(Updated from Original Post dated February 8, 2013)
Our posts this week are focused on how an agent of change, can help bring awareness to important issues that have a profound affect on modern families. Change agents operate to amend laws and introduce legislation that benefit society. For example, one growing trend in our culture is single motherhood. Data disclosed from government agencies that was collected from social scientists and researchers worldwide, suggests that the majority of single moms in the United States, most of whom are either separated or previously married, work longer hours and experience higher poverty rates than their peers in other high-income countries. Tim Casey, Senior Staff Attorney at Legal Momentum, explains one reason for this is due to a flawed income support system that includes a high rate of low-wage workers. (Kaufman, 2012).
Another report published by Legal Momentum (2012) postulates that half of single mothers’ annual income is less than $25,000 and two fifths of single mother families are “food insecure.” In addition, one third of children around the country grow up without a father according to the US Census Bureau. Studies indicate that children who grow up in a fatherless home have greater risk of major challenges in life than those who are reared with both parents present. For instance, twenty-seven million children in America are affected by this problem and it continues to spread. Furthermore, higher rates of poverty, failure in school, teen pregnancy, substance abuse, violent crime, and depression have all been linked to the influence of absentee fathers (Legal Momentum, 2012). On Wednesday we will continue our discussion on agents of change and look at strategies they use to introduce reforms. Until then … stay organized!
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Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. – Leo Tolstoy
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References
Administration for Children and Families. (2012, October 1). Office of child support enforcement preliminary report. Retrieved January 25, 2013, from: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/css/resource/fy2011-preliminary-report
Kaufman, G. (2012, December 21). This week in poverty: US single mothers – the worst off. Retrieved January 25, 2013, from The Nation.com: http://www.thenation.com/blog/171886/week-poverty-us-single-mothers-worst#
Legal Momentum. (2012). Single motherhood in the United States. Retrieved January 25, 2012, from: http://www.legalmomentum.org/our-work/women-and-poverty/resources–publications/single-mothers-snapshot.pdf
Office of the Inspector General. (n.d.). Child support enforcement. Retrieved January 25, 2013, from: https://oig.hhs.gov/frau
