In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

150 8 Divergent Interests Parents Do What They Have to Do A primary interest of the suburban parents that I met is to provide for the family and, as some have said, “do what I have to do.” For most people that meant working, rotating between the employment and the social service systems, and augmenting income with or solely relying on public assistance benefits, as well as deploying emergency and ongoing strategies to get by. For many, one such strategy is reliance on a network of kin support; this has long been recognized as a survival strategy by poor people (Stack 1974; Susser 1982). People’s extended kin support network included blood relatives; spouses, partners, and “exes,” most notably fathers of children; kin of children’s fathers; and fictive kin and friends. Support networks ranged from ones that were extremely frail and tenuous consisting of a few individuals, to ones that were steadfast, reliable, and extensive. Kin commonly and frequently babysat or provided child care when a parent worked, especially when families doubled-up in households and a household member had an accommodating schedule. Children’s grandparents often provided child care and other support. Anna Moreno’s stepfather moved in with her for a few years when he had nowhere to go. Although he had no income, his residency allowed Anna to return to work five months after giving birth. He took care of her children and cooked. Anna said, “Even if he had $100 I wouldn’t have asked him for anything ’cause he was doing so much more by watching the kids.” Women sometimes called on ex-husbands and former partners who are the fathers of their children for child-care duty. This provides a time for children to spend with their father, and, moreover, a father’s caregiving is less risky Divergent Interests 151 than entrusting child care to another, especially if a child welfare agency posed any threat. Relatives and others gave or loaned people money for continuous expenses and one-time emergency needs. These ranged from a parent subsidizing her adult child’s rent to a family member buying food when the cupboard was empty or Pampers when a child wore the last diaper in the house. Many people lacked a car and so borrowed vehicles, carpooled to work, or depended on kin and others for intermittent and regular transportation. Long-term unemployed people often relied on kin and friends to hire them for odd jobs like painting and moving furniture; women braided hair for cash or barter. Throughout a lifetime various kin also gave emotional support in quotidian situations or in periods of crisis. Support networks are sinuous; over time people move in and out of lives. Because the networks are dynamic, specific individuals’ capacity to provide can change over time. Thus, the types and extent of support varies . For example, when Carissa Simone began raising a family close to a decade ago, her mother was using drugs and the two were not in contact. Carissa said that her mother “couldn’t really offer me anything” during that period. Yet, a few years later her mother went into recovery. Carissa said that since then, “She is the one that helps me tremendously now. . . . She’s the one that pays cable, light, phone . . . ; she’s the one that pays everything. . . . My mother is very supportive to me and my children. She’s like the father figure at home. The kids respect her. She’s the man. You know.” The burdensome cost of housing is a key factor that causes impoverishment and drives families to obtain government housing subsides and other public assistance, as well as to seek help from others. The homes of kin became emergency havens when families lost housing due to a variety of situations that caused a housing crisis. Conversely, some of those I spoke with also extended their homes to others in need. In order to specifically care for an ailing kin, an adult child often moved into a parent’s home or vice versa. Some households clearly benefited by the pooling of multiple incomes and support. Though support networks are crucial, they cannot shield families from impoverishment. Moreover, kin usually cannot shoulder the full burden of another’s housing emergency. Doubling-up frequently becomes untenable because of family tensions, overcrowding, and domestic violence, and it is often impractical due to illegal tenancy. For a variety of reasons many poor people do not necessarily have a sustaining support network that can...

Share