Blog Nine
Mr. President:
I would like to start by thanking you for taking an interest in what I feel is a very important issue plaguing society today. As you may know, there is a common misconception that mothers of low socioeconomic standing, that is below the poverty line, who cannot provide the typical home environment for their children are “bad� mothers. They are punished by the system for aspects of their lives that are out of their control and often this very system worsens these aspects. For example, in Annette Appell’s piece “On Fixing ‘Bad’ Mothers and Saving Their children� in many cases it seems that it is the institution “DCFS� which works to help such children but only makes the situations worse. They set impossible goals for the mothers, which, if they work towards fulfilling actually make them worse mothers because they do not have time to see their children. The many goals set for the women often contradict each other, for if she is busy attempting to complete one of them she doesn’t have the time or resources to complete the others and then the system deems that she is still a “bad� mother.
I believe a new system needs to be implemented to help these women for life is not as some believe it; it is not always possible to “pull yourself up by the bootstraps�. The system claims to be trying to protect the fetus, help the fetus, yet once the baby emerges from the womb there are no programs set in place to ensure the child has a “good� life. There needs to be a program that actually succeeds in improving the quality of these children and their mother’s lives by helping the mother and child stay together while also helping them rise above the poverty line. Expectations of what can be expected from the mother need to be realistic and the system needs to help the mother instead of criminalizing her. A whole new way of thinking about the situation is needed with caseworkers who are not stretched so thin that they don’t have time to care about the people they are working with. Our current system has never worked, currently isn’t working, and if left unchanged will never begin to work. What we must remember as our ultimate goal is to improve the quality of life for mother and child with the utmost importance being placed on keeping them together.
Note to instructor: Just a reminder of our email correspondence okay-ing this being late.