HW 42 - Pregnancy & birth culminating project

I have spent most of my life in a blind discourse, I like so many other Americans have believed theirs is one America which falls and prospers together .But I have recently seen fit to follow another course. There are indeed two Americas, One America which sets foot everyday to spend most of their lives working ,while another sits and reaps the rewards .One America who's needs and interest are being long forgotten, while the other America's every wish is meant hand and foot at the heels . One America which is trying to make an honest dollar out of forty cents,while another America can buy anything it's heart desires.One America who believes the weird injustice's happening everyday in American is normal.

One America which has bought into the delusion of the "middle class",their a are are only two classes in America the lower class and the upper class. And in this lower class lie's a problem which the other America refuse's to make true change in, this problem is poverty. It was estimated in 2007 37.5 million people were impoverished.36.2 million Americans are food insecure, including 12.4 million children; single women-headed households are worst off with 30.2% . I believe that these issues confronting us cross all party lines.

One America wants you to believe that the issues stated are false part of some agenda to temper the maintenance of peace and prosperity. The line has been often used "We've never had it so good." But I have an uncomfortable feeling that this prosperity isn't something on which we can base our hopes for the future. No nation has survived very long under the burden of despair and poverty.And yes the poverty rate is growing,another 1.5 million people are expected to be added to the poverty rolls over 2007 figures - a total of nearly 39 million representing 12.7% of Americans.But the biggest group out of these figures that is being effected by this unknown crisis is America is unwed mother's.

Their seems to be a disproportionate number of families in poverty that are headed by single mothers.Their needs to be a spotlight on mothers in poverty, theirs must be attention drawn to this unsettling topic.Their plight can no longer be ignored. Work must be done toward policy changes that would benefit them and their children. Yes it must be noted that not all single mothers are in poverty. Tho most single mothers face their own special hardships of managing a family on their own, and a lot most are able to succeed. However, for mothers of low income, the hardships can be overwhelming and many find themselves trying to survive against formidable obstacles.

Their are many factors that contribute to the high rate of poverty among postpartum single mothers, including the unequal opportunities in education and employment, the overwhelming numbers of women who work in jobs that do not provide adequate wages and or benefits, the time many women devote to unpaid family care giving,the growing rate domestic violence, lack of access to affordable child care, insufficient child support and an inadequate network of public benefits. The lives of low-income single mothers has become a series of crises In America.A juggling act of sorts , with no true alternatives. From everything to where to find safe, decent and affordable housing without spending so much of the family income so that there’s not enough left for food, or utilities, or basic clothing. But the picture is not as bleak as it appears.Their are programs which exist that successfully launch single mothers into economic self-sufficiency. All of these programs share equal characteristics, the most prominent of which is that they take a comprehensive approach to addressing the needs of the poor.

Successful programs address the complete spec of the issues effecting single mothers, they combine intensive, respectful guidance with support for education, child care, health care, and housing. We have for to long in America be con into the idea of the "cowboy", that every American makes their own way , that we can left ourselves from our own bootstraps. But many families are unable to lift themselves out of poverty without government support. Public policy must encourage work, but no family with a full-time worker should have to live in poverty. Policy have to made that ease the stress of poverty and enable hard-working single mothers to reap larger benefits from working.This includes a living wage, pay equity, expanded family tax credits, paid sick leave and dependent care leave.Their must be flexible work schedules so that those that have jobs can balance work and family needs. Policymakers must at all levels , local, state and federal focus on this vulnerable population and work to ease their path to economic self-sufficiency before they fall into the cracks of the American dream .

Winston Churchill ones said that "the destiny of man is not measured by material computation. When great forces are on the move in the world, we learn we are spirits--not animals." And he said, "There is something going on in time and space, and beyond time and space, which, whether we like it or not, spells duty." Our duty as Americans ,a people who set themselves to higher morals, as people who believe they are still the moral beacon of world, and adhere to a much higher power is to help those around us who are less fortunate. You and I in the words of Ronald Reagan have a rendezvous with destiny.

Either we will preserve for generation's to come , the last so called "best hope of man on Earth", or we like so many other's before us will throw away our moral obligations and "take the last step into a thousand years of darkness." See why must it be the government and the American people's responsibility to care for the single mothers in poverty is because a single mother who is brought out of the shackles of poverty takes her children with her.That is what we all want, That is the American dream and that is how we peace and prosperity.