There is no use denying the fact that modern age can be characterized by a great development of tolerance and democracy. People start to understand that life is a great treasure and all people should appreciate it, no matter what diseases or problems a person has. With this in mind, it is possible to admit the changes in the attitude towards people who suffer from different mental diseases or who are disabled. Society obtains the idea that all these people also deserve the right to exist and moreover, they should be given the same conditions under which the majority of population lives.
Taking the facts into account, it is possible to say that different counties try to promote development of creation of different techniques of working with these people and, additionally, great number, of special establishments are created. Especially this process can be seen in some rich states where amount of money given to fulfill these needs can be very big. Down Syndrome is one of the illnesses of this kind. Being a very serious problem, it obviously demands further investigation and creation of special conditions for people who suffer from it to be able to live with it and, moreover, enjoy their life. With this in mind, it is possible to analyze different approaches to people with this syndrome in different countries of the world. The UAE was chosen for our work because of its prosperity and wealth.
General Impression
Person under analysis is a young man who lives in Dubai and who suffers from Down Syndrome. However, at the first gaze he does not seem to be miserable. He is well dressed and the room, in which the interview takes place, is rather light and bright. Additionally, there is no depressing feeling which can appear while communicating with sick people. On the contrary, a person is smiling and seems to be very pleasant, though seek men. Moreover, he is not deprived of some curiosity and the interest for other people and is not sacred. With this in mind, it is possible to say that he does not suffer from some negative attitude or other manifestations of discrimination which can be seen in some other countries.
Different activities
There are several reasons for such a good image of this person. First of all, it should be said that in the UAE people who suffer from the Down Syndrome are not usually discriminated. Additionally, they are taken as sick people, who though need help and sympathy. That is why, they do not feel their isolation. Taking the mood and appearance of our respondent into account, it is impossible not to agree with this statement. Moreover, his answers can also serve as a good evidence.
He does not have any complaints and is satisfied with his life and conditions under which he lives. The UAE devotes much attention to the question of Down Syndrome, opening new centers and creating new programs. Dubai, being one of the most developed city of the East, suggests great number of possibilities for people who suffer from this illness. Great number of rehabilitation programs, trainings and some other activities are created in order to support these people.
Additionally, some governmental and family support is provided. There is no use denying the fact, that performance of different kinds of activity is vital for people who suffer from Down Syndrome, that is why, great number of activities are available for them. UAE Down Syndrome Association is responsible for it. Our young men is also supported by it. He likes to describe different activities performed by him at different classes. He was given the ability to draw, paint, play different games and communicate with other people who suffer from the same disease. It is very important as under these conditions children and adults, who suffer for Down Syndrome, can see that they are not alone and the feeling of support and safety appears. Additionally, there are always some special training programs in which our young man takes part.
His favorite kind of activity is swimming. At the first gaze, it becomes obvious that he likes it very much and waits for the next training with a great impatience. Modern science underlines the necessity of physical activity for people who suffer from this illness, that is why it can be taken as a good practice for our respondent. Moreover, he also describes his experience of swimming with dolphins which seems to be one of his brightest memories.
Healthy influence of these mammals is proved and the UAE tries to create the best conditions for people who suffer from Down Syndrome. Additionally, our respondent describes the classes of speech therapy which seem to be not so pleasant as swimming for him, though rather interesting to. There is no use denying the fact, that these courses are rather efficient as he speaks quite clear and distinct, though, very often people with Down Syndrome have different problems connected with speech.
Attitude of society and family
The last issue, which should be mentioned in this research, is the attitude of society and government towards people like our respondent. Being the only child in the family, our young man is sure that his parents love him and are happy. It is possible to communicate with them and assure that they are quite satisfied with the current state of affairs. Additionally, there are also special programs and courses which main aim is to provide psychological help for parents who have a child with this diagnose and teach them how to live with it. Parents of our responded explained that it was very difficult at the beginning, though these very courses and the attitude of people towards their child made their life much easier and promoted his development.
Conclusion
Having analyzed the given case and the situation in the UAE, it is possible to make certain conclusion. First of all, there is a great attention in the country given to this very issue. The government tries to spend much money in order to improve the life of people who suffer from Down Syndrome. The UAE can be taken as an example because people can feel themselves comfortable there. Person under investigation feels himself good and looks quite happy.
Additionally, he performs different kinds of activities and has rather interesting and bright life. With this in mind, it should be said that the approach to people, who suffer from Down Syndrome, in the UAE leads to the improvement of the quality of life of these people and, moreover, promotes their socialization. With this in mind, the experience gained while making this analysis can be rethought and applied in our further life with the intention to improve the state of people with the same problems in some other country.
Sara Zarr wrote the novel Story of a Girl in 2007. The piece has received awards, including the National Books Award, the American Library Association Best Novel, the ALA Quick Pick, the New York Teen Age Public Library Book, and the Utah Book Award. Arguably, these awards indicate that it is one of the best books for teenagers to read and understand the consequences of their choices and the importance of forgiveness.
Summary
The setting of the book commences in Deanna’s home until the time she joins college. When Deanna is thirteen years old, her father, Ray, discovers that she is having an affair with Tommy, their neighbor. Since this time, Ray and Mrs. Lambert, Deanna’s mother, develop a conflict with her, which is a sign of family violence. On her last day as a sophomore, senior students taunt Deanna regarding her previous relationship with Tommy until Jason, her coursemate, comes to her rescue. At this point, Deanna develops a love interest in Jason, kissing him despite knowing that Jason is dating her best friend, Lee. Deanna forgives Tommy, decides to ask her parents for forgiveness, and requests her brother, Darren, to invite Stacy to forgive him for marrying her while young, which is another indication of family violence.
Analysis
Ecological Models (Microsystem Theories)
Ecological models by Bronfenbrenner are one of the theories that can explain the violence that Deanna goes through in her underage life. The microsystem tenets can be used to describe Deanna’s experience. The microsystem is the relationship between developing individuals and their immediate settings. In the book, Deanna is presented as an underage girl that finds herself having a sexual relationship with Tommy. At the beginning of the novel, the audience comprehends that Deanna is thirteen years old, and towards the end, she continues having sexual affairs with Tommy. The surrounding environment might have influenced Deanna because her older brother Darren has a teen girlfriend, Stacy, who later realizes that she is young to have a child and quits (Zarr, 2007). The maltreatment and violence on the girl develop due to her immoral behavior of having sex while young, hence making her parents bitter. It is worth noting that the microsystem theories are vivid, considering the stress that Deanna undergoes.
Risk Characteristics
Arguably, negligence is the characteristic that puts the abuser at risk. Deanna’s parents are prone to judgment before a court of law because of abandoning their underage daughter. Deanna’s parents do not converse with her because they see her sexual behaviors as an embarrassment (Zarr, 2007). The girl is underage, and she can make many mistakes. Before a court of law, Ray and Mrs. Lambert can be prosecuted and convicted because of neglecting Deanna and not giving her the required advice as a young and blossoming child. Moreover, poor communication put Deanna’s parents at risk of losing their family, since Darren equally evacuates to another apartment. Tommy is another abuser whose behavior of having sex with an underage girl can put her at risk of being jailed. Contrary, Deanna develops sexual interests and kisses Jason, despite knowing that he is dating Lee, one of her closest friends, and sleeping with Tommy (Zarr, 2007). Deanna is presented as abused, and her trait of having sexual affairs puts her at risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases and even pregnancy.
Strengths
One of the strengths the abusers have is that they are supportive of their daughter financially. Notably, the novel Story of a Girl highlights that Deanna is on her last day as a sophomore (Zarr, 2007). Understandably, the author develops a picture in the reader’s mind that regardless of Deanna disagreeing with her parents, they still support her education since they pay school fees. Ray and Mrs. Lambert are trying to ensure that their daughter’s future is bright by supporting her financially. Besides, Deanna, although being abused, has many strengths, including the courage to ask for forgiveness. Deanna asks her father’s forgiveness, stating that the distance between her and her parents hurts her (Zarr, 2007). Ray forgives his daughter and helps her purchase a car a few days before the opening of schools. Moreover, she forgives Tommy and intends to apologize to Lee for kissing her boyfriend (Zarr, 2007).
Impact
The short-term impact of the violence on Deanna includes social, cognitive, and emotional effects. Darren declines Deanna’s suggestion to contribute money and live with her (Zarr, 2007). The girl also allows Tommy into her life for the second time because of desperation (Zarr, 2007). She is lonely because she feels her family’s absence and dates Tommy to get someone who can keep her. Deanna is distressed because neither her family nor society wants to associate with her. She is mocked when fellow students discover her past life with Tommy (Zarr, 2007). Moreover, loneliness is another short-term impact of the absence of his wife, Stacy. The woman regrets getting married to Darren at an earlier age.
