Poverty, Welfare and Ethics?

Question

ok, personally, if I had children and lived in extreme poverty, I think I would give the children up so they could have some form of normal lifesyle, right? Woudl that not be the right thing to do?

Why do people have children, live in extreme poverty and keep the kids living in those types of situations?

Answer 1

more often than not, these "poverty" families are big and fat, i work hard for my money and i was taught personal responsibility as a child, it bothers me when families that live in"poverty" are so fat. it makes me feel not so sorry for them, i knew a guy who literally walked out of detroit at 17, got a job, a hotel, a car, then an apartment AND got himself out of poverty, some people just don't get raised right and they will be voting obama   :(    IF they can get their lazy @zz of the sofa and stop watching oprah and maury povich for a day!

Answer 2

Being poor doesn't mean you can't care for a child. The children from poor families know well what it's like to grow up that way so many learn that they don't want to live like that.

Most kids over 5 will never get placed in a permanent home and trusting someone to raise your kid just because they have money is very poor judgment.

The smart thing to do is not have children unless you are working.

Answer 3

Well, you raise an interesting question, which has even more interesting answers.  But, the answer is pretty straight forward.  Basically, people have an innate need to reproduce.  Nature has wired it into us.  Thus they will reproduce in almost any situation.  Also, most people who live in extreme poverty don't really see it as extreme poverty.  As long as their basic needs of shelter, and food are provided, (even on a very subsistence level) they may just feel they are unfortunate, or unlucky, but not really in dire straits.  Also, you need to look throughout history and realize that having few children is only a recent  phenomena that occurs in just a few societies.  And, then only when either the society tells its citizens to limit reproduction, i.e. China, or the citizens chose material wealth over children, such as several western "rich nations".

Answer 4

That depends on the situation.  We all have seen and know people who do take advantage of the welfare system by having more children, but that is not always the case.

Some people are doing just fine when they have children.  Then, someone gets sick, or gets laid off from their job for no good reason. It happens.  One sick person in a family will ruin you financially and forever.  Do we then give up our children to the foster care system and pray a rich family adopts them?

You need to look at the big picture.

Answer 5

Just believe that things can and will get better and usually they do if you put a little effort into it. I would never give up my boys. Stop being so pessimistic.

Answer 6

If you had children you would probably love them dearly and be very dead-set against giving them up.   Hopefully your kids could get help from the govt. in health care, nutrition, things like that, and could get a good public education so they could have a good life when they grew up.

It's not easy to get people to give up their children.  People who have kids, their kids mean more to them than anything in the world! If you had kids, you'd understand this.

Answer 7

First of all, you can't live in extreme poverty with children without having the public service system provide some type of assistance for the children.

Most people feel that keeping the family intact is more important than giving them to someone who can provide more material things for them. Children living in poverty with loving parents can have a normal lifestyle if you define "normal" in terms of character development, values, self-esteem, those intrinsic values that make a life rewarding, in spite of not having all the other trimmings.

As far as you giving up your children if you were living in extreme poverty, only you can make that decision and live with it.

(I assume that you would be working but not making enough to adequately provide for your children)

Answer 8

More babies you make the more the government pays you and the more baby daddies you have to take to court and get your 50 per week

Answer 9

Well that is like saying only rich people should have kids.Isn't that stupid?What do you call normal nowadays?Many people work everyday never take a vacation and still live in poverty.They do not have laptops for every child,tv in every bedroom,cell phones,cable or satellite,hdtv or big screen tvs.They do have food on the table,a bed to sleep in and parents who love them.That is not poor,nowadays that's true wealth.Foster care and orphanages leave a lot to be desired and always separates families,that is just wrong.As to why? Well who knows someone has to work at those jobs,it makes the world go round you know.Not everyone can get more or better education,its costly not everyone qualifies for grants and those things keep them down.We will always have the poor but the gap is getting larger until one day we will be the 3 rd world country as far as  wealth and benefits go.Our programs keep you in poverty if you are in that system,because when you do something to better your self you are penalized before you have had time to balance it out.It is a shame but its the way it is.As long as children are not abused or neglected being poor is not a crime its just a fact of life.They are loved and usually turn out well.That is what makes the difference.

Answer 10

Several reasons, among them the fact they the children might not have been conceived and born in poverty.  Factories move, taking jobs and salaries with them, then no one wants to buy your home in a now depressed area and if you move you lose literally everything.

Normal mothers become attached to their children, and their children to them, for you it might be more important to have a big screen TV to be normal, but for them they just want their mommy.

And their mommy wants them too.

You are also assuming that giving the children up would assure them of a more normal life, but the foster system is full of horror stories, and that can't be assured.  While people might want to adopt little white babies, teens, tweens and kids don't get adopted, how could you sleep at night not knowing whats happening to your kids?

Maybe you don't have kids, maybe that's why it seems so simple to you.  Maybe you never had to make a choice that no matter which way you make it everyone goes through h**l.

Why do they have children is one of those questions that you could ask of the whole human race, in Africa, with famine and war all around them, with poverty that makes ours look like a week at a spa.

I think its hope, hope that they will have it better than we did, hope that they will make a difference for the next generation.

Hope.  

Any one at any income level bringing a child into the world needs plenty of it.

Answer 11

What do you call a normal life?  One where the family can afford an iPod?  Love is the ultimate family fabric.

Answer 12

it is noble that you would not want your kids to do without.

but i know many people who are largely cashless but are among the most contented people i know. they have no cars or electricity, often no indoor plumbing or much of what you would consider a normal lifestyle. in many ways i envy them. they are the amish.

there are many ways to measure wealth.

watch the movie "its a wonderful life" .

Answer 13

the big answer for you is IF.  If is a great word, it lets you rant about something you know nothing about.