Growing up Poor
Growing up Poor is a documentary by ABC Television exposing the social ills prevailing in Claymore, Australia. Claymore, one of Australia’s poorest suburbs, was built in the 1970s as a public housing estate. With 2.2 million Australians living below the poverty line, the majority of Claymore residents make up this statistic (Four Corners, 2012). The documentary was composed by Sarah Ferguson who interacted with Claymore children from five families and aired by ABC TV on 24th September, 2012. Children allowed the journalist into their daily lives and highlighted the life in Claymore from their perspective. Some of the children who participated in this documentary were from Blake’s family. The family was headed by Kristen Blake, a single mother taking care of five children; two children were her own, while three of them belonged to her sister.
Kristen Blake
Kristen used to work at an aged care facility before she got pregnant. After pregnancy, she resorted to being a full-time mother so as to care for the newborn baby as well as the other four children. Kristen accepted the full responsibility of taking care of her sister’s children because they would suffer especially Alanah under her sister. Kristen’s sister was a drug-addict contributing to her unstable mental conditions which made her release her paranoia on her children. Consequently, Kristen had to go an extra mile in her daily life to ensure sustainment of the large family. Besides providing basic necessities, Kristen had to ensure she creates an environment that caters to the psychological needs of the children. This means that each child has to feel loved and wanted in the family (Chenoweth and McAuliffe, 2017). As a result, the three children consider Kristen as their mother.
After giving birth
After giving birth, Kristen developed certain a near-death complication and its effects were felt by everyone in the family. Even under the condition, Kristen ensured that although the family lacked certain commodities, their day-to-day life was catered for. Even though the family underwent various difficulties, they all stayed together and three children of her sister did not think of moving back to their mother. This indicates how well Kristen created and sustained the peaceful and satisfactory environment for all children (Chenoweth and McAuliffe, 2017).
Key People
The documentary does not show the relationship Kristen had with the public; it only shows the personal relationships she had with her family. Her family includes her children, her sister, and her sister’s children. Kristen’s sister, Amy was suffering from atrocities bedeviling the Claymore society. Drug and alcohol abuse were identified by the children as the most two social ills that condemned Claymore to its current state (Four Corners, 2012). Amy was a drug addict leading to mental problems making her mistreat her children. As a result of a sibling relationship, Kristen decides to take in Amy’s children and give them day-to-day mother’s love. Alanah is another key component of Kristen’s life. She is 15 years old and helps Kristen take care of the other children.
Societal Structural Barriers
Every society has its own unique challenges that define it and affect its constituents differently. Claymore, like any other society, has structural barriers that condemn it to its prevailing state. These barriers include a high prevalence of poverty. Claymore settlement program was meant to provide Claymore residents with affordable decent houses. Poor families were given decent houses but the families were not pulled out of poverty. Families continued to languish in poverty, which is as well contributing to the deplorable state of the society and degradation of once decent houses. High prevalence of poverty is greatly contributed by unemployment which can be attributed to lack of education (Nipperess and Briskman 2009, p.63). Many children who participated in the documentary were not attending school regularly. Poverty in Kristen’s household is denying her a chance to provide her children with most of the life luxuries which average Australian children have. In order to break the vicious cycle of poverty, Kristen teaches her children the importance of having a job and working hard in life.
Another structural barrier
Another structural barrier which is bedeviling Claymore society and Kristen does not have any influence over it, is the drug and alcohol menace. Unemployed youths and young couples resort to indulge in drug and alcohol abuse as a source of consolation and escape route from life’s misfortunes. As a result, this leads to increased crime rates, violence, and domestic violence (Jencks and Mayer 1990, p.186). In Claymore, many families are either broken or children are born out of wedlock as a result of teenage pregnancy with a rate of five times more than the national average. For instance, Amy’s children are from different fathers who do not currently care for or even visit them. The children in Claymore live in fear of violence because drug addicts and alcoholics do not respect even children. This is evident through Amy whose children had to be rescued by Kristen. On the heat of drugs, Amy could bring her paranoia out onto her children, in some instances confiding them in one room and forbid them from getting out.
Personal Values
To be in Kristen's position requires a lot of courage, patience, and strength. As a social worker, an encounter with such an individual and her family would not only provoke my personal values but also humanely values. Being a sympathetic person, the situation in which Kristen and her family live would easily provoke my empathy. Consequently, I would kindly converse with them with utmost respect since their problem is as a result of systematic failure by those in authority to tackle key issues such as unemployment that trouble Claymore society (Guttman and Ressler 2001, p.124).
Ethical Issues
An encounter with a person such as Kristen and her family would necessitate the highest degree of integrity. Even though their situation is sympathetic, it would require me as a social worker to maintain the integrity and professionalism of sociology so as not to be carried away by my personal values. Ethics of profession ought to be adhered to in order to cultivate respectful and mutual sociologist-client relationships (McAuliffe, 2014). Although the situation of Kristen and her family requires me as a social worker to show personal values, ethics of profession would guide me to ensure that the conversation with them does not go beyond the boundaries.
References
Chenoweth, L. and McAuliffe, D., 2017. The Road to Social Work and Human Service Practice with Student Resource Access 12 Months. Cengage AU.
Nipperess, S. and Briskman, L., 2009. Promoting a human rights perspective on critical social work. Critical social work: Theories and practices for a socially just world, pp.58-69.
Jencks, C. and Mayer, S.E., 1990. The social consequences of growing up in a poor neighborhood. Inner-city poverty in the United States, 111, p.186.
McAuliffe, D., 2014. Interprofessional ethics: Collaboration in the social, health and human services. Cambridge University Press.
Guttman, N. and Ressler, W.H., 2001. On being responsible: ethical issues in appeals to personal responsibility in health campaigns. Journal of health communication, 6(2), pp.117-136.
Four corners: Growing up poor. Retrieved from:
http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/growing-up-poor/4279854
