In
her book, Shattered Bonds, Dorothy Roberts examined the child welfare
system and points out factors that continue to increase racial disparities
among it. Poverty is a factor that Roberts account to on numerous cases. Roberts notes, “most children reported to the
child welfare system are poor, and Black children are more likely to live in
poverty than children of other groups” (Roberts, 2002, pg. 26). This
exemplifies that black people are still located at the bottom in regards to both
welfare system and poverty. In another case, Roberts points out that “the
percentage of Black children who ever
lived in poverty while growing up is about the same as the percentage of white
children who never did” (Roberts,
2002, pg. 46). This is quite sad to know that Black children are commonly stuck
in poverty as many White children are privileged. I definitely think that
poverty is a strong issue in this situation and I think this is so because of
the bad connotations with the term ‘poverty’. When we think of children in
poverty we do not expect bright futures from these children, we expect gang
involvement and/ or early parenthood. This bad image on poverty creates the
government to narrow their interest in on lower income neighborhood and use
their power to take these children away.
Poverty continues to be a dominant factor as Roberts described
another factor as neglect. Neglect and poverty are intertwined since she states
“but the huge role of neglect in the child welfare system is a far cry from the
public perception of the problem of child maltreatment –as mainly extreme
physical abuse –and has much more to do with poverty than the public is willing
to acknowledge” (Roberts, 2002, pg. 34). This idea of neglect is understandable
in poverty because these parents may be unable to hire a babysitter or send a
child to daycare; hence they reluctantly resort to leaving their child
unattended. Negligence is definitely an issue that is not just prevalent in
families living in poverty; however it is quickly associated with poverty
because we assume that these parents are either drug abusers or alcoholics and
thus are too busy for their child. The problem here that needs to be examined
is moving beyond poverty, beyond our incomes and to identify other scenarios
where negligence is probably another issue.
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MAI NHIA.
Graded Blog Reply 10
ReplyDeleteHello!
I really liked your interpretation of Dorothy Roberts chapter in Shattered Bonds. Roberts does a great job of tying in poverty as a reason why there are more African Americans in foster care. A point I really liked from Roberts was that poverty is often confused with neglect, which you did a great job touching on. I briefly addressed in class that many of the students attending this private university have never experienced poverty and their expectations may be higher simply because they are accustomed to having certain luxuries. I really liked the example that most children today probably had their own bedroom growing up, while a couple decades ago that was probably not the case. Interestingly, I think it’s rather ironic that when students attend college they have to learn how to share such a small space with their roommate. If African Americans were living in a dorm like situation with two people to a room, I think people may view that completely different then two college students sharing a room at a University.
I also liked how you touched on neglect as well. You are correct that people who are living in poverty cannot afford the luxuries such as child care. Some mothers may not be able to work simply because they are dedicated to the well being of their children. I do find it interesting that many children in wealthier households are often neglected, but these parents are not charged. This shows that there is a disconnect in the laws. Laws must be universal and apply to all groups in the same fashion to insure fairness and accountability of lawmakers.
I really enjoyed your blog post! Thanks for sharing.
Amanda O.