20/10/2023
Imagine for a moment:
There is a mom, with 2 (or more) kids, who has a “great” job making $20 per hour and works 40 hours a week. Roughly $3000 per month after taxes…sounds good until you put it on paper. I remember, not so long ago, when $20 an hour was only a distant dream. Anyways, her marriage fell apart, and he doesn’t claim all of his income, so she only gets $400 a month in child support. She can’t take him back to court, because she can’t afford to, and he knows it. To make matters worse, she makes a tad to much to get any public assistance, which she’s ok with…but man would it help right now 🥺
So here she is…sitting at her table, alone, going over her “must pay” bills and the things she needs that aren’t in the budget. On top of that, the brakes went out this morning on her car, that she has to have for work and the kids! Fixing it is not an option, but she doesn’t have $500 to fix it! In fact, she was just trying to figure out how to work around some bills to get the kids much needed winter coats. And then her 4th grader brings home a form from school requesting $10 for the upcoming field trip to the pumpkin patch and Christmas is only 2 months away! She remembers what it’s like to wake up Christmas morning with nothing under the tree, and worse, how she felt when all her friends talked about their new toys and she just walked away as if she didn’t matter. She vowed that her kids would never feel this way…but here she is…to say she’s overwhelmed or stressed is an understatement. 🥺
This is a scenario that many families face, who make a lot less money. I took this from a post from a county in Tennessee that is trying to help. But this is a VERY sad reality for many single parents (women and men).
Photo credit- Sonya Johnson