I am a social worker in child protector services and I have to go out to homes to investigate. On a Wednesday afternoon, I received a report that there were 4 children in a home and that there was no food in the home. The report stated that the father did live in the home but he moved out of the home 2 months ago. Report stated that the father handles everything and that the mother could not take care of the children. The report stated that the mom is a citizen but she does not speak any English. I traveled to the home with an interpreter to see if the allegations were children. After interviewing all the children it was clear that the children were hungry and that the only time they eat food was when they were in school. The children stated that they go to bed hungry every night. The children stated that they had food to eat when there father lived in the home. Mom and children stated that dad left to stay with another family. This was a stress factor for the children because it effected their nutrition and there behavior at school. The mother depended on the father to do everything and did not know the first thing to do for her family to survive. Not only was food an issue but she was about to be evicted from her home because she did not have any income. Of course it was my job to help her and get some services in place. Before I left the house that evening, I made sure the children had food to eat that night and the next day I went grocery shopping for the family. I closed the case after putting some services in place. Two weeks later the school calls me and make another report. The children were having some issues in school and that there were several concerns that were going on in the children's home. I choose to share this example because because these children on my case load were stressed and it effected their lives deeply. I found the family housing and showed the mother how to use resources that were available for her and her family.
Our text book, talks about how Asian and Hispanic children have a higher proportion of children having dangers of mal-nutrition. Hispanics have an at risk population and has been cited as being a poor health care, high death rates,low life expectancy, and low sense of well beings. Hispanics families experience stress by virtues by their social culture and their identification.
Resources
The Developing Person Through Childhood, Kathleen Stassen Berger, 5th Edition
http://www.springerlink.com/content/q15h101665101v20/
In some cultures people turn a blind eye when they see children suffering because of abandonment, malnutrition, and abuse by the caregivers. I just recently learned of such a situation in Japan where a young mother left her 2 year old and infant abandoned in the apartment for long periods of time. During one instance where it went on for more than a week, and only one neighbor in the apartment building called to make a report but the police did not respond because it was only one call. The 2 year old also was heard through the intercom sometimes trying to call out to anyone outside the building. The two children were found a month or so after the mother left because neighbors noticed a smell coming from the apartment. So this is an example that even in developed countries there are cultural behaviors that prevent children from being taken care of. In Japan there is a ‘family business is private’ attitude and so people do not intervene. In 2000 a non-profit organization was finally formed for child protection services. It is still not very well known to the Japanese population.
ReplyDeleteThis was a sad situation. I know how it can be going to bed hungry because me an my sibling had plenty days like that. I am so glad there are so many services to help families in situations like these. Stress can play an important role in providing for your love ones. We as educators must know how to address social problems such as stress and poverty among families to let them know we are there to help in anyway we can.
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