Furthermore, the long-term consequence of violence is the low self-esteem that young girl faces. Notably, because students back at school know everything regarding Deanna and Tommy’s past life, she might find it difficult to interact freely with her fellow students. Stress is another long-term effect on both Darren and Stacy. The present trends of running away project how Stacy will have conflicts with Darren, quarrel, and subsequently fight. Stacy is not happy in the current relationship.
Environment
The environment contributed to family violence, considering that most behaviors are learned. As mentioned above, Darren, Deanna’s elder brother, dates a teen who decides to abandon both her husband and April, their daughter (Zarr, 2007). Seemingly, early marriage is a ‘norm’ in Deanna’s surrounding society. Arguably, she might have been influenced by this notion of early matrimonial, hence deciding to equally fall in love at a tender age, leading to family violence.
The environment also imparts knowledge to Deanna concerning the importance of collaboration, harmony, and family. Darren reconciles with his wife, Stacy, and they move to a place of their own (Zarr, 2007). Critically, it is at this point that Deanna realizes that she equally needs to reconcile with her father and lead an everyday life where she feels parental love and care. In other words, Stacy’s return to Darren’s life motivated Deanna to seek forgiveness from her father equally.
Critique
Flaws
When learning about family violence, the book’s weakness is that it applauds early sexual engagement, whereby individuals hope that they will reconcile with their parents afterward. Moreover, the book encourages sexual relationships, considering that despite Deanna’s parents knowing that Tommy is ruining their daughter’s life, they take no legal steps against the perpetrator. Overall, the book teaches teens that they can do anything inappropriate and finally make reconciliations.
Strengths
One of the book’s strengths is that it urges for forgiveness from those that one has wronged. Deanna asks for understanding from those she had treated wrong, including her father, who later contributes money to buy her first car (Zarr, 2007). Equally, the novel challenges teens to be hardworking in everything that they do, emulating Deanna’s example, whereby she decides to work at Picasso to get money to contribute equally and stay with Darren (Zarr, 2007).
Overall Evaluation
The book is educative as it teaches the young generation that it does not matter how many times one falls. What determines people’s success is discovering oneself and what they want in life, hence achieving it. For instance, Deanna comprehends that she wants peace with her parents and decides to talk one-on-one with her father, asking for forgiveness. Therefore, the book is educative as it imparts knowledge to the audience regarding the importance of reconciliation.
Personal Response
Impact
The book educated me on the prudence of making peace and harmony with my family members and the entire society. It taught me that I should have a kind heart ready to forget once people ask for forgiveness, as Ray does. I have learned that reconciliation is a sign of maturity, and I need to embrace it. The novel is also an excellent piece that teaches me, as a teen, that they need to be hardworking and productive in society.
Learning
One old belief that was challenged while reading the book is that teens cannot make proper decisions. Despite Deanna going astray, she composes herself and decides to approach her father to ask for forgiveness (Zarr, 2007). Moreover, she decides to meet Lee and ask for compassion over what they did with Jason apart from forgiving Tommy. Thus, these discoveries challenge the old belief that teens cannot make the right decisions by themselves.
Recommendation
The novel’s problem commences when Deanna starts having a sexual relationship with Tommy at the age of thirteen years. No parent wants their children to be misused at an early age. Thus, parents need to embrace guidance and counseling for their children at a young age to avoid this problem. Holistically, through counseling, adolescents will know that engaging in erotic affairs is dangerous, hence enhancing abstinence.
Reference
Zarr, S. (2007). Story of a Girl. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.
Numerous things connect families and the concept of inequality. This study will, however, analyze the connection between social inequalities in education for different types of families based on income earned. It is important to note that there are studies that suggest that there is significant difference between cognitive ability of children raised in low income households compared to those in high income. Bernardi and Ballarino (2016) argue that there are research studies that support the argument that children in high income homes are often cognitively supported by access and ability to acquire anything money can buy. However, children brought up in hardship are projected to be more cognitively superior (Pfeffer, 2018). Regardless of what various studies have shown, one thing is clear, there are cognitive and social inequalities in different families based on their income.
Research Question(s)
The study will be guided by three research questions.
Are social inequalities in education for different types of families based on income earned?
Is there a relationship between family inequalities and future success of children based on quality of education received?
Is privilege a determining factor in shaping perceptions on inequality among families of different incomes/wages?
Significance of Study
There are four main significances of the proposed study. One advantage is attached to the furthering of the discussion for academic purposes. It is expected that the researcher will not only be able to fill gaps that will be identified in the literature review, but also further the discussion to promote specific research in the future. Critically, as Mijs (2016) notes, one of the things one has to consider when doing an academic study is its impact in the progression of the field of study. It is, therefore, important to note this as a significance of the study.
Importantly, the study is significance as it will relay information that affects policies. It is prudent to mention that numerous policies appear to favour students who come from middle and high income families. Jacobs and Struyf (2015) argue that the education system favors students who do not have to worry about other things such as food and shelter. This argument is reinforced by the assumption that children from poorer backgrounds are less intelligent than those from more successful families.
Further, a key significance of the study is its projected impact in the field of education as a whole. Pfeffer (2018) notes that whereas policies are required to ensure all children have the same access to education, in numerous instances, the quality of learning is not the same due to the socio-economic status of the students’ families. The link between socio-economic status and low quality education can be tracked back to the era of slavery. The next section of the essay will focus on the background of families and inequality in regards to the topic selected.
Background
As stated previously, one can track the issue of families, inequality and education back to the slavery period. Pfeffer (2018) explains that after slavery was abolished, black Americans were still segregated. They had to go to different schools that were taught by their fellow black Americans. According to the scholar, the inequality started here (for these families) due to the fact that their race had not been exposed to quality education at that point. Therefore, whereas their teachers were learned, they were not as learned as tutors in schools that were attended by Caucasian children.
Additionally, the segregation of blacks led to lower quality of life, which further made education more difficult. Carolan and Wasserman (2015) explain that it is harder to teach a student who is hungry compared to one who is well fed. The hungry child will only think about food while the other child will have an easier time concentrating on his or her studies. Importantly, the government was keen to resolve the inequalities in schools (Tsai, Smith & Hauser, 2017). Interestingly, the solutions tried did not go down to family level. Carolan and Wasserman (2015) explain that policies and forced measures were used to ensure children of colored parents attended schools that were initially for Caucasians only. Despite this, the importance of pushing the agenda at familial level was overlooked. This meant that even though the policies sought to help students while in school, they did not do anything to alleviate their situation at home. The “circle of poverty” further ensured that the same poor children either got low quality education or dropped out of school due to the problems they faced at household level. It can be argued that this background further shows the relationship between families and inequality.
Literature Review
Two main concepts have to be discussed when thinking about family inequalities in the education sector. The first is the accessibility of education among families that are not equal in one way or the other. Carolan and Wasserman (2015) argue that inequalities among families can be measured by the ease of accessing quality education. The scholars argue that a significant number of families in the US can access some form of formal education. However, the quality, which is measured with regards to access to books and other resource materials, ratio of teacher to students, and availability of equipment needed for proper learning, differ. The difference is enhanced by the fact that even though accessibility for low income families might be harder, they are not fully supported by both the federal and state governments (Jacobs & Struyf, 2015). As stated previously, there are policies in place to help children in such situations, but they have not been properly linked with family support.
On the same note, the concern of accessibility is not only physical but also mental. Sneyers, Jacobs and Struyf (2016) explain that this is particularly important for students who come from vulnerable homes and are sponsored to attend schools that are mainly attended by students from wealthy families. Mijs (2016) argues that both culture and behavioral change affect children in such set-ups. According to the scholar, there are numerous ways tutors can help make the mental transition better for the learner. However, it is also important to note that cognitive dissonance plays a key role in the success of the student. It is important to note that whereas such a learner might be better off in the new (high income) school, his or her family is still in the same situation (low income).
Critically, the second aspect that has to be considered is the role of inequality in determination of quality of education expected among different families. Bodvin et al. (2018) argue that different families, depending on their social status, also have different expectations of education, and its ability to elevate their status. The scholars note that a significant number of parents in low income families push their children to study and excel in school due to the expectations that better grades are equal to a secure and better future. This argument is disputed by Tsai, Smith and Hauser (2017) who explains that due to the fact that a majority of students from low income families school together, their mindset towards what is takes to have a better future is similar.
