Single Parents and Poverty - Term Paper Example

Single Parents and Poverty: Problems and Solutions Introduction No examination of poverty would be complete without looking at the specific problem of single parenthood, especially single motherhood. It is a problem in the United States and all over the world, because children who are born to single mothers often have problems with educational achievement, and these households are often mired in poverty. And, since there is lower educational achievement among the children of these households, the poverty is liable to be pervasive, because lower educational achievement is correlated with less economic achievement. Moreover, at least in the United States, the more poor a woman is, the more likely she is to bear a child out of wedlock. This issue is, therefore, a serious one that should be properly addressed. This essay will look at the issue, including the nature of the issue, the problem that the United States has with the issue, and how Great Britain and the United States have implemented policies and programs that alleviate the issue, either by design or through residual effects of the policy. Nature of the Problem Educational Achievement One of the impacts that single-parenthood has on children is that they tend to have lower educational achievement. For instance, Nock (1988) has studied single-parent households and he found that there was a “cumulative deficit in the number of years of schooling they complete” (Nock, 1988, p. 958). Further, Nock found that the longer the child lives in a single-parent household, the greater the educational deficits. He also cited a study which found that males born during the first half of the century, to single-parents, completed one year less of schooling than those raised in two-parent households, controlling for socioeconomic status and race. Furthermore, controlling for a wide range of background and economic factors does not erase this deficit. These controls are for race, sex, year since the divorce, age at time of divorce, parental education, parental income, number of siblings, region of residence, educational materials in the home and the number of years spent in a single-parent family. Children from single-parent homes also get lower GPAs than those from two-parent household and lower scores on standardized tests of achievement (Nock, 1988). Milne et al. (1986) concurs that children from single-parent households fare worse, with regards to educational achievement, than children from two-parent homes, although they do not agree with the conclusion, advanced by Nock, that there is not mediating variables for this phenomenon. They found that students from two-parent families have higher reading and math achievement scores than do students from one-parent families. This was true for both black and white children. They also found, however, that the effects of living with a single-parent home verses living in a home with two parents were mitigated by other factors, including income. They also found that the total effects of living with two parents, verses one parent, is more pronounced in black children than in white children. They found that, with black children, income mediates more than for white children. They also found that, in white families, the mother tends to work less than in black families, and this, too, is a mediating factor. They also found that another mediating factor is the number of books in the home, and the educational expectations of the parents. What was also found by Milne et al. (1986) is that, for white children from two-parent homes, the mother’s employment has a negative effect on achievement, and, the more the mother works, the more pronounced is the negative effect. This was a consistent finding. However, in black families from single-parent homes, the mother working was a positive effect on achievement. This effect, both positive for black children from single-parent households, and negative for white children from two-parent households, is not mediated by the father’s educational attainment (Milne et al., 1986). This lack of educational achievement translates to occupations as adults, argues Nock (1988). Children of single-parent households, in comparison to children from two-parent households, earn less as an adult and have less prestigious careers than children raised in two-parent households. They are also more likely to be unemployed – children from single-parent households received approximately three more weeks of unemployment benefits than children raised in two-parent households (Nock, 1988). Battle (1998) studied the effect upon educational achievement among African-American children who grew up with two-parent households, in comparison with African-American children who grew up in a one-parent household. He found that the performance of children in single-parent households verses dual-parent households depends upon the socioeconomic status of the family. He found that, in high-income African-American families, the children of single-parents do significantly worse in school and education than children living in two-parent homes. He also found that, for families at the mean-level of socioeconomic status, there was not a statistical difference between the educational attainment of children from single-parent households and children in two-parent households. The surprise of his study was that, for children in lower socio-economic families, the children in single-parent households did significantly better in educational achievement than the children living in two-parent households. Battle theorized that the reason for this might be because children from lower socioeconomic households have a more difficult time controlling their behavior than do children from higher socioeconomic households. Battle argues that the data indicates that single parent households control children’s behavior better than households where there is a step-parent living in the home. Therefore, because children from lower socioeconomic status cannot control their behavior as well as children from upper socioeconomic status, this will significantly impact the children from the lower socioeconomic status. The