Low Income Single Mothers Essay

In society, we are provided with social welfare programs that provide services to many different people such as the homeless, the elderly, children, those with disabilities, and especially single mothers. In some of our public-assistance programs, there are social networks that are directed towards aiding low-income single mothers by providing extra help to manage the many pressures of work and families. In the article Social Network Development among Low-Income Single Mothers: Potential for Bridging and Bonding, Freeman and Dodson display the plentiful benefits of social networks in low-income communities along with the downsides and limitations. In order to get accurate results, extensive interviews were done over a three-year period and …show more content…
The article examines data from a single anti-poverty program that focuses on economic and career advances. In addition, our textbook Social Work and Social Welfare an Invitation, supplement by showing the similarities and differences of this programs and the ones established in the twentieth century.
Freeman and Dodson discovered many benefits while conducting research pertaining to social networking in anti-poverty programs. In low-income communities, the extra support tends to be much needed in order to manage the demands of their daily lives as a worker, family member, and single-mother. Emotional support was a big benefit for the single mother’s that were studied. Many of these women did not have friends due to the fear of negative influences affecting their children in they’re communities. After this study, many women developed friendships and bonds that they expect to last longer than their stay at the program. Aside from friendship, women found other single-mothers who lived near them and were able to set up a system to help each other with child-care and transportation. For example, one mother will take the children to school and after school