Childhood stressors

Stressors in a child’s life.

When I was a young child, my aunt was a foster parent.  She was a foster parent for a little girl.  This little girl was in foster care because her mother was incarcerated for a short period of time for drug charges, and her father was in jail for domestic abuse and drug charges.

During her infancy and toddler period, she was exposed to poverty, violence and chaos.  When mom was released from prison, she attempted to come to my Aunt’s house and take this little girl back.  She was about 4 years old at the time.  She recognized her mother, and was confused and scared as to why she could not leave the house with her mother.

The mother had to enter rehabilitation programs, and prove she could provide for the daughter.  There were play dates set up in a center, where my aunt could observer the interactions of the mother and daughter.  One instance the mother tried to leave with the daughter, and was placed back in custody of the jail.  This mother became involved with drugs again and was back in prison.

As the years passed, the young girl became apart of my aunts family.  She began to attend kindergarten, and was doing very well.  Mom was soon released from prison, and had gotten clean and sober.  She attended parenting programs and rehabilitation as directed by the courts.  She was able to gain custody of her daughter again.  A few months went by and mom was not around.  The young girl was neglected, and was no longer attending school.  She was in a violent area of the neighborhood.   When mom was once again picked up on drug charges, she was returned to the care of my aunt.  Mom had lost complete custody of the young girl, who was now about 7 years old.   My Aunt turned from foster parent into adoptive parent.  This young girl is now my cousin, for quite a number of years.  She is now in her junior year of college, studying Music.

She sometimes will recall the hectic nature of her early life, talking about remembering nights when she was woken up by loud noises, probably gun shots.  She also recalls finding her mother, many mornings laying on the couch.  She said she was scared, but she also remembered my Aunt and the time she went back with her mother.  She recalls it as a good time, where at even such a young age she understood things were happening that were good.   She then recalls being frightened when she stopped going to school, and the police showed up.  That was the last she remembered of her birth mother, and she sometimes feels scared thinking about where she might have grown up, or how things might have changed.  At such a young age, she was able to understand and recall the stress of that environment.

Poverty Around the World

"Some people say that if low-income groups own consumer durables such as cars, computers and video recorders, then they are not poor. Others say it shows that modern poverty is not just a matter of material needs, it is essentially one of social frustration." - (Engbersen, 1999)


  I think how you interpret this depends on your values and your situation.  Also the situation surrounding the poverty.  Also, is a nation in poverty because it is a developing nation?  Many third world nations are considered developing, while countries like the United States of America are considered developed, but I do not feel that because a country is considered developed that its inhabitants are not in poverty.  I do not feel the title of developing or developed means more poverty then another.


Poverty in China as taken from Poverty Around the World website:

• China’s poverty rate fell from 85% to 15.9%, or by over 600 million people
• China accounts for nearly all the world’s reduction in poverty
• Excluding China, poverty fell only by around 10%  (Shah, 1998)

As I discussed, my cousin has experienced poverty at a young age.  She had shelter, but very little food and clothing. 

Engbersen, G. (1999, September). Who are you calling poor? Retrieved January 28, 2011, from Le Monde Diplomatique: http://mondediplo.com/1999/09/06poverty

Shah, A. (1998, July 20). Poverty Around the World. Retrieved January 27, 2011, from Global issues: http://www.globalissues.org/article/4/poverty-around-the-world#Introduction