theory is that, the better the child behaves, the better the child will do in school, so single-parent homes do better in controlling behavior, so these children do better in school (Battle, 1985). Another factor that might be significant is why the family is headed by a single parent. Is it because one of the parents was killed or that the parents divorced? This is the question posed by Biblarz & Gottainer (2000), who did not consider the effects on families where the parent is single because he or she never married. One factor that might make the difference, between families headed by widowed mothers and families headed by divorced mothers, is economics. Widowed mothers receive substantially more governmental benefits than do divorced mothers, according to Biblarz & Gottainer (2000). At least this is the case in America – in America, widows receive their spouses social security benefits, and each child receives a monthly benefit from this until the child attains the age of 18. Therefore, the mother may choose to stay home with the children and draw this money, which is a mediating factor in educational achievement, as shown by Battle (1985), above. These social security benefits are paid regardless of assets owned. By contrast, the only governmental aid that is available to divorced women in America is the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). Women are not eligible for this until they deplete their assets to a certain amount and must demonstrate that they are living below the poverty level. Biblarz & Gottainer (2000) found that the educational attainment of children of widowed mothers are substantially the same as the educational attainment of children of two-parent families. The educational achievement for the children of widowed mothers are also significantly higher than the educational achievement for divorced mothers. Biblarz & Gottainer (2000) also found that widows tend to have a much more prestigious place in society than do divorced mothers – they tend to have higher employment, occupational status and financial situation than do divorced mothers. They theorized that this is the result of discriminatory policy against divorced mothers, and more favorable public support for widows than divorced mothers (Biblarz & Gottainer, 2000). Socioeconomic Status Children who are in single-parent homes are also more likely to live in poverty, argue Turner & Smith (1983). This is because most single parent homes are headed by females, and women earn less than men who are doing the same types of work. The economic status of mothers with custody of dependent children is also much less than single parent fathers with custody. This is complicated by the fact that the majority of divorced mothers do not receive child support from the children’s fathers (Turner & Smith, 1983). Problem of Single Mothers in the United States While the above issues are issues that affect all families which are headed by single parents, anywhere in the world, the statistics and facts above do not necessarily show how much of a problem single parenthood is in the United States. According to Cherlin (2012), the increase in children born outside of marriage changed from 4% in 1950 to 39.7% by 2007 in the United States. However, there was a decrease in births to teenagers, as these dropped by the mid-2000s to levels not seen in two decades – in 1970, the teenagers comprised 50% out of wedlock births; by 1999, teenagers were only 29% of out of wedlock births. At the same time, however, births to unmarried women in their twenties rose, so that the birth rates to unmarried women in their twenties far exceeded the birth rates for unmarried teens. Moreover, the rise in birthrates to unmarried women in their twenties and thirties was mainly among women without college degrees – from the period of 1997 to 2001, 93% of women with a college degree who had children were married, compared to 71% of women with some college, 57% of women with some college, and 39% of women without a high school degree (Cherlin, 2012). Therefore, as indicated above, the less educated a woman is, the more likely she is going to bear a child out of wedlock. And, since lack of education often goes hand in hand in poverty, this is why the issue of single mothers is such a concern in the United States. Of course, single motherhood is not just a problem in the United States, but it is a concern all over the world. Below is a program that is designed to address the issue of single parenthood in Great Britain, followed by some policies which are designed to help single mothers (and everybody else as well) in the United States. The program in Great Britain that will be examined is a program that is focused upon single parents; the policy in the United States is not necessarily designed just to help single parents, as these are tax changes, but single parents do benefit greatly from these policy changes. Great Britain New Deal for Lone Parents While there are individual agencies that provide services for young mothers, there is another service that is more comprehensive and is designed to specifically help lone parents over the age of 16 who are not working or who are working less than 16 hours per week, if this parent has the sole responsibility for the care of a child under the age of 16. The new mother gets her own personal adviser in the New Deal, and this personal advisor is the one who arranges for training and education, as well as practical help, such as help with preparing a CV or help with writing job applications. This service is comprehensive, as it provides the following: Job interview skills advice and assistance; Vocational Training Courses. These course last up to 13 weeks, and these courses are design to update existing or develop new occupational skills, as well as lead to a qualification or part qualification; The opportunity to undertake a National Vocational Qualification; An opportunity to gain valuable work experience by participating in the New Deal for 18 to 24 year olds or New Deal 25+; There is also a New Deal for Lone Parents for people who want to start their own businesses, and this is called the New Deal for Lone Parents