There are many different factors that affect children and their families as well as the communities that the live on a day to day basis. One of these factors is poverty. With the economy in the state that it is more and more families are being considered as low-income. I selected this problem area because I have personally seen how poverty can affect children and their families. The community that I both live and work in is considered to be below the poverty line, and there is proof of that every day. Seeing families come in and share their stories about how they weren’t able to eat dinner last night really put things into perspective just how big of impact poverty can make on a family. In this paper I will discuss the impact that poverty
…show more content…
Poverty is a factor that can affect thousands of people from all over the world. Poverty has changed a lot over the course of time, especially in the United States. The National Poverty Center stated, “Between 1993 and 2000, the poverty rate fell each year, reaching 11.3 percent” (Poverty in the United States, 2015). Although, this number is low compared to other countries there are some downfalls. The National Poverty Center continued by mentioning, “The poverty rate for children has historically been somewhat higher than the overall poverty rate. The poverty rate for people in households headed by single women is significantly higher than the overall poverty rate” (Poverty in the United States, 2015). With this being said poverty is playing a large role in children and their families. Along with the obvious money and basic needs that poverty is affecting, there are also many other factors that have an impact from poverty. Some of these impacts are more crime and delinquency, more substance abuse, more school failure, more child abuse and neglect, more teenage childbearing, more unhealthy children, and lower productivity by tomorrow’s labor force (Berns, …show more content…
Knowing that poverty can have a large impact on families and children what is available in their mesosystem, exosystems and macrosystems that can assist? Each country (macrosystem) has its own guidelines for poverty rates. The United States for example, uses what they call thresholds that the Census Bureau establishes every year (Poverty in the United States, 2015). These thresholds are based on the number of people in a family. For example a traditional family with two parents and one child can have a gross income of $17,552 to be considered in poverty (Poverty in the United States, 2015). Along with the Census Bureau having their own set of thresholds, for certain assistance programs there are more guidelines. These are handled by the exosystem and can differ from community to community. As well has having different guidelines from exosystem to exosystem there are also different types of resources that are available for those families in need. For example, in the community that I live and work in there is a community action agency that serves nine counties in Illinois. This agency provides many different resources for families who are living at or below the poverty line. Some of the services that this agency provides to our community is Head Start/Early Head Start, foster grandparents, respite care, energy bill
Poverty is a factor that can affect thousands of people from all over the world. Poverty has changed a lot over the course of time, especially in the United States. The National Poverty Center stated, “Between 1993 and 2000, the poverty rate fell each year, reaching 11.3 percent” (Poverty in the United States, 2015). Although, this number is low compared to other countries there are some downfalls. The National Poverty Center continued by mentioning, “The poverty rate for children has historically been somewhat higher than the overall poverty rate. The poverty rate for people in households headed by single women is significantly higher than the overall poverty rate” (Poverty in the United States, 2015). With this being said poverty is playing a large role in children and their families. Along with the obvious money and basic needs that poverty is affecting, there are also many other factors that have an impact from poverty. Some of these impacts are more crime and delinquency, more substance abuse, more school failure, more child abuse and neglect, more teenage childbearing, more unhealthy children, and lower productivity by tomorrow’s labor force (Berns, …show more content…
Knowing that poverty can have a large impact on families and children what is available in their mesosystem, exosystems and macrosystems that can assist? Each country (macrosystem) has its own guidelines for poverty rates. The United States for example, uses what they call thresholds that the Census Bureau establishes every year (Poverty in the United States, 2015). These thresholds are based on the number of people in a family. For example a traditional family with two parents and one child can have a gross income of $17,552 to be considered in poverty (Poverty in the United States, 2015). Along with the Census Bureau having their own set of thresholds, for certain assistance programs there are more guidelines. These are handled by the exosystem and can differ from community to community. As well has having different guidelines from exosystem to exosystem there are also different types of resources that are available for those families in need. For example, in the community that I live and work in there is a community action agency that serves nine counties in Illinois. This agency provides many different resources for families who are living at or below the poverty line. Some of the services that this agency provides to our community is Head Start/Early Head Start, foster grandparents, respite care, energy bill