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Helping Our Youngest in Need
It
costs a whopping $124,800 to raise a child from birth through
age
17, for families earning less than $39,100. That's what the
U.S. Department of Agriculture says in its annual Consumer
Expenditure Survey on the costs of raising children.
The USDA survey sheds light on the staggering
costs of child-rearing, providing cost estimates for housing,
food, transportation, clothing,
health-care and, miscellaneous
expenses for a child, from birth through
the age of 17, Based on
family income.
The study underscores the fact that providing
for a child these days
is daunting under the best of
circumstances. Factor in spousal abandonment or a parent's job
loss, illness or injury, and the economic realities only become
grimmer for parents struggling to provide for
their kids.. These
life transitions can send a thriving family into a
financial
"tail spin".
Each year, EIS (Emergency Infant Services)
sees about 4,800 of those needy families residing in
northeaster
Oklahoma--primarily in Tulsa and the surrounding neighboring
communities. Fortunate
families are self- reliant during these
times of financial disarray, relying on personal savings to
carry
them over their financial hurdle. Some can depend on
their extended family to help temporarily with
living expenses.
Still others will seek help through public assistance programs
such as WIC or DHS,
and/or through privately-funded
organizations like EIS.
EIS is a privately-funded, 501(c)3 non-profit
organization geared to address the essential care needs
of
infants and children through the age of five, (belonging to
families experiencing a temporary financial hardship) EIS
provides diapers, food, new and gently used clothing, infant
formula, fresh milk,
medications, infant equipment and
furnishings.
Needy families come to EIS and are comforted
to find that there are so many people in their own
community who
care about their children during difficult times. Perhaps the
greatest measure of this
sense of caring is demonstrated in the
spirited commitment of community volunteers and private donors
in rendering the mission of the program. With a $464,000 annual
budget and 6,000 volunteer hours
from unyielding community
support, EIS is empowered to feed and clothe over 7,000 children
every
year. During the 2003-2004 fiscal year, the agency served
nearly 7,800 children
Each year, thousands of clients flock to the
agency and its downtown location at 14 E. 7th Street, to be
served by a caring program and volunteer staff. The primary
program objective is to embrace a family in
need, responding
immediately during their visit, with essential care items for
the children (five years and younger) in the family. The agency
also provides supportive guidance to the parents, linking them
to
community agencies that can meet their clothing, food,
financial, legal, and housing concerns.
Child abandonment, or the intermittent
presence of the father, is prevalent among EIS's client
population, leaving mothers grappling with the family's
financial woes to keep the family unit intact. In many cases,
the mother is already juggling the dual role of both caregiver
of the children and homemaker. In the absences
of paternal
support, the mother is suddenly strapped with the sole
responsibility of "breadwinner" as well--
a role she may not be,
at all, prepared for. In fact, most of the abandoned mothers
seen at EIS do not have marketable job skills to support their
children in need. In fact, most of the mothers only have skills
or job training to work at minimum wage jobs, which do not
provide enough income to support a family.
Upon entry or re-entry into the work force,
the mother must now make arrangements for the children to
be
cared for, while she is working. The staggering costs of
childcare, which had been avoided prior to
the father's
abandonment (with the mother as caregiver) creates another
financial burden. With a mother's
limited earning power, most
often at minimum wage, the cost of childcare for multiple
siblings can all but
absorb her earnings, leaving little, if any
to provide food, clothing, and shelter for the family. Child
support
can be helpful, but is not usually in place at the time
the mother first seeks assistance at EIS. For those
who are
receiving child support, often the payments are minimal.
Still there are even more hurdles, which
hinder a family's ability to rebound, even to those families who
remain together. Domestic violence and substance abuse is a
devastating problem for some families. To complicate matters,
many parents do not have accessible healthcare, though the
children's medical needs
are often taken care of through
assistance programs.
In these situations, EIS becomes a life-line
to a family's survival--helping families evaluate their
options.
Asking for help is the starting point The wounded
parent confronts the realization that regardless of
why or how,
he/she is now dependent upon someone else to feed and clothe
his/her child...at least temporarily. This humble concession is
necessary for many families to survive...and rebuild.
Whatever has brought them to
this sobering moment, "hope" becomes Synonymous at "Emergency
Infant Services". Upon arrival at EIS, the parents are seeking
someone who can help. And someone
does, inspiring "hope" in
what is yet to come. "Hope" is what carries them through. For
many, it is
all they have.
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