Due to this, it is common to find that families that can be grouped in regards to an inequality chart, have the same beliefs in regards to both the concept of inequality and ways to resolve issues concerning the same. Mijs (2016) notes that inequality is also perceived differently based on privilege levels. For instance, whereas a low income family might feel the policies implemented enhance their inequalities, the wealthy would feel the opposite. This can be attributed to the impact of privilege, where the ones who are not negatively affected fail to properly put themselves in the shoes of those affected. Privilege does not only affect perception but also incorporates beliefs that can at times not be true (Tsai, Smith & Hauser, 2017). For example, the group of individuals not affected might believe that those affected want more than is necessary to solve the problem at hand.
Data and Measures
The study will adopt a combined approach for both data collection and data analysis. In regards to data collection, the research will use both secondary and primary data. Secondary data will be collected through previous academic and peer reviewed studies on the same topic. Further, the researcher will use a significant percentage of the secondary data to form the literature review. The primary data will be collected from an identified population. It is important to note that the population will be divided into two large categories. The two groups will be the high income and low income earners/families.
Critically, a sample of 600 participants will be drawn from the identified population. 300 participants will be from the high income bracket and the remaining 300 will be from the low income bracket. Participants will be selected through random stratified approach, which is the best option for the study. One of the reasons this is the best approach is the fact that it allows for the participants to not feel targeted due to their social status. This is particularly important for the low income families. To ensure that the right sample size is captured, the researcher will take samples from neighbors known as “ghettos” for low income earners and “suburbs” for high income earners. It is important to note that due to the fact that the study will not include children (under 18 years of age).
There is little risk of selection bias due to the approach selected. Critically, random stratified selection of the sample removes selection bias as the researcher does not have a chance to hand pick the participants. The approach works by selecting people of similar characteristics and randomly picking out the individuals. Whereas there are numerous ways in which this can be achieved, the researcher will use a computer based application to do the random selection, which will use house numbers/address to pick the participants.
The researcher will use a questionnaire to collect primary data from the selected sample. Importantly, the questionnaire will be developed before the study. The validity and reliability of the study will be tested with a small group of ideal participants. This will allow the researcher to customize the tool to capture the right information during the study. The participants used to test the research tool will not be included in the final sample identified for purposes of integrity of the study.
Analytic Plan
The researcher will use a combination of both qualitative and quantitative research analysis. Specifically, the researcher will use text analysis for the identified qualitative approach. Further, for quantitative approach, the researcher will use statistical analysis. The combination of the two approaches will allow the researcher to fully capture the data. It is also critical to note that for statistical analysis, the researcher will be test three variables based on the research questions. The independent variable will be education while the dependent variables will be the low income and high income aspects of the research study.
Conclusion
In conclusion, inequalities in families can manifest in various ways. One of the key ways in which such differences emerge is through an analysis of education levels among two differing groups. The proposed study looks into the social inequalities among low income and high income families in regards to the type and quality of education they get. The proposed study will use both secondary and primary data, with a sample of 600 participants. The sample size will be picked through a random stratified approach to lower the risk for bias during selection. Importantly, the researcher will also use a combined approach of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies.
References
Bernardi, F. & Ballarino, G. (Eds.) (2016). Education, occupation and social origin: A comparative analysis the transmission of socio-economic inequalities. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Bodvin, K., Verschueren, K., De Haene, L., & Struyf, E. (2018). Social inequality in education and the use of extramural support services: access and parental experiences in disadvantaged families. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 33, 215–233.
Carolan, B. V., & Wasserman, S. J. (2015). Does parenting style matter? Concerted cultivation, educational expectations, and the transmission of educational advantage. Sociological Perspectives, 58(2):168–86.
Jacobs, K., & Struyf, E. (2015). First step towards a comprehensive model on integrated socio-emotional guidance: investigating the effect of teachers’ task perception and a supportive network at school. Journal of Educational Research, 108(2), 95–111.
Mijs, J. J. B. (2016). Stratified failure: Educational Stratification and students’ attributions of their mathematics performance in 24 countries. Sociology of Education, 89(2):137–53.
Pfeffer, T. F. (2018). Growing wealth gaps in education. Demography, 55, 1033–1068.
Sneyers, E., Jacobs, K. & Struyf, E. (2016). Impact of an in-service training in neurocognitive insights on teacher stress, teacher professionalism and teacher student relationships. European Journal of Teacher Education, 1–14.
Tsai, S., Smith, L. M., & Hauser, M. R. (2017). Families, schools, and student achievement inequality: A multilevel MIMIC model approach. Sociology of Education, 90(1), 1-7.
Protection of the institution of family and childhood in health matters should be a priority task of the state. At the current moment, several financial and non-financial barriers may prevent low-income families from seeking health care for themselves and their children and from receiving a good education. Children from low-income families continue to suffer because cost-effective child health measures do not reach them. In 2020, more than 4 million children under the age of 19, which is about 5.6% of all children — were uninsured for an entire calendar year, according to a US Census report, and changes in uninsured status over the past two years have affected children living beyond the poverty line, more (Bunch & Bandekar, 2021). An effective initiative is needed to expand access to health and education services and ensure the protection of families and children.
Economic principles
Well-being is determined by many factors: material well-being, the percentage of children living in relative income poverty, households without work, and reports of deprivation. Health and safety, educational well-being, and family and peer relationships are also measured. Economic factors are an important part of understanding the issue of child and family well-being. Currently, the childcare sector is an important and underfunded part of the American economy. Parents of young children devote a large amount of their total childcare income. Children benefit enormously from high-quality childcare facilities that nurture and support their healthy development while laying the foundation for the community’s future success by supporting children’s early learning skills. The great potential economic return on investment in early childhood education and early childhood care is obvious, especially for children from low-income families.
The Economic Impact on the Issue
The key concepts related to the economic well-being of individuals, families, or households are the financial resources they have to maintain their material living conditions and their ability to control these resources and needs. Individual circumstances and lifestyles influence people’s well-being. Income can be used to support current people’s consumption, such as food, clothing, housing, leisure, and education. Income can also be saved and invested in increasing wealth, supporting future consumption. Some low-income people have significant wealth to maintain consumption levels above their current income by converting some of their wealth into income. Other people can have high incomes and relatively low consumption if they pay off debt or save and invest. People with low wealth reserves may experience financial hardship during times of need, such as a period of declining income or significant unexpected expenses.
Socioeconomic Factors
Socio-economic status, low educational accessibility, and low income are associated with poor health among adults and children, such as poor self-reported health, mortality, the prevalence of chronic diseases, and psychosomatic symptoms. Inequality between population groups continues to grow, although general well-being and living conditions have improved in recent decades. The problem of low access to education for children from low-income families widens this gap. Minimizing health inequalities between population groups should be the goal of health policy. An association between parental socio-economic factors and health has also been demonstrated among children. For example, low parental education, unemployment, and low income are associated with poor health and an increased prevalence of chronic illness and psychosomatic symptoms. In addition, the presence of multiple parental socio-economic risk factors can have a cumulative effect on children’s poor health.
Health care Organizations
Two healthcare organizations were selected to help with the implementation of the program, with goals similar to those of the project. NICHQ has a single mission: to bring about radical and sustainable change in the complex health problems that children and their families face (NICHQ, 2022). The organization has earned a reputation as a national leader in improving the well-being of children and their families. The organization works with states, communities, public health agencies, hospitals, and families to improve children’s health. By building partnerships, encouraging collaboration, and providing data-driven technical assistance, NICHQ supports the various stakeholders who influence the systems that underpin children’s health. CHA has been providing for the needs of children, youth, and their families for several years. CHA was created as a partnership between concerned parents and healthcare professionals who saw the negative impact of hospitalization on their children, young people, and families and wanted to do something about it (CHA, 2022). CHA provides information programs that raise parental awareness of important health topics.
The Current Economic and Legal Landscape
An ambitious approach to developing policies and related public budgets is one of the elements of building a more equitable and sustainable economy and society. Results-based budgeting ensures early recovery and intervention and harm prevention in the first place, creating a context in which children and families thrive. Ensuring children’s well-being and human rights at an early age is critical to human rights and later life outcomes, but it also matters financially. At the moment, certain laws protect children’s right to education and health care. Support measures are multifaceted and come in the form of services to meet additional needs, from income tax relief to increased social security spending and increased criminal justice spending to increased demand for emergency services. However, the actual implementation of these measures does not cover the entire population. Governments must act on two levels: equip the people to thrive and eliminate the need for intervention by removing the root causes.
