The FAMCare Blog

Nonprofits have long been active in providing support for children ravaged by poverty, hunger, and disease in third world countries across the world. But working mothers and parents on the poverty line in America have flown under the radar and toiled in the shadows relying on Federal assistance that is woefully inadequate. Marginalized parents in the United States need to work two jobs to afford the paid childcare required to raise their children. But childcare is more expensive than ever, and the federal government can’t do enough to support families, especially working mothers. Now more than ever, families bear the brunt of the economic burden. This domestic crisis is every bit as urgent in our country as in third world countries. The children are our future; to nurture them and our potential as a country, we need to address the nationwide crisis underlying childcare.

Whenever this blog shines a spotlight on how many Americans go hungry every day, our readers respond with surprise and skepticism. Most Americans live in a cultural environment that looks away from poverty, and even the impoverished themselves tend to hide their unfortunate circumstances. In America, it’s noble to inhabit the working class but undignified to struggle feeding your family.  Although most of our readers are in the social services profession, even they seem unaware of the depth and breadth of our marginalized population where hunger is still a prominent issue. They consider ads with a picture of a sad-looking child on billboards, the internet, and television saying, "No school means no school lunch. Donate now [to] Feeding America," a cry for help from a select few.

🎵Bless the beasts and the children

For in this world

They have no voice…

They have no choice…🎵

Over the past few months close friends who work in animal nonprofits have reminded this blog that we have overlooked them and the biodiversity that they represent. While we have publicized the work of almost every social service and nonprofit organization, we confess we have consistently overlooked the animal nonprofits, and the struggle they are engaged in to save the animals and natural habitat of our planet.

Back in the 80s and 90s eating disorders had risen to epidemic proportions among teen-age girls. In fact, most used the mirror as a tool for taking stock of their worth conducting a critical search for flaws, fat, and proof of their failure to live up to the standards they had set for themselves. Their hunger for perfection and acceptance was insatiable, giving rise to body shame, self-loathing, anxiety, and life-threatening bouts of anorexia and bulimia.

According to estimates, one in every six American women has been a victim of sexual violence at least once in their life. Another report suggests that there are over 27 million victims of human trafficking across the world. These victims of various crimes have had their lives turned upside down due as a result to a single event.

However, with the assistance of social service agencies that provide victims with legal, psychological, or financial assistance, these victims of crime have a chance at life. Because of the persistent efforts of victim service organizations that assist law enforcement, perpetrators of these heinous crimes are captured, and their victims are able to reintegrate into society after a traumatic experience.

To know more about the importance of victim services and their crucial role in all communities across the globe, here’s a blog.

Social workers specializing in criminal justice have been dealing specifically with the rapid rise in police related violence since the onset of the COVID pandemic. They were surprised to discover that police are suffering from PTSD at an elevated rate. Yet this is what’s happening every day around the country as police officers with PTSD are thrust daily into fast-moving and dangerous situations. The estimated rates of PTSD in police officers range from 15% to 35%. In fact, the higher estimate is roughly equivalent to what the National Center for PTSD estimates as the lifetime prevalence of PTSD in combat veterans of the Vietnam War.

Steve Jobs famously said, “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” We are only now beginning to understand to what degree the digital revolution that he inspired has changed the world.

Hunger

As we reported earlier this year, few Americans know that hunger has become a serious social problem in the U. S. We tend to think of countries in drought plagued Africa or the war-torn Middle East as places where children suffer malnutrition and die of starvation. However, food insecurity and nutritional depravation continue to haunt Americans in urban pockets of poverty and remote rural regions across our country.

The latest government statistics report that approximately one in five adults reported experiencing household food insecurity at the end of 2022. High food price inflation, along with elevated costs for other basic needs, such as transportation and rent, have likely eroded food budgets in the last year, and some of the safety net responses that buffered food insecurity in 2021 are no longer in place. In addition, 35% (229 million tons) of all food produced in the U.S. every year goes unsold or uneaten and is thrown away while nearly 42 million Americans – one in eight – struggle with hunger.

In our last report on hunger in America we highlighted the role of nonprofits and social service agencies in the battle against food depravation. This week we would like to shine a light on one “for-profit” company that is making an amazing contribution to the fight against hunger in America.

Fueled by a long-running housing shortage, rising rent prices, and the economic hangover from the pandemic, the overall number of homeless in a federal government report to be released in coming months is expected to be higher than the 580,000 unhoused before the coronavirus outbreak.

As stated in Article 40 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child:

"Every child in conflict with the law has the right to be treated in a manner that takes into account “the desirability of promoting [his/her] reintegration and [his/her] assuming a constructive role in society.”