self-employment route; Weekly training premium for Lone Parents who are in receipt of certain Social Security Benefits, who want to undertake New Deal provisions; Contribution towards the cost of childcare and travel expenses; Childcare assist, which helps with registered childcare costs in the week before starting work; and Childcare subsidy – helps with registered childcare costs for Lone Parents who begin part-time work of less than 16 hours per week (New Deal for Lone Parents). Critique The New Deal for lone parents in England seems to be a very well-rounded program that is designed to help these parents gain the skills that they need to find gainful employment, while providing solutions for issues that these single parents often face when they are going to work. For instance, the childcare subsidy is crucial, for, if single mothers do not have adequate childcare, then those mothers cannot work. Vocational training is crucial as well, for often these mothers have low skills. There is even contributions towards travel expenses, which recognizes that many single mothers rely upon public transportation, therefore they are in need of a subsidy to help them with this economic reality. There is not much wrong with this program, except that it doesn’t focus upon educational opportunities as much as it should. Single mothers who do not finish school are not afforded a way to finish school under this New Deal, as it is focused upon the mothers acquiring job skills. If the single mother needs to finish school, then she must either enroll in an online course or take public transportation to go to some kind of school where she can finish. Therefore, that should be included in the New Deal – there should be subsidies for completing school and subsidies for travel expenses to do so. And, also subsidies for acquiring Internet services, which would be necessary to complete online schooling, if the mother cannot afford Internet services on her own. There also should be some way that the UK government can provide subsidies for completing some kind of vocational schooling for areas that might be underserved. There are certain industries that are actually in need of workers, because there aren’t enough skilled workers to fill these positions (Burkhauser, 2008). While there is vocational training in the New Deal package, it does not mention vocational schooling – the vocational training seems like a short-term limited type of training, whereas actual vocational schooling might involve two years of schooling to prepare the young mothers for these specialized jobs. United States In the United States, there is a policy in place that helps the single parents, and this policy is implemented through the tax system, which has encouraged more single mothers to work, as opposed to receiving welfare (Eissa, 2004). Eissa (2004) looks at the tax policy that has helped in this regard. One aspect of tax policy in the United States that assists single parents is the head of the household deduction, which shields the parent from taxes by the standard deduction and by the personal exemption. Moreover, the head of the household tax filer is also possibly eligible for the earned income tax credit. To be eligible for this tax credit, the filer needs to have income that is below a given limit, and this limit is variable and dependent upon how many children are actually in the family, and the size of the tax credit is dependent upon how many children the parent has. The child must be under the age of 19, or 24 if the child is a full-time student, or must be permanently disabled to qualify for the credit. Moreover, the credit refundable, which means that, even if the single parent did not have any federal tax liability, he or she would still get the full amount of the credit (Eissa, 2004). This was an increase from the earlier EITC credit, as it was expanded in 1986 as a part of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA86), as the subsidy rate for the credit phase in went from 11 percent to 14 percent, and the maximum income for the subsidy rate was changed from $5,000 to $6,080. The maximum credit was thereby increased from $550 to $851, and the phase-out rate was reduced from 12.2 percent to 10 percent. This meant that the higher maximum credit and the lower phase-out rate combined to increase the upper limit in the phase-out region from $11,000 in 1986 to $18,576 by 1988 (Eissa, 2004). Also in 1986 was the TRA86, which reinforced the EITC expansion. TRA86 increased the standard deduction for a head of the household filing taxpayer from $2,480 to $4,400, while reducing the tax liability of taxpayers with children by increasing the deduction per dependent exemption from $1,080 in 1986 to $1,950 in 1988 (Eissa, 2004). The tax schedules were also changed to benefit single parents, by increasing the standard deduction and exemption amounts, which meant that the head of the household did not jump from 15 to 28 percent until the AGI exceeded $33,565 (Eissa, 2004). Meanwhile, in 2001, there were further changes in the tax code that helped single parents. This was the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, and how it affected single mothers was that the female household heads typically have income that is at the lower end of the distribution, so they benefited from three provisions: 1) the reduction of the lowest income tax bracket from 15 to 10 percent; 2) revisions to the Child Tax Credit, which was increased from $500 to $1,000 and was made refundable; and 3) changes to the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, which was increased from $2,400 to $3,000 (Eissa, 2004). Critique What the benefits were of the tax changes was that they had a positive effect upon the labor market and welfare for single mothers, in that more single mothers worked after these changes were implemented. Eissa (2004) states the labor market participation of single mothers has changed over the years, and that the participation rates in labor are coincident with the reductions in tax liabilities. They found that there were large efficiency gains because of increased participation for single mothers in the labor force. The welfare gains