Proposed Policy
New policies and practices should be developed to protect the well-being of children and families. Evidence of the need to introduce such a program is that each new generation is different from the previous one, so strategies must be flexible and adaptive. The main goals to which it is proposed to pay attention are education and health care. It is necessary to ensure the highest quality of these services and to make sure that these essential benefits are available to every family. There is a need for public investment in the training of teachers and parents’ education to develop new curricula to create a correct and educational environment for all educational institutions. The system should focus on the needs and rights of children to train teachers who are oriented toward meeting these needs. Children and families need advocacy in the field of health. State support can be used to finance organizations that offer children’s rehabilitation programs and provide support to families.
Operational Strategies
A project to improve the well-being of children and families requires a competent manager who collects and analyzes the necessary information on the project and controls the plan’s implementation. State support and the support of private investors is the main driving force behind this project. To appeal to stakeholders and prove the need and effectiveness of changes, it is required to:
analyze the existing data concerning children and families education and health problems;
identify the most problematic industries and identify vulnerable segments of the population;
develop a step-by-step program for implementing improvements for a year, five, or ten years.
enlist support from educational and health institutions by getting to know their needs and problems;
address the full proposed program to the stakeholders, emphasizing the future positive impact;
offer assistance in evaluating the effectiveness of the developed strategies in practice.
The Role of Healthcare Organizations
Healthcare organizations can provide significant support at all stages of program implementation. When addressing organizations, it is necessary to emphasize the long-term importance of the project for improving the collective health of children and providing a comfortable environment for medical services. In addition, it is necessary to highlight the possibility of obtaining funding for the development of new programs that can significantly improve the organization’s reputation. Medical organizations are important in this regard since they are invited to introduce new methods in the field of healthcare to improve the situation of children and families. In addition, they already have experience in improving health care and can share the effectiveness of certain innovations. Close work is needed with organizations that are already contributing to this problem. In addition, organizations regularly encounter barriers and can communicate to stakeholders the need to overcome them.
The Possible Improvements to the Health care System
An initiative program aimed to improve the well-being of children and families in the field of healthcare will improve the overall American healthcare system. First of all, due to state support, it will be possible to reduce the cost of services provided, thereby ensuring their availability. Accessibility can also be achieved by organizing free lectures and webinars for parents to help educate them to improve children’s well-being. Free screening programs and awareness-raising among children about the importance of health issues can be organized. In addition, with financial support, it is possible to expand organizations and open branches, thereby serving families from hard-to-reach regions. The program can be a major step in reorienting the entire system to realize the importance of ensuring children’s well-being for the country’s future.
Proposed Policy and the Socioeconomic Factors
The proposed program is informed about the socio-economic factors affecting public health. Socio-economic factors show that the well-being of children is influenced by the income of parents and society as a whole, family environment, access to education, and health care. The proposed program proposes to ensure joint leveling of the consequences of the negative impact of these factors. The program is not able to increase the income of families, but it proposes to make the critical systems: education and health care, more accessible to all community members. Access to health care and education for all members of society will contribute to preserving a childhood environment in which worthy people will be brought up. Socioeconomic factors will always be present in society; however, protecting the population from their negative consequences is necessary.
Potential Socioeconomic Barriers, Solutions and Required Supports
The main barrier to implementing the proposed program to improve the education and health system may be the reluctance of the authorities to reallocate the budget for funding. Another barrier may be the reluctance of organizations to reshape their policies to ensure that services are accessible to the underprivileged part of the population. Distrust of the low-income population and unawareness of the importance of increasing the availability of services among marginalized groups can become a social barrier. The only possible solution to these problems should be a convincing presentation of the project and proof of its effectiveness for the government, charitable foundations, and healthcare organizations. Without the support of these stakeholders, the successful implementation of the project will not be possible. Not only is financial assistance important, but also raising awareness of the program at the state level, advertising in the social environment, and informing the population of the importance of participating in it.
Proposition for the Major Health care Organizations
The proposal for health organizations should primarily address the core mission of these organizations, which is to provide protection to children. Organizations need to be convinced that their goals and the proposed program are moving in the same direction and have as their aim the creation of a comfortable environment for children and families. Since the organizations already aim to help children and families, it will not be necessary to prove the need for the proposed program. It is required to emphasize the advantages that the company will receive from participating in the project. It is worth mentioning the potential advertising of organizations involved in the program, the possibility of opening new branches, and increasing reputation. An important plus will be the financial support of organizations, allowing organizations to develop their projects.
Call to Action
Children are the future of the country, which needs help and support. The number of children who do not have access to good education and health services is growing, and this situation needs to be changed urgently. Providing a comfortable environment for growing up is the duty of any state. Many children from low-income families and societies may not become worthy community members without affordable health care and education. Caring for children should become a priority, both for the state and for every member of society. Equal opportunities for all children are what modern society should strive for. The money spent on increasing the availability of basic services will pay off in full. Children raised in a comfortable and accessible environment will contribute to the country’s development in the future, becoming sought-after specialists. The formation of an advanced future society will be the main result of this program.
References
Bunch, L.N., & Bandekar, A.U. (2021). Changes in Children’s Health Coverage Varied by Poverty Status From 2018 to 2020. United States Census Bureau. Web.
Children’s Hospital Association. (2022). Champions for Children’s’ Health. CHA. Web.
National Institute for Children’s Health Quality (2022). Achieving Better Health Outcomes for Children. NICHQ. Web.
The transition from constructivism to social constructionism, which seemed like a small step, turned out to be a giant leap in psychology. Social constructionism served as the basis for a new approach to therapy in the 90s of the twentieth century: narrative family therapy and short–term therapy (McNamee, 2017). Therefore, the studies of this type of family therapy presented in this article are of great value to the scientific community.
The introduction gives various detailed definitions of social constructionism; its representatives believe that reality is created with the help of language in constant interaction and building relationships. The discourse about the world is neither a reflection nor a map of reality but just an artifact obtained from the exchange of information in the process of communication.
The next part of the article presents the history of the development of social constructionism and indicates its various trends. There are many directions of constructionism, represented primarily in Western science. At the same time, as the author of the article notes, there are three main trends. There are also radical constructionism and constructivism (McNamee, 2017); however, this article mainly focuses on the first social constructionism used in psychology, sociology, philosophy, and pedagogy.
Then a description of the concept of social constructionism is presented, which is taken as a basis when working with couples and families. The central premise of social constructionism is that the institutions, customs, labels, laws, and division of labor that exist in a particular society are constructed by members of the culture. Only when they interact with each other, do they create beliefs and values (McNamee, 2017). In other words, communities create lenses through which their members interpret the world.
Further, the article presents specific techniques and strategies used by psychologists who take social constructionism as a basis. Family psychotherapists using this method focus on the active process of creating meanings and a wide variety of possibilities. They use internal assumptions during some discourses and evoke ideas that were not taken into account before (McNamee, 2017). The therapy is based on working with clients ‘ life stories: analyzing problem stories and creating alternative ones that open up new perspectives. When life narratives carry painful meanings or offer, as it seems, an unfavorable choice, they can be changed by identifying other events that were not previously placed in history.
The considered example shows very clearly the use of social constructionism therapy. It is based on one of the most common situations: marital problems of a heterosexual white couple on the verge of divorce. One of the proposed techniques used by the family therapist was the externalization of the problem, that is, the presentation of the problem as external to the individual or family (Heatherington & Johnson, 2019). Posed questions have helped take family members beyond the actual situation and make it possible to start acting independently of it (McNamee, 2017). The carrier of the problem turned out to be one of the partners. The externalization of the situation also allowed him to participate in its solution instead of taking a defensive position.
Summing up, despite the very contradictory assessments given to it in modern sociology, the presence of great methodological potential in applying social constructionism in family therapy can be emphasized. This is confirmed by the publication of this work, where this approach is tested as a methodological basis for the conducted research.
References
Heatherington, L., & Johnson, B. (2019). Social constructionism in couple and family therapy: Narrative, solution-focused, and related approaches. In B. H. Fiese, M. Celano, K. Deater-Deckard, E. N. Jouriles, & M. A. Whisman (Eds.), APA handbook of contemporary family psychology: Foundations, methods, and contemporary issues across the lifespan (pp. 127–142). American Psychological Association.
McNamee, S. (2017). Social constructionism in couple and family therapy. Encyclopedia of couple and family therapy (pp. 1-4). Frankfurt, Germany: Springer.
