Poor Mothers and the Care of Teenage Children

Abstract

Mother blaming” in public discourse and social research has created stereotypes of poor mothers that obscure many aspects of their lives. In social science research, it has also been difficult to gain an understanding of the work that poor mothers do on behalf of their children and the obstacles they face. Systems of racial and class privilege grant more resources to White, higher-income women, poorer women and non-White women face harsher conditions and have fewer social supports. McDonough’s study of counseling programs in the high schools of children from a broad range of socioeconomic backgrounds demonstrates that college counseling is of much higher quality at schools in higher income neighborhoods. Unfortunately, recent data indicate that teenage children of very poor mothers who were enrolled in the welfare-to-work programs that were the precursors of welfare reform have experienced more problems than children of mothers who were on welfare but not in work programs.