-parent households are increasing and this is another reason for the existence of childhood poverty. Statistics show that children living in single-parent homes are five times more likely to be poor. More people are getting divorced and are also having children outside of wedlock. It has also been said that women rather than men head about 90% of single-parent families. One of the
The Canadian family structure has changed greatly in recent years. While divorce rates have jumped, and marriage rates have plummeted, the resulting change has been single parent families (Myles, 2010). As a result of this, single parent families do not have the benefit of dual...
Children and families have various issues that must be addressed when they are in facing difficulties. The family dynamic offers multiple perceptions and needs, these may require addressing matters individually as well as on a group level. There may be matters such as domestic violence or substance abuse which requires both individual and family counseling and resources. In times of crisis families need education and coping strategies in order to regain their lives back. The necessities of the family may entail emotional and medical support requirements depending on their situation. When there is a possible case involving violence the focus may turn to more than medical and emotional support and possible removal of the children from the home may be required. Single mothers’ needs may be comprised of employment, education, shelter, food, child care and assistance with medical and child support. In some cases counseling and a support resource may be all that is required. When a divorce occurs, the needs which were once met by a two parent family now rest on the shoulders of ...
The changing of American families has left many families broken and struggling. Pauline Irit Erera, an associate professor at the University of Washington School of Social Work, wrote the article “What is a Family?”. Erera has written extensively about family diversity, focusing on step-families, foster families, lesbian families, and noncustodial fathers. Rebecca M. Blank, a professor of economics at Northwestern University, where she has directed the Joint Center for Poverty Research, wrote the article “Absent Fathers: Why Don't We Ever Talk About the Unmarried Men?”. She served on the Council of Economic Advisors during the Clinton administration. Andrew J. Cherlin, a professor of sociology at Johns Hopkins University wrote the article “The Origins of the Ambivalent Acceptance of Divorce”. She is also the author of several other books on the changing profiles of American family life. These three texts each talk about the relationship between the parent and the child of a single-parent household. They each discuss divorce, money/income they receive, and the worries that come with raising a child in a single-parent household.
Living in poverty as a lower class individual can be very stressful, anxious, and very little to no resources in order to survive for their own needs, as a person and also the needs of their family on a daily basis. Most, individuals who may live in poverty in the U.S. are single mothers who have children to raise on their own. In addition, to all single mothers, who can relate to the needs of working multiple jobs, and occasionally are going to school and getting a higher education; is not an easy job. Single mothers their first priority is to provide the needs of their living conditions and provide all of the needs of their own children. The following article “Angela Whitiker’s Climb” (2005), by Isabel Wilkerson was a case study
The authors of the article, “Fragile families and child wellbeing”, Terry Ann Craigie, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, and Jane Waldfogel assess statistics in order to observe why is it that children who grew up within single mother or perhaps even shared family households are said to not be as better off than those who were born into households where the parents are married. While the authors study others’ findings, they also communicate their own personal research to the subject. Family configuration consists of many building blocks but in order for the family to not be seen as fragile there are a few factors that must be in place. These are composed of (for example): (1) Resources that are available to the single parent such as child support, health insurance, and reasonable scheduled visitations, (2) The relationship quality between the mother and the father of the child (ren) is extremely important as
Families are becoming more diverse and they come in all shapes and sizes. Some people consider families to be strictly biological, while others consider people they love to be their family. Although two-parent families, also known as a nuclear family are the majority, one-parent families are becoming more common in today’s society. A sole-parent is considered to be a parent without a partner or spouse who is the primary care giver of one or more children in a household (Ministry of Social Development, 2010). From the age of 14 onward I was raised by m...
Many studies illustrate that high quality child care helps children who have been brought up in poverty to develop skills that enable better education, jobs and earnings (Adelman). It would help to reduce poverty if more parents would invest money `into high quality child care, because children would be able to learn the skills that they should know to get a good education. In an article entitled “9 Ways to Reduce Poverty,” Larry Adelman stated that “Investments in infrastructure—fixing old bridges, building mass transit, converting to clean energy sources—and investments in vital services such as schools, childcare and eldercare generate both public benefits and jobs.” Investments in the most important buildings and structures in a community would help to create job opportunities, which could benefit people who are in poverty by allowing them the opportunity to get a job. Poverty reduction would benefit the economy and the people who suffer from