seen in their model were substantially larger than gains for all reforms and all elasticity scenarios, which implies that the tax cuts created pure efficiency gains (Eissa, 2004). While there were evidently positive effects in that there were more single mothers in the labor force after these tax reforms went into place, therefore there presumably a positive effect upon the poverty rates of families, one problem with the analysis was that it singled out tax reform as the reason why more single mothers worked, and there is mixed evidence that more single mothers working is actually a positive thing. As Blank (2002) notes, during the same period of time that there were tax reforms that were designed to aid single parents, there also were policy changes that changed the structure of public assistance programs to low-income families. The legislation that went into effect around the same time that these tax changes went into effect was the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), and, among other provisions, the PRWORA instituted ongoing work requirements, in which 50 percent of recipient families and 90 percent of two-parent families were required to work or be in work preparation programs. Furthermore, the legislation instituted a five year maximum time limit for the receipt of Temporary Assistance for Need Families (TANF) (Blank, 2002). Blank (2002) states that it was the combination of the welfare reform with the tax reform that raised the real wage earnings and subsidies for women with one child from $10,568 in 1989 to $12,653 in 2000, and for women with two or more children, her real earnings and subsidies went from $10,568 in 1989 to $14,188 in 2000. What must be noted is that, during the time that these reforms were enacted, there was an economic boom in the United States. There were worker shortages, a 5% unemployment rate, and rising wages for less skilled workers. This meant that the macroeconomy was supportive of these welfare changes. And the statistics regarding welfare reform combined with tax code changes do not tell the entire story. Blank (2002) states that, during the same time that there were more single mothers working, there was at least one group of women who actually lost income during this time. The very poorest quintile of women experienced income gains in the first half of the 1990s, but did not see overall income growth post-1996. Blank (2002) further states that welfare reform did not necessarily mean more employment for the single mothers, as there is a substantial percentage of these mothers who end up unemployed even after leaving welfare. Blank’s best guess for how these mothers get by is that they are relying on boyfriends or family, but, as these are tenuous means of support, the risk is that the mother would not have long-term economic stability. Furthermore, Blank (2002) notes that there is evidence that the rapid labor supply increase among single mothers affects other groups. For instance, during the same time that single mothers were entering the work force en masse, married women with children were leaving the work force. Also, during the time that the single mothers were entering the work force, the labor force participation over the 1990s fell. Therefore, there were substantial benefits for the combination of tax credits with welfare reform, as far as increasing the number of single mothers in the work force, as well as increasing the wages of these women. There were disadvantages as well. What else is a disadvantage of these policy changes is that they do not really address the issue of educational disadvantages for children of single mothers. As noted above, children of single mothers tend to have substantial educational disadvantages, and these need to be addressed. While it undoubtedly helps if a single mother is making better wages and working, there needs to be more pinpointed policy changes that address the actual issue of poor educational outcomes. Since the analysis in this essay focuses on tax policy as a response that the United States has implemented to help single mothers, then the solution should come through the tax code as well. The EITC’s positive impact upon single mothers, as far as encouraging them to work, has been demonstrated. Therefore, the government could try additional tax incentives to try to boost educational opportunities for the children of the working poor. This could come in a variety of different avenues. For instance, there might be tax credits that would encourage certain behaviors that would increase academic success for these children. There might be tax credits for acquiring tutors for students who are having trouble in school, or tax credits for schools that hire these tutors or provide after school activities which are geared towards helping students who are failing. There might even be tax credits which are designed to help working single mothers enroll their children in private schools. Or tax credits which are focused upon school readiness programs, in which children who are entering kindergarten are enrolled in programs that help them get the basic skills needed to begin kindergarten at a level where the child is less destined to fail. These tax incentives, if they are as successful as the EITC, could provide another solution for poverty among single parents, especially single mothers, because poor educational outcomes are associated with pervasive poverty. Therefore, if the children of the single mothers could get a better education than their mother, then perhaps that child would have more of a chance to lift him or herself out of poverty in the long run. Conclusion The policies and programs that a country can implement obviously will never eradicate the issue of single parenthood – it is a pervasive issue that does not have a good solution. However, there are programs and policies that can make the lives of children living in this situation better. Tax changes can accomplish this by encouraging the single mothers to work, which would have an impact upon wages and poverty. Programs that help mothers gain skills, while providing relief for pragmatic concerns, such as the cost of child care and travel, are