Because I have been volunteering at Casa de los Niños since August 2014, my adjustment from 5 hours a week to 15 hours a week has run smoothly. Before I started my SRP, I only worked with the toddlers, who are known as Eeyores in the Winnie the Pooh themed shelter. Now, I work with the Eeyores, the Poohs, who can crawl but not walk, and the Roos, who can speak rather well and are older than the toddlers. With this schedule, I am able to spend an equal amount of time with children from three distinctive and adjacent age groups that are very significant developmentally. Since I have been at the shelter since August, I have also observed some children who have changed age groups during their stay. Although all of the children have come from completely different backgrounds with different levels of trauma and abuse, they all now have access to excellent medical, social, and educational care and facilities. Every week when I work with each age group, I see substantial differences in each child’s physical and social abilities, appearance, adjustments to the shelter, and many other elements.

Externally from my internship, I read a research paper discussing the results of child poverty. This paper focuses on the effects of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, which replaced the federal program of Aid to Families with Dependent Children with block grants to states for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, on child development. This act, which successfully provided welfare-to-work transitions to some families, forced other families into a deeper state of poverty. In categories such as personal health and achievement, there is abundant quantifiable data that consistently shows that child poverty adversely affects the ability and achievement of children. Probabilities for grade repetition and dropping out of high school, learning disabilities, teenage out-of-wedlock births, child abuse and neglect, and experiencing violent crimes is proportionately 2.0 times higher, 1.4 times higher, 3.1 times higher, 6.8 times higher, and 2.2 times higher respectively for poor children relative to nonpoor children. This data demonstrates the powerful nature of the cycle of poverty and its direct influence on the cycle of abuse. Because of ideals of the American Dream, many people believe that poverty is an individual choice, not a systemic problem. This society must recognize and understand the cycle of poverty and all of its consequences because public policies such as minimum wage laws and social welfare programs have a significant influence on poverty levels. By changing and refining the often unrealistic views of poverty, we may be able to end the cycle of poverty and the subsequent cycle of abuse.

Sources:

Duncan, Greg J., and Jeanne Brooks‐Gunn. "Family poverty, welfare reform, and child development." Child development 71.1 (2000): 188-196.