For a large number of people the problem of migration from one state to another is an urgent one. Despite the fact that such a process is possible and welcomed, it is known for a number of difficulties. On the one hand, in the United States for migrants there is the necessary social assistance and services from the state. On the other hand, there are some obstacles to a full-fledged life of an arrived person, with which he needs to cope on his own. Using the example of the Lobo family case, it is necessary to analyze how the state should specifically help such people, and also to identify why it is wrong to overcomplicate the migration process.
First of all, it is necessary to start with an example of the Lobo family, that is, migrants who came to live and work in the United States of America. It is important to emphasize that laws do not prohibit migrant children from receiving educational services (U. S. Supreme Court, 1982). However, the family could not find an appropriate institution for a long time. School administrators constantly requested a number of documents, which were either extremely difficult to obtain or not possible at the time of contacting the organization. After extensive attempts to resolve the issue, it was settled through litigation because it was in conflict with federal law and a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Accordingly, the result of the case was the admission of the child to a public school, regardless of his status and the presence of any pre-required documents. Thus, constitutional human rights, which are vital to America, were respected.
After all of the above, it is necessary to analyze whether the state should help migrants at all, and what advantages and disadvantages of such a policy can be identified. It is essential to start with the benefits, one of which has already been mentioned. Firstly, migrants are people who have certain legally enshrined rights (Urbina & Álvarez, 2018). Human rights to education are inalienable and constitutional, and should be protected and fully implemented accordingly (U. S. Supreme Court, 1982). Another positive quality of the policy of state assistance to migrants is the principle of humanity (Urbina & Álvarez, 2018). The fact is that a visiting person finds himself in an unstable state for some time, because the living conditions change dramatically. This affects both the psycho-emotional sphere and the economic one. A person needs help so that he does not become a marginal or a dangerous element of society.
On the other hand, such a policy has its drawbacks, namely, the spread of dependency. The human factor cannot be excluded, as a result of which some migrants try to live free of charge, not working, but receiving social benefits (Urbina & Álvarez, 2018). This gives rise to economic problems in the states, and also reduces the level of confidence in the fairness of government actions. In addition, a drawback can be identified as a huge flow of migrants, for whom government assistance becomes an incentive. Significantly reduces the number of jobs for American citizens and increases the number of people in the territory (Urbina & Álvarez, 2018). Thus, hatred of visitors, racism, and social contradictions are born.
It is logical to assume that school management decided to challenge the decision of the Supreme Court of 1982 because of the lack of places in schools. In other words, there is no malicious intent to be found here in terms of racism or prejudice against migrants (Urbina & Álvarez, 2018). The fact is that schools are designed for a certain number of children, so staff and resources may not be enough. In turn, due to the influx of migrants, American children may not get a place. However, in my opinion, this should not be an argument, since I share the position on the inviolability of people’s rights. Accordingly, the leadership of states and schools, in particular, should provide for such situations, and it is possible to open additional educational institutions. I do not agree with the policy of schools to demand additional documents, because this can be interpreted as an attempt at segregation. Such actions are contrary to both democratic and humane principles of equality.
Homelessness is a person’s social status due to the lack of any housing designed and suitable for living. As a social phenomenon, it is caused by a complex of social, economic, civil, and cultural conflicts, as a result of which a part of the population is deprived of living conditions, which are recognized as an integral part of civilized society and social policy in modern states.
The problem of existence and increase in the quantity of the homeless population in recent years has become extremely acute. Today, there are about 150 million homeless people in the world, which is 2 percent of the world’s population (Thompson 254). The following reasons for the appearance of this category of people can be identified: alcoholism, drug addiction, loss of housing as a result of apartment fraud, lack of a permanent job and, as a consequence, inability to maintain housing, loss of living space due to imprisonment, conflicts in the family, and serious illnesses. The increase in homelessness in recent years has been the result of a systemic socio-political and economic crisis as well.
This category of people needs assistance, which can be provided in the form of cash benefits, necessities, temporary accommodation, free meals, social housing, assistance in social rehabilitation, as well as medical and social counseling (Thompson 257). It is necessary to carry out targeted measures for the social adaptation of the homeless by both governmental and non-governmental bodies.
I can help homeless people with their basic needs by providing food, drink, and clothes. If I meet a homeless near my house, in the basement, or the attic, I will not chase that person out into the street. I will give that individual warm clothes, food, and check if he or she needs any medical assistance. If there are warming centers or shelters in the city, I will tell the person that he or she may spend the night there, or give a leaflet with addresses. If a person has a request for restoration of documents, employment, search for relatives, then I will tell him or her about social assistance.
Homeless people face many difficulties: they do not have drinking water and food, including hot water, which helps not to freeze. It is especially difficult for them in the cold season, so they need particular help and special attention in winter. Like any other person, I can buy a homeless person some warm food and a glass of hot tea, which does not cause any trouble for me. Besides, I can also help any charity and non-governmental organization nearby that cares for homeless people. In such a way, volunteering just a bit of my time, I may save someone’s life.
Work Cited
Thompson, Erika L., et al. “Navigating the system for families experiencing homelessness: a community-driven exploration of barriers encountered.” Journal of Children and Poverty, vol. 26, no. 2, 2020, 253-267.
The Huff family (Sharon & Tony) lives in the southeastern Kentucky mountains, several miles from the nearest town. They live 2 miles up a one-lane dirt road used by coal trucks to haul coal from the local mine. The road is dusty in dry weather and gets washed out when there’s flooding. Most of their neighbors are kinfolk – Tony’s (age 34) parents (Gene age 55, with emphysema and Renee, age 53, who is healthy), Tony’s brothers (Kyle age 33, Tom age 29, and Bradley, age 15), and Tony’s sisters (Linda 30 and her husband Scott, 30 and their daughters Melody 8 and Susan 6) and Sharon’s (age 38) brother Danny (age 39) and his wife Christine (age 40).
The home is a doublewide trailer that Sharon’s mother bought 2 years ago when she came to live with them. A widow, Orenie, is 76 years old and was in very good health until she recently began to have fainting spells. During one of her spells, she fell in the bathroom and hit her head on the tub, causing a subdural hemorrhage. She was taken to the regional medical center after a headache of 2 days would not stop hurting. Her husband, Charlie, died at the age of 65 of a heart attack. He was a retired coal miner and had “black lung.”
Sharon draws $800 per month social security disability benefits due to asthma and emphysema. She smokes one pack per day of Winston cigarettes, uses an inhaler to help her breathe better and takes Singulair for her asthma. She is slightly overweight, with most of the extra weight in her abdominal area. She was married before to Kevin, but divorced him when their daughter, Teresa, was six months old. She used to work as a nursing assistant at the local nursing home but quit working after a back injury. She was later diagnosed with asthma & emphysema, which along with the back injury, qualified her for social security disability.
Tony drives a truck for the county garbage disposal department. He has to drive an hour to get to his job site, and usually leaves about 4 or 5 AM. Many nights he doesn’t get home until 9 or 10 PM, especially if one of the other drivers calls in sick. He is pleased that with this job, he can purchase health insurance for him, Sharon, and the children after 6 months. He makes $9.50 an hour plus time and a half for overtime work. Tony was out of work for several months prior to this job. After a couple of months of looking for work, he stopped looking and stayed home watching television most of the time. He would fix the car if there were problems with it, and was considered a good mechanic. He did pick up an occasional “odd job,” helping a neighbor paint a house or doing some yard work for someone in town. He got this job when his uncle Charles was elected to a county office.
They are currently in a state of crisis because Orenie has moved out to live with Sharon’s sister Sarah in her Section 8 apartment in town. Sarah convinced Orenie that she needed to file bankruptcy. The bank has notified Tony and Sharon that they will be coming to repossess the trailer soon. Tony and Sharon have been shopping for a trailer. George, their 15-year-old son, says their life has been like a “roller coaster ride” lately as they get their hopes up when they apply for a loan to buy a trailer, but they have been turned down several times because of their poor credit history. They are counting on their income tax refund for a down payment, since they haven’t managed to save any money. They both talk of opening a savings account but never seem to get around to that.
Sharon and Tony have been married for 16 years and have Teresa (17), Sharon’s daughter from a previous marriage; George (15); Kyle, age 13 and David, age 8.
Teresa is a 16- year-old at the county high school. Before high school, she was an honor student, but her grades now are mostly Cs and Ds with a few Bs. She often skips school, especially since her cousin Linda got her driver’s license. They sometimes act as though they are going to school, then drive to town and hang out until school is dismissed. Teresa has recently gotten her driver’s permit, and enjoys being able to drive herself (with mom in the car) to her evenings and weekend job in town at the fast-food restaurant. Sharon and Teresa were summonsed to court for Teresa’s excessive absences. Teresa has become almost more than the family can handle. She flies into a rage when she doesn’t get her way, breaking furniture and punching holes in the walls. Her brothers say she’s “a spoiled brat.” Sharon often gets a “migraine” and “nerves” during these outbursts. Teresa often tells the family that she wants to live in foster care. She spends hours at a time on the computer, sometimes sleeping after school until 9 or 10 PM and then spending until 3 or 4 AM on the computer.
