Friday, September 18, 2009

Census numbers show Inland poverty, food-stamp use on the rise

10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, September 29, 2009

By DAVID OLSON
The Press-Enterprise

New Census figures on poverty are another grim reminder of the toll the severe recession is taking on Inland lives.

Nearly 21 percent of San Bernardino County's children lived in poverty in 2008, up from just over 16 percent in 2007, according to the Census estimates released Tuesday. The child-poverty rate in Riverside County was 17 percent. Food-stamp enrollment was up 48 percent in Riverside County and 30 percent in San Bernardino County.

Rick Wells is not reflected in those 2008 statistics, which were computed when the Inland area's unemployment rate was still rising. Wells, 20, lost his $15-an-hour construction job in March 2008 but was able to piece together enough work to avoid government assistance -- until Tuesday, when he sat in a crammed state Department of Public Social Services office in Moreno Valley clutching his food-stamp application. It's kind of embarrassing to ask the government for help when I know I'm very capable of working," Wells said. Like countless other Inland residents, Wells has applied for job after job but he says there's nothing. Wells has been homeless for two weeks, after he lost a live-in job helping a woman with household tasks. Her husband returned home from the hospital to assist her. Sometimes Wells sleeps behind a Moreno Valley liquor store. Other times he sleeps on a park bench. He wants to join the Marines.

"It's a place to sleep and get money and food," Wells said.

He knows he might get sent to Iraq or Afghanistan. But it's better than being homeless and jobless. "You can die on the street," Wells said. Wells was waiting with dozens of others. They filled the room's blue plastic chairs and lined much of the wall space.

Javier Gutiérrez, 66, lost his $8.50-an-hour security-guard job in February 2008. The Moreno Valley man was applying Tuesday to renew his food-stamp benefits. Olivia Muñoz makes $8.50 an hour at a bowling-alley snack bar, but she can't get more than 20 hours a week of work. With her $500-a-month rent for a room in a Moreno Valley apartment, it's not enough to buy food. She was in line in front of Gutiérrez, waiting to pick up a food-stamp card she had been approved for.
Muñoz, 24, studied for three years at a Los Angeles vocational school to become a dental-laboratory technician. But she can't find a lab job. She is still paying off $6,000 in school loans.

Last year, 4.3 percent of Riverside County residents and 7 percent of San Bernardino County residents relied on food stamps, according to the estimates from the Census' American Community Survey, which queries 3million people each year. More recent county figures are unavailable (But likely to be much higher).

Statewide, 23 percent more people received food stamps in June 2009 than in June 2008, according to preliminary data from the federal Department of Agriculture, which administers the food-stamp program. The average recipient nationwide gets $133 in monthly food assistance.

That money sometimes runs out before the end of the month, said Beverly Earl, San Bernardino County director for family and community services for Catholic Charities San Bernardino/Riverside. So they come to the organization's food pantries. They ask for toilet paper, deodorant, soap and other nonfood items not covered by food stamps, Earl said.

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This is the fight of our professional careers. Are You In or Out?

What's taking so long? This is the fight of our professional careers. Are You In or Out? "Hell has a special level for those who sit by idly during times of great crisis."
Robert Kennedy

The Art of SETTING LIMITS, Its not as easy as it looks.

Art of Setting Limits Setting limits is one of the most powerful tools that professionals have to promote positive behavior change for their clients, students, residents, patients, etc. Knowing there are limits on their behavior helps the individuals in your charge to feel safe. It also helps them learn to make appropriate choices.


There are many ways to go about setting limits, but staff members who use these techniques must keep three things in mind:
Setting a limit is not the same as issuing an ultimatum.
Limits aren’t threats—If you don’t attend group, your weekend privileges will be suspended.

Limits offer choices with consequences—If you attend group and follow the other steps in your plan, you’ll be able to attend all of the special activities this weekend. If you don’t attend group, then you’ll have to stay behind. It’s your decision.
The purpose of limits is to teach, not to punish.
Through limits, people begin to understand that their actions, positive or negative, result in predictable consequences. By giving such choices and consequences, staff members provide a structure for good decision making.
Setting limits is more about listening than talking.
Taking the time to really listen to those in your charge will help you better understand their thoughts and feelings. By listening, you will learn more about what’s important to them, and that will help you set more meaningful limits.
Download The Art of Setting Limits

SYSTEMATIC USE OF CHILD LABOR


CHILD DOMESTIC HELP
by Amanda Kloer

Published February 21, 2010 @ 09:00AM PT
category: Child Labor
Wanted: Domestic worker. Must be willing to cook, clean, work with garbage, and do all other chores as assigned. No contract available, payment based on employer's mood or current financial situation. No days off. Violence, rape, and sexual harassment may be part of the job.

Would you take that job? No way. But for thousands of child domestic workers in Indonesia, this ad doesn't just describe their job, it describes their life.

A recent CARE International survey of over 200 child domestic workers in Indonesia found that 90% of them didn't have a contract with their employer, and thus no way to legally guarantee them a fair wage (or any wage at all) for their work. 65% of them had never had a day off in their whole employment, and 12% had experienced violence. Child domestic workers remain one of the most vulnerable populations to human trafficking and exploitation. And while work and life may look a little grim for the kids who answered CARE's survey, it's likely that the most abused and exploited domestic workers didn't even have the opportunity to take the survey.

In part, child domestic workers have it so much harder than adults because the people who hire children are more likely looking for someone easy to exploit. Think about it -- if you wanted to hire a domestic worker, wouldn't you choose an adult with a stronger body and more life experience to lift and haul and cook than a kid? If you could get them both for the same price, of course you would. But what if the kid was cheaper, free even, because you knew she wouldn't try and leave if you stopped paying her. Or even if you threatened her with death.



Congress Aims to Improve Laws for Runaway, Prostituted Kids

by Amanda Kloer

categories: Child Prostitution, Pimping

Published February 20, 2010 @ 09:00AM PT

The prospects for healthcare reform may be chillier than DC weather, but Democrats in the House and Senate are turning their attention to another warmer but still significant national issue: the increasing number of runaway and throwaway youth who are being forced into prostitution. In response to the growing concerns that desperate, runaway teens will be forced into prostitution in a sluggish economy, Congress is pushing several bills to improve how runaway kids are tracked by the police, fund crucial social services, and prevent teens from being caught in sex trafficking. Here's the gist of what the new legislation is trying to accomplish:

Shelter: Lack of shelter is one of the biggest vulnerabilities of runaway and homeless youth. Pimps will often use an offer of shelter as an entree to a relationship with a child or a straight up trade for sex. In the past couple years, at least 10 states have made legislative efforts to increase the number of shelters, extend shelter options, and change state reporting requirements so that youth shelters have enough time to win trust and provide services before they need to report the runaways to the police. Much of the new federal legislation would make similar increases in the availability and flexibility of shelter options.

Police Reporting: Right now, police are supposed to enter all missing persons into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database within two hours of receiving the case. In reality, that reporting doesn't always get done, making it almost impossible for law enforcement to search for missing kids across districts. This hole is a big problem in finding child prostitution victims and their pimps, since pimps will often transport girls from state to state. The new bill would strengthen reporting requirements, as well as facilitate communication between the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the National Runaway Switchboard

We Must Never Forget These Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen and Women

We Must Never Forget These Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen and Women
Nor the Fool Politicians that used so many American GIs' lives as fodder for the fight over an english noun - "Communism"