other ways. What needs to be better addressed, however, is education, both for the mother and for the children of the mother. The mother needs to get a good education in order to lift her and her children out of poverty; the children need to have better educational opportunities as well. Therefore, programs that do not directly address this concern are necessarily neglecting the most important part of the equation, as far as getting that family out of the cycle of pervasive poverty. The tax changes in America helped mothers increase wages and more mothers entered the work force because of this, combined with welfare reform. But the tax changes could go further to encourage education. And the UK program does a good job of addressing issues that hinder lone parents from getting meaningful employment. It, too, does not go far enough, as it doesn’t directly address education. This is what both of these programs and policies must do, in order to effect a lasting change in the lives of single parents and their children. References Battle, J. (1998) What beats having two parents? Educational outcomes for African-American students in single versus dual parent families, Journal of Black Studies, vol. 28, no. 6, pp. 783-801. Biblarz, T. & Gottainer, G. (2004) Family structure and children’s success. Journal of Marriage and Family, 62.2, pp. 533-548. Blank, R. (2002) Evaluating welfare reform in the United States. Journal of Economic Literature, 1-125. Cherlin, M. (2012) Challenges for family law. In Garrison, M. & Scott, E. (2012) Marriage at the Crossroads. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Eissa, N., Kleven, H. & Kreiner, C. (2004) Evaluation of four tax reforms in the United States: Labor supply and welfare effects for single mothers. National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper Series. (Web) 23 Oct. 2013. Milne, A., Myers, D., Rosenthal, A. & Ginsburg, A. (1986) Single parents, working mothers, and the educational achievement of school children. Sociology of Education, 59, pp. 125-139. New Deal for Lone Parents. Available at: http://www.delni.gov.uk/index/finding-employment-finding-staff/fe-fs-help-to-find-employment/newdeal/new-deal-for-lone-parents.htm Nock, S. (1988) The family and hierarchy. Journal of the Marriage and Family, 50, pp. 957-966. Turner, P. & Smith, R. (1983) Single parents and day care. Family Relations, 32.2, pp. 215-226. Progress Paper The paper will focus on the issue of single parenthood. No examination of poverty would be complete without looking at the specific problem of single parenthood, especially single motherhood. It is a problem in the United States and all over the world, because children who are born to single mothers often have problems with educational achievement, and these households are often mired in poverty. And, since there is lower educational achievement among the children of these households, the poverty is liable to be pervasive, because lower educational achievement is correlated with less economic achievement. Moreover, at least in the United States, the more poor a woman is, the more likely she is to bear a child out of wedlock. This issue is, therefore, a serious one that should be properly addressed. This essay will look at the issue, including the nature of the issue, the problem that the United States has with the issue, and how Great Britain and the United States have implemented policies and programs that alleviate the issue, either by design or through residual effects of the policy. Therefore, the paper will examine in more depth the issues that surround single parenthood. The major problem is educational achievement, which tends to be lower among children of single parents than children who have two parents. For instance, Nock (1988) has studied single-parent households and he found that there was a “cumulative deficit in the number of years of schooling they complete” (Nock, 1988, p. 958). Further, Nock found that the longer the child lives in a single-parent household, the greater the educational deficits. For instance, Nock (1988) has studied single-parent households and he found that there was a “cumulative deficit in the number of years of schooling they complete” (Nock, 1988, p. 958). Further, Nock found that the longer the child lives in a single-parent household, the greater the educational deficits. Moreover, children who are in single-parent homes are also more likely to live in poverty, argue Turner & Smith (1983). This is because most single parent homes are headed by females, and women earn less than men who are doing the same types of work. The economic status of mothers with custody of dependent children is also much less than single parent fathers with custody. This is complicated by the fact that the majority of divorced mothers do not receive child support from the children’s fathers (Turner & Smith, 1983). These are the issues which are examined, and the paper also examines some solutions. The solution that is looked at in the UK is a program that helps single mothers access vocational training, and also provides solutions for pragmatic concerns, especially concerns about child care and transportation. The solution in America is a combination of tax breaks with welfare reform. The combination of these two policies has resulted in more single parents entering the labor force, and has also resulted in higher wages. Both of these programs, however, can be strengthened further by including some type of incentives for education, both for the mother and for the children who are in the single-parent household. The paper also provides recommendations on how these policies and programs can improve. This would include overhauling the tax code so that there are more incentives for mothers of children to seek more access to better education. Also, as for the program in the UK, this, too, should include some kind of acknowledgement regarding educational achievement. To help single mothers attain more education, and to give incentives for the mothers to find better educational opportunities for her children is extremely important and should be included in any program or policy that addresses this issue. Read More