George, a high school freshman, has recently begun to have fainting spells. He becomes weak, loses consciousness and falls into the floor. He also feels tightness and heaviness in his chest. Normally a physically active boy, he notices that he gets tired easily and sometimes short of breath. He has had several tests done: a normal EKG, a normal EEG, a normal echocardiogram. However, he has an irregular heart rhythm and has been referred to a pediatric cardiologist. George, an honor student, dreams of going to college to become a physician or vet or maybe a teacher. In the last few months, he has developed acne, a source of great embarrassment to him. His sister teases him, especially at school, in front of his friends. Sharon recently obtained a prescription for him to use on his face helping clear the acne.
Kyle is 13 and in the 7th grade. He was diagnosed with ADHD more than a year ago and took Ritalin for about a month. Sharon decided she didn’t want him to get “hooked” so she stopped getting the prescription refilled. She has been giving him herbal teas to control his ADHD, made from herbs she gets from her mother. Kyle’s grades have slipped since he went off the Ritalin – he now makes mostly D’s and F’s and the teachers have indicated he’ll probably be held back this year if there isn’t rapid improvement in his school performance. He also gets F’s in conduct because he’s disruptive in class. He loves to fix things, and sometimes brings his or his brothers bicycles into their bedroom to work on. He often “forgets” to put his tools away and “borrows” his dad’s tools without permission. He “forgets” and leaves the tools outside, wherever he happens to be using them. This behavior keeps his father often upset with him. He rarely is able to sit still while the family watches a TV show and will begin to pick on David, until David runs crying out of the room. Both Teresa and Kyle are bad about getting into George’s or their parents things without permission.
David is a second-grader at the local elementary school. His teacher reports that he is especially good in math. He enjoys having his dad help him with his homework. He loves to play with his collection of cars, likes to play with the family’s dogs and cats, and enjoys playing outdoors in every kind of weather. He is very loving with his mom, likes to tag along after his two older brothers, and enjoys playing with his cousins who live nearby.
None of the kids have regular chores they are expected to do. George is the “responsible child, ” helping his mother clean the house, take out the garbage, mow the lawn, fold, and do laundry and other chores as needed. He often ends up cleaning up Kyle’s room because Kyle claims he doesn’t know how, and besides, “it doesn’t bother me to have a messy room”. Sharon does all the family’s laundry and cooks a big meal most evenings. The kids also like it when she buys pizza or hamburgers at the fast-food restaurant. None of the kids like to drink milk, preferring to have sodas. Sharon sometimes spends $40 a week on cokes for them and the cousins nearby, who are in and out of the house all day. She always has cookies and doughnuts for them to eat as snacks and rarely buys fresh fruit. All of the kids are of normal weight and height.
The tension over losing their home has contributed to many arguments between Sharon and Tony. They have both threatened to leave and get a divorce. The kids are present when these arguments take place. The boys get together in the bedroom and wonder what will happen to them.
Historically, families have been and continue to be essential to the socialization and growth of people of African descent whereby it has been regarded as a tradition and moral obligation to marry and have children. The institution of marriage has been respected and family values protected. Ever since emancipation, the prison population in the United States is composed in its majority of African-American men and women. Those incarcerated have been a part of the society in either of the forms that include fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, perhaps the head of a household, or active members in their communities. The incarceration causes a lot of disorganization of families and to some extent leading to the suffering of dependants.
The authorities have turned a blind eye to the harm they cause to such families and the impact they have on society. The matter is even made worse considering that most of the incarcerated are African Americans who suffer from unemployment and economical alienation. As cited by Harris & Miller (2003 p.3) it has been named the race to incarceration where many blacks are being arrested for suspicion or conviction of a crime. The family is one social aspect that should be sustained and preserved since it enables a bright future for the offspring’s hence a bright society.
The high rate of incarceration of African Americans has had its impacts on the social, economic, and bonding of African American families. This research paper will explore the history and social functions of prisons in the United States in order to establish how the incarceration of men and women of African descent impact black families in society. It gives the statistics that are involved and explores the injustice of the justice system. The impacts of the families in terms of social, economic, physical and emotional are clearly detailed. The solutions are given including probation and parole and less and strict sentences for family men.
Theoretical Framework and Methodology
Justice is core to any society, and no impunity should be tolerated in any way. However, the justice system should not favor in any way anyone due to his race, class, or gender. The ‘race to incarceration’ describes how more African Americans are sent to prison just for suspicions or conviction of a crime. Law enforcement officers have all the legal backing and powers to prosecute the suspected offenders while the judicial system has the powers to detain the convicted persons. These systems of justice have been working against race and many African Americans find their way to detention centers than the whites and Hispanics.
These detention centers, penitentiaries, or collection facilities act as the tool that alienates the African American families, creating a negative impact on the families. This race to incarceration is the perfect example of the racism effect in the US systems as more of the African Americans are detained. The impact of this is adversity to the family, especially where the detainee has been the sole winner of bread in the family. The family values should be respected by all and better measures should be exercised to avoid the setup being broken by any means. The function of prisons is to act as correction centers and not as detainment centers (Harrison & Beck, 2006 para.5). The wrongdoer should be made to realize and correct his/her mistakes with the least impact on society. However, in genuine cases of unlawfulness where social welfare is at risk, deterrent measures should be taken not only to the black but also to all people regardless of their diversity affiliation.
The psychological and physical torture that the blacks have been going through is unjustified especially considering that they have always been branded as thieves and crime committers without empirical backing. Another factor is the economic hardships facing the African Americans where the majority of them are poor making them end up committing crimes. The prisons only solve the problem of crime temporarily since they don’t establish fallback structures and when the detention time is over, the detainees don’t have any other place to return to but to crime. Coupled with other social problems like unemployment, crime should be addressed in long term and not in the short term. This research uses secondary sources to establish how the incarceration of African Americans impacts Black families in society. This will give the best basis of published data and information which is reliable to review trends and evidence of the effects of detention on the black families in society. Books, journals, published research papers and published articles will be used so as to show the impacts that incarceration has on society.
Historiography and Historical Context
The history of African Americans can be described as very hostile and can be related to the caste system of India. Blacks are regarded as the outcasts while the whites enjoy the goodness of the land. According to Walmsley (2006, para.1), the US has the highest prison population rate in the whole world such that for every 100,000 citizens there are 738 in prison. The report further indicates that of the approximate 9.25 million persons held in pre-detainees (remand) penal institutions in the globe, approximately half are found in the US which is a figure of approximately 2.19 million.
These statistics tend to indicate how ineffective the judicial systems are. The report of ‘New Incarceration Figures Thirty-Three Consecutive Years of Growth’ (para.5) indicates that despite falling crime rates, the incarceration rates have continued to rise. It gives shocking statistics of the rise of female cases on the rise which has doubled in figures as most females are incarcerated due to drugs. Another shocking statistic is the aging of prisoners which indicates that out of every 23 prisoners 1 is 55 years or above. This can bring us to the very impact of separation from family life. If such prisoners had families then their spouses have already lost hope in the return and may have turned to other socially immoral life (Slevin para.5).
The figures indicate that African Americans males are detained six times more than whites and Hispanic males whereby each day a male aged 25-29 is incarcerated. As for females, the blacks are incarcerated four times the rate of white and Hispanic and the number of African Americans incarcerated presently has increased more than nine times compared to the figures reported in 1954.
States are also involved in the disparities, for instance, states like Iowa, Vermont, New Jersey, Connecticut, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and South Dakota incarcerate African Americans at 10 times more than the Whites and Hispanics (Roberts 2004 p.2) – these are extraordinary and disproportionate arrests. As cited by Harrison (1997 in Harris & Miller, 2003) approximately half of the men currently incarcerated are fathers, meaning that there are children left destitute outside the prisons. These children are growing fatherless and society is increasingly witnessing such occurrences. Ofari (2001 para.7) describes the events of arresting blacks as a scapegoat especially in the war on drugs where random vehicle checks and marginal legal searches are done more on blacks than whites. He continues to put the media in the spotlight for misleading information against blacks who are described as criminals and resistors. 10% of all males in prisons are black, a figure that is three times higher than that of Hispanics and Latino males (Ofari para.3). According to Western & McLanahan (2000), close to 20% of males in state prison are married which translates to approximately 260,000 couples who were separated due to incarceration in 1998.
