Lone Parenthood Sociology

Prejudice is defined as an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed without any knowledge, thoughts or reason. People often believe and feel certain things about a specific group of people (religion, race, culture, etc.) This can lead to a person believing that their culture, race, religions, etc is better and superior to others and treating a group horribly, or ethnocentrism. A person might even get upset or angered by that group being involved in things such as school activities. Prejudice comes in different forms; someone can act out based on their thoughts about the other person/group, sometimes revolving around anger, or someone can try and turn it around those feelings and change who is being victimized.

In the introduction of this essay we will be looking at ‘what is child poverty?’ Poverty is often associated with the third world and developing countries where death from starvation and disease is the outcome. This kind of poverty is rarely seen in the UK though. Child poverty is unfortunately a result of adult poverty with Child poverty having lifelong consequences. There are 3.5 million children living in poverty in the UK today, that’s 27 per cent of children or more than one in four (department for work and pensions, 2013.) Poverty in the UK is about a lack of resources, lack of capital both income and wealth. But it can also be resource poor such as; education and good health

“When I was young, poverty was so common that we didn’t know it had a name” a quote by Lyndon B. Johnson.(Brainy Quotes) We all have witnessed or experienced poverty in our lives whether we identify or not are not the points of my study. I want people to see the numbers do not lie and we have to help with this huge increase of poverty. Poverty affects families, groups and individuals especially the children where the UK is concerned. The major reason for these kids and families experiencing poverty are the low wages, low benefits or having no income at all. The results of children poverty can lead to affect their social, educational and personal development.

Lone-parent families struggle to get social assistance from the government because of the welfare policies. Single parents lack affordable childcare with long waiting list, no available space, but if available, it is likely to be costly for single parents to afford. High quality regulated child care is inaccessible to single parent families, and it is not contested; in addition, Canada’s public funding for childcare is very low, consequently, the quality is not as high as it should be. Furthermore, they lack drug and dental benefits and of full time well paid employment, have made it difficult if not impossible for many single parents, as they struggle to balance the competing demands of caring for and providing support for their children.

“10 Things a Single Parent Wants You to Know” is an article in Reader’s Digest by Jen Babakhan. This begins by saying that just because you have a spouse that works a lot does not mean you are a single parent. One significant difference is that single parents provide all the income and attention in the household. Next the article discusses that while parenting alone has it’s challenges it’s also very rewarding. I relate this article back to the chapter and class discussions on different family structures and socioeconomic factors.

The healing circle is valuable technique used within Aboriginal communities to initiate healing through their own traditional belief systems (Stevenson, 1999). Traditionally, “a sharing of one’s journey is a great teacher, for it acknowledges that the pain, laughter, and love we experience can bring us closer together and helps us to learn from one another’s experiences” (Stevenson, 1999, p.9). Moreover, Aboriginal peoples created the healing circle to help each other learn by personal experiences, and to ensure the community says connected to one another. An organization that uses healing circles to connect individuals is called the Community Holistic Circle Healing. This organization uses healing circles as a response to sexual abuse in

This report will focus on contemporary poverty in the UK although poverty is different globally, it will look at childhood in general and show the effect that poverty has on the experiences of childhood. The report will define poverty and use statistics and government policy on poverty. Three sources will be analysed, for the academic my main source is on the book of Ridge (2002) which is Childhood Poverty and Social Exclusion from a Childs perspective, next for media source it is a documentary called Poor Kids and my case study is on a lone parent family. Townsend who was a sociologist in (1979) defined poverty he said

Especially in today’s society, it’s disturbingly common for a child to have to grow up in a single parent household, letting the consequences of this scenario internally destroy the child like a virus. The effects are usually the same, but the frequency of the effects shouldn’t deter the severity. Another misconstrued ideal about single parent households, is whether or not the “statistics” and the “studies” taken on these families is enough to summarize the general population. They aren’t. The same goes for the causes, but on a much more significant scale. The causes and effects of single parent households implied by the studies and statistics are all true, but there’s a much bigger story that can’t be accurately measured or recorded. What the numbers show, are what represent the average. The non-hispanic White race represents the average race, low class to poverty level, and women to gender. But, as can be seconded by most struggling families in this situation, “average” doesn’t describe “real.” There are some things that can’t be taken into account, and those are the things that affect the child the most.

Child poverty is not just something that poorer countries have to deal with, it is a world-wide issue involving even the richest countries, where the disparity between rich and poor can be worse than in developing countries. This essay will examine some of the key causes of child poverty as well as the impacts on society. The reality of child poverty in the UK is that some families living on a low income and have only about £13 per day per person. (Barnardo’s online 2015). With this in mind, many people may well have met, or know, families that are below the UK poverty line.

In the United States, there are approximately 10 million single mothers leading a family on their own (“ Single Mom Statistics: Surprising Facts & Figures of Today’s Single Mother”). Having a father in the home, can have numerous benefits to a child’s development.

Source 1 - This source is a BBC News article about Child Poverty in the UK which was written in 2015, so the information is up to date. The strengths of this article are that it has informative statistics and information about the causes of child poverty. The weaknesses of the article are that it has more about the government than about child poverty itself. I

To understand poverty, it is crucial to understand the systems that are involved in creating it. Inequality is embedded in many necessary institutions within society, which provides the basis for poverty to occur. Without this entrenchment of inequality amongst institutions and systems within society, it is clear that poverty would look very different. This paper will delve into the concept of racialized poverty and how racialized minorities have a greater propensity to remain in poverty due to a lack of accessibility to high quality and equal institutions. By examining systems such as the labour market, education and healthcare , it will become evident that racialized minorties are not granted the same opportunities as people who are

Now well into the 21st century, as a modern, innovative, and multicultural North American society – there are a myriad of family-types, subsequently, multiple definitions and ideologies that encompass family systems, functions, and representations. Galvin, Braithwaite, and Bylund (2016) attest that “family life is a universal human experience” (p. 2) and that “there are many ways to be a family [because] family life is as diverse as the persons who create families” (p. 3). Deliberately, Galvin et al. (2016) reveal different family-types that range from two-parent biological family to intergenerational family with five different cohorts in between, each with individual characteristics (p. 9). Amidst family cohorts, the single-parent family (SPF) comprises one parent, and one child or children forged by choice (including adoption and other means), separation (including divorce and desertion), or death. The SPF is also categorized dependent on custodial functions and responsibilities (Galvin et al., 2016, p. 9).

For the purpose of this assignment I shall be discussing what child poverty is, the factors of child poverty in the United Kingdom and how child poverty will be tackled. In the UK families have a prime responsibility to nurture and care for their children through various development stages (UNICEF 2012 ). Child poverty can happen from the break up of families, being in debt, poor education or unfortunately an orphan or born in to the situation (BBC, 2012). All children have the right to embark on the best possible start to life, within a secure and happy environment with support into adulthood and the opportunity for potential.

Child poverty in Britain affects an increasing number of families; the most recent statistics from 2014-2015 show that poverty affects 1 in 4 children in the UK today1. The cause of child poverty has many contributing factors and creates multiple issues for the individuals affected. Child poverty in Britain is much different than the television adverts that show the awful living conditions of children in third world countries, however still has devastating outcomes for those experiencing poverty. Our standard of living is much different and therefore we must compare poverty in Britain to the living standards that we are accustomed to in society today; this concept was introduced by sociologist Peter Townsend in 1979 who defined poverty as; ‘Individuals, families and groups in the population can be said to be in poverty when they lack resources to obtain the type of diet, participate in the activities and have the living conditions and amenities which are customary, or at least widely encouraged and approved, in the societies in which they belong.’ 2