Further, 56% of the inmates have children less than 18 years according to Mauer (1999) and the American system has 49% of African American prison inmates nationally compared to the whites makeup 13%. Moreover, approximately one in three black males aged 20-29 years is involved in some criminal activities, one in fourteen African Americans males was in prison or jail daily and an African American born in 1991 has a high chance of spending time incarcerated at some point in his life rated at 29% while those for whites are 4% and 16% for Hispanics.
The impacts
The immediate and extended family of the incarcerated person is always disturbed psychologically, physically and emotionally due to loss of social connection. In addition, since this family is a member of society, the effect they experience also destabilizes society. The incarceration of blacks who have families has dire impacts not only on those left behind but also on the ones incarcerated. When the blacks get to detention, they leave behind innocent families that have been dependent on them all along thus both parties get affected psychologically and emotionally especially when the detainees are described as loners, social misfits and socially separated. When they come back from prisons, they feel rejected and less worthy hence retreat to forming other families rather than returning to the ones they left behind – the impact being more social stress and disorganization. The result is the breakage of many families and many children are brought up in single-parent conditions. The problems that are faced by the spouse can be categorized into three main problems that include financial and material, personal feelings of isolation, and problems of children management. Incarceration has left havoc in the African American families and has made children be raised in impoverished single female-led homesteads. This cycle of social alienation continues with the children being likely to be prone to poor living conditions, crime, and lack of family values.
This increased rate of incarceration increases the health risk and costs of African Americans because many are released having chronic medical conditions. The impacts of jailing the blacks are adding insult to an already downtrodden society that is already suffering from a poor education system, unemployment, and poverty, thus when they come out of prisons they are already hardened criminals and returning to their families is not their priority but they choose guns, gangs, crime and drugs as their passion.
This leaves society and the family with no options but to struggle in poverty. King, (1999) in his report ‘African American females’ attitude towards marriage an exploratory study’ explains the imbalance between the availability of men for marriage due to sex ratio. The impacts of unequal sex ratios are worse than lower marriage rates. When the men are low in supply they are scarce hence they tend to be the leading emotional power in a relationship; they don’t do anything towards holding the relationship together since they can easily start an alternative relationship. This type of society will encourage self-reliance in women leading to higher divorce rates, single parenthood, and out-of-wedlock births (Dickson, 1993). According to King (1999), the ratio is approximately 85 men for every a hundred women and the rate of unmarried women is said to have risen to 36% in1994 from a 17.4% in 1970.
The declines in marriage rates have the effects of loss of family values, out-of-wedlock births which are seen by single-parent families and child poverty. The effects of single parenting have been found to be chronic stress, especially among poor black women thus affecting their well-being. Marriage has been found to have emotional, psychological, and physical well-being benefits for adults (Kings, 1999) such as happier, healthier and less stressful persons. There is reported lower alcoholism, suicide, morbidity, and mortality rates in married couples compared to single parents. All these benefits translate to better families and well-coordinated societies.
Marriage gives the children whether male or female the opportunity to learn the basics of family values. It also gives them a chance to learn the art of intimate, mutually respectful, and supportive relationships with the opposite gender. Children who grow in single-parent homes have very limited time to learn such values and roles which may be a detriment factor in social development. The families that are affected in such ways include those who are left by their parents due to incarceration. Marriages are effective in providing children with a chance to be fathered and in this case, men will never perform their fatherly role as long as they are beyond the reach of their children.
Children who grow in these kinds of settings are affected negatively emotionally, socially, psychologically and economically (Kings 1999) as the incarceration leads to loss of contact not only by the spouses but also by the whole family and society. The effect of this is the surge in the cases of divorces both during and after incarceration. Some of the spouses regard the other as social misfits and convicts hence don’t want to be associated with them. This leads to a negative impact on the life of the children, and the spouse who has been alienated may result in other solutions like crime or suicide.
Incarceration removes the blacks from employment reducing the household economic budget and thus creating negative effects (including economic, social and emotional) to the family that is left behind. Since the whites are advantaged the gap between them and the black Americans tends to widen further leading to escalation of poverty levels among the black community. Indeed, one-third of blacks live below the poverty line while just a small portion of white (9%) live below the poverty line. Whites are also more likely to get employed; these disparities play a huge role in the negative impacts especially when a spouse is detained or sentenced.
The effect of the escalating cases of poverty among black Americans is the degeneration of social immorality whereby women may turn to engage in prostitution while men may hind in the realms of drugs or crime to make ends meet. When a female spouse is detained and the male indulges in crime and is caught then the child is left without guardians. Such a child is more likely to turn to delinquency which may lead to detention and thus a total breakdown of a family setup.
On the effect to the extended family, the most immediate impact is the feeling of stigma from the general society which may lead to isolation and punishment (Harris & Miller, 2003). The wives of the man who is incarcerated may be neglected by the extended family which will lead to hatred amongst the family. Spouses also experience sexual loneliness and frustration from the void of the incarcerated partner. This may lead to remarrying or promiscuity. If they remarry, the child can be emotionally disturbed especially where he/she may disapprove of such a new family setup or may be subjected to ill-treatment by the new party in the family. This leads to loss of personal privacy and abandonment where a secret life is turned into a public affair and everyone in society will be curious and the affair would be under a lot of public scrutinies. This brings frustration and shame to the family and a damaged reputation in society, with the children being mainly affected by this effect. They are unable to face the public at any time hence become socially isolated from the rest. The most likely course of action is to turn to social crimes in order to get relief from social isolation.
On the effects to children, statistics show that more than 1.5 million children have a parent in prison or jail mostly the young and approximately 43% are below seven years (Harris & Miller, 2003). Due to a lack of proper explanation to the children about the developments that have taken place, deception becomes the option in explaining the whereabouts of the other parent. This deception is harmful in the long run as most studies show that the child gets more confused and upset compared to when they are told the truth. Once the truth is uncovered by the child then the trust is broken and cases of disobedience, temper outbursts, and also destructive delinquent behavior may be seen. This may even cause children to feel guilty and psychologically tortured especially during their developmental stages. Most studies show that most of the children with incarcerated parents experience disciplinary problems at school and a decline in academic performance.
The change of the penal system in the last decades has made the emergence of a key suspect to explain the rise of cases of single-parent families in poor societies. Incarceration is deterred family formation directly whereby it makes it close to impossible for a father-children relationship to exist. In addition, it may have an indirect effect such that it makes employment and earnings capacity of the father incapacitated hence poor living standard for the child. All these factors lead to bad situations in marriage and family formation (Western & McLanahan, 2000). According to Cready, Fossett & Kiecolt, (1997) family structures have changed immensely in the last decades especially in declining marriage trends, husband and wife families, and percentage of marital births.
According to Grinstead, Faigeles, Bancroft & Zack (n.d.) for every male who is incarcerated, there are children and women who suffer socially, psychologically and financially. The families have other burdens of visitations and contacts with the inmate, which are stressful and stigmatizing for the family. There is also the financial cost of visiting while women who continue keeping in contact with inmates have been found to face emotional and social challenges. People mainly spend a lot of cash in visitations with regular visits amounting to approximately $168, phone calls amounting to $85, while mailed packages and other visits totaling to $27 and $18 respectively in expenditure for low-income earner visitors. These figures are to be added to the general expenditure of the family which is a result of incarceration.
The incarceration has led to an impossibility of blacks establishing long-term relationships leading to lower marriage rates, higher divorce rates, higher separation rates, and lower remarriage rates. It has also led to the loss of marriage values in terms of the holy matrimony that was the intention to bear children (Dickson, 1993). The impacts are not only to the families left behind but also to the ones incarcerated who feeldistressed and lonely at all times. Life in prison to others is unbearable and they result in stress and depression (Clark, 1999). The solutions to such injustices should be urgent and long-lasting measures.
Solutions
Any solution that is to be given must be driven towards the long-term elimination or reduction of incarceration since it impacts negatively on all families whether black, whites, or Hispanic. The problems of incarceration seem like cancer that persists at all times. The impacts of this incarceration on the families left behind are limitless. Carl Marx in his theory explained the vicious cycle of poverty which is related to what the black Americans experience. To break this cycle, we require strategic planning to economically enable the blacks with the primary goal being to eliminate what makes them engage in crime.
Although the media has tainted the image of African Americans as naturally criminals, the truth is that there is racism behind the incarcerations. Racism should be fought at all costs since many blacks find their way to jails while more whites too could be in jail. The worst of it is that many are just held of suspicion of a crime thus being forced to live the family. Most of the black communities are poor and uneducated and most find it difficult to get jobs to sustain their needs and those of their families. The strategy would be to eliminate poverty and unemployment within the society so that many blacks can find life easy and not engage in crime, gangs, and drugs.
The court system has also contributed to the high incarceration and the long-term incarceration. It offers long jail terms and repeats terms for those convicted twice thus giving the family a longer waiting time for their family members. The best option would be probations where the prisoner will be out and will still be close to his family so that he can offer parental guidance to the children. Another way is for those who are convicted to be granted parole (Free, 1997) where they give their word of honor that they are going to change their ways hence they are released from jail conditionally. The family men can be also considered so as to give them fewer periods of prison sentences or imprisonment near the family areas where they will incur less expense on visitation.
Those convicted on probation should be subject to the law and may be returned to prison when they fail to keep their word. This is a short-term measure since even if the person gets out of prison and has no income or employment then he has to indulge in crime. The best would be to empower the people by educating them and offering them an equal chance to be employed like the whites. Racism should be a practice of the primitive and there should be no judgment according to color but according to the character. The families of those already affected should be compensated and such children receive the much attention they need in terms of education and basic needs.
Conclusion
Protection of the family should be a priority of any government since the family is the unit that holds people together in love, harmony and unity. The family unit enables society to develop good values and enables children to grow up in an environment that instills discipline and responsibility. The negative impacts suffered by the families of the African Americans are immense since the incarceration is really high. Such families will continue to struggle at all times since the government is contributing to the vicious cycle of poverty, irresponsibility, racism, and crime. Unless the government takes the steps to eliminate this high black incarceration then the rates will keep on increasing hence leading to a social collapse due to the social, emotional, economic, and physical damage caused by the incarceration.
Works Cited
Clark, Theresa A. “The Relationship between Inmate Visitation and Behavior: Implications or African American Families.” Journal of African American Men, pp.43-58. 1999.
Cready, Cynthia M., Fossett, Mark A., & Kiecolt, Jill K. “Mate Availability and African American Family Structure in the U. S. Non-metropolitan South, 1960-1990.” Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol. 59, No. 1, pp. 192-203. 1997.
Dickson, Lynda. “The Future of Marriage and Family in Black America.” Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 23, No. 4, pp. 472-491.1993.
Free, Marvin D. “The Impact of Federal Sentencing Reforms on African Americans.” Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 28, No. 2, pp. 268-286. 1997.
Grinstead, Olga, et al. “The Financial Cost of Maintaining Relationships with Incarcerated African American Men: A Survey of Women Prison Visitors.” Journal of African American Men, pp. 60-70.
Harrison, Paige M. & Beck, Allen J. “Prisoners in 2005”. U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2006.
King, Anthony E.O. “African American Females’ Attitudes toward Marriage: An Exploratory Study.” Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 29, No. 3, pp. 416-437. 1999.
Mauer, Marc. “The Crisis of the Young African American Male and the Criminal Justice System.” The Sentencing Project, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Washington, D.C.1999.
“New Incarceration Figures: Thirty-Three Consecutive Years of Growth”. Sentencing Project. 2006. Web.
Ofari, Earl. “No Slowdown in prison boom for blacks.” The New York Amsterdam News, pp.13. 2001.
Roberts, Dorothy E. “The Social and Moral Cost of Mass Incarceration in African American communities.” Stanford Law Review, Vol. 56, pp. 1272-2003.
Slevin, Peter. U.S. “Prison Study Faults System and the Public.” The Washington Post. Thursday,2006. Web.
Walmsley, Roy. “World Prison Population List.” International Centre for Prison Studies. King’s College London. 2007. Web.
Western, Bruce & McLanahan, Sara. “Fathers Behind Bars: The Impact of Incarceration on Family Formation.” Center for Research on Child Wellbeing, Working Paper #00-08 Princeton University, 2000.
Hook: The effect of gentrification in the urban areas of Baltimore, Maryland, on low-income families.
Thesis: Gentrification in the urban areas of Baltimore, Maryland, has a devastating effect on low-income families as it forces them to leave their house due to high rental costs and move to disadvantaged neighborhoods. In order to minimize this issue, the solution proposed is the establishment of a community land trust that will allow underprivileged citizens to own a local property. The main counter argument is the benefits of displacement as it reduces poverty and crime rates. However, the proposed solution may be regarded as more efficient as it contributes to the development of the area by preserving affordable housing, creating opportunities for businesses, and enhancing racial equity.
Problem: Gentrification causes the displacement of low-income families.
Main Cause: The rise of rental costs.
Evidence: Source: National Low Income Housing Coalition. “An exclusionary effect of gentrification is the high cost of rents that force low-income households to move to lower-cost neighborhoods with fewer resources.”
Annotation: This source clearly states the significance of the problem and describes its consequences.
Effects of Problem: Gentrification and related displacement lead to population loss, a loss of workforce and affordable housing, unsustainable property prices, a lack of social diversity, social inequities, and conflicts. For people, displacement lead to the deterioration of their living conditions.
Evidence: Source: National Low Income Housing Coalition. “Displaced low-income households most likely end up in new low-income neighborhoods. Many vulnerable households that do move are renters and are at greater risk of moving to neighborhoods that have lower home values, high unemployment rates, lower median incomes and poor public-school performance.”
Annotation: This source clearly states the significance of the problem and describes its consequences.
Solution: establish a community investment trust.
How Solution Would Work: When a local community investment trust will be established, low-income families will receive an opportunity to have community ownership of residential or commercial property.
Evidence: Source: Broad. “The East Portland Community Investment Trust (EPCIT) was developed to help low-income residents build equity and fight displacement by having community ownership of local property.”
Annotation: This source provides an example of how community investment trusts successfully works to justify the proposed solution.
Cost and Resources: A community investment trust will be financially supported by low-income local residents by highly affordable investments.
Evidence: Source: Broad. “Through EPCIT, which now owns the property, individuals or families who live in the four nearby ZIP codes can invest between $10 and $100 (that’s the cap) per month to retain ownership shares in the property.”
Annotation: This source provides an example of how community investment trusts successfully works and the amount of common investments to justify the proposed solution.
Risk
Counter Argument: Gentrification and related displacement is beneficial and it is not necessary to propose any solution as it has multiple advantages for residents.
Evidence: Source: National Low Income Housing Coalition. “Gentrification can also benefit neighborhood residents by lowering poverty rates and exposing residents to more opportunity. Recent studies found that public housing residents in gentrifying neighborhoods are exposed to less violent crime, are more often employed, and have higher incomes and greater educational attainment than their counterparts in low-income neighborhoods.”
Annotation: This source provides clear counter arguments in support of the unnecessity of any solution.
Your Response to Counter Argument: Gentrification lead to more severe problems connected with racial inequities as it contributes to discrimination that makes people of color poor.
Evidence: Source: Abell Foundation. “While Baltimore is losing both white and Black families, it is gaining a young, high-earning white population, but not Black population, through in-migration of families and individuals from outside the city. As a result, the white population is becoming more affluent, and the Black population poorer.”
Annotation: This source provides an insight into the problem of gentrification in Baltimore and justifies the necessity of its solution.
Benefits
Supporting Point 1: A community investment trust will prevent displacement of both current and future generations.
Evidence: Source: The Kresge Foundation: “The best neighborhood investment trust models also provide an opportunity for community members to shape the trajectory of their communities.”
Annotation: This source provides the benefits of community investment trusts.
Supporting Point 2: A community investment trust will contribute to racial equity.
Evidence: Source: The Kresge Foundation: Of low-income families that participate in investing, “the majority are people of color.”
Annotation: This source provides evidence that community investment trusts contribute to racial equity preventing displacement as racial minorities constitute the majority of the underprivileged population.
Supporting Point 3: A community investment trust will promote the development of businesses.
Evidence: Source: Theodos and Edmonds: The example of EPCIT demonstrates that when investors own a building, they prefer to support businesses that locate in it.
Annotation: This source provides multiple successful examples of community investment trusts that should be considered to accept this solution.
Conclusion
Restate Thesis: The establishment of a community land trust is an efficient solution for the minimization of the effect of gentrification in the urban areas of Baltimore, Maryland, on low-income families as by allowing them to own a local property, displacement and racial inequities will be reduced, while people will receive opportunities for business development contributing to the region’s welfare.
Call for Action: a trust should be developed by a non-profit organization that will subsequently raise people’s awareness concerning the necessity of their investments.