Latest child welfare report shows 'staggering data' on growing up in Newark

Star Ledger ^

[SMGFan]

When she became pregnant at age 20, Nehal Abdelmoneim was at risk of becoming another bleak statistic in Newark.

Her parents cut off all ties to the young woman, she said, for having a child out of wedlock. The father of her child left Abdelmoneim on her own, she added. She got evicted from her apartment and dropped out of college, she said.

Now at 25, she’s still a single parent but has found full-time work as a security guard to support herself and her son. Like any parent, she said she wants the best for her 4-year-old son and plans to enroll him in kindergarten at a competitive charter school after he finishes preschool this year.

“Everything right now is falling into place, finally, four years after,” she said.

But she’s still fighting the odds and according to a new report released last week by the Advocates for Children in New Jersey, the statistics in Newark are daunting.

This year’s “Newark Kids Count” report honed in on the earliest, most formative years of a child’s life which set the stage for their future economic and education prospects, according to Cecilia Zalkind, the group’s executive director.

There are roughly 4,500 babies born each year in Newark, according to the report.

That’s more than a dozen babies born daily in the state’s largest city — many that face impoverished conditions and greater risk factors like single-parent households.

[BenLurkin]

“Momma’s in the ***** house.
Daddy’s in the jail.
Sister’s on the corner
shouting ***** for sale”

[SueRae]

The single mom cited in the article is now on her feet, working full time and looking to go back to school. She says she had the help of a lady in the Social Services. It takes a mom willing to pick herself up by the bootstraps and with help from someone who took an personal interest in her success. She is in the minority...and the odds are overwhelming... There are good people out there, both those that find themselves in that situation...and those willing to help.

[ronnie raygun]

This keeps the democratic machine well oiled. Making single parents the norm supported by social services provided by the taxpayer keeps the rat rolls growing and the relection prospects bright. Irresposible behavior should be dealt with. Sterilization after the first mistake should do it.

[i_robot73]

Easy. Kill all forms of taxpayer funded welfare for those that cannot/will not provide parental lineage. One then needs to pass a drug test (if I have to to keep my job, so do you if I’m paying). They then are also required to work 20+ hrs/week (I don’t care if it’s weekends...bless their hearts) for the State as roadside/park clean-up, rest-stop lavatory cleaners, road-kill crews, etc. (no need for Union work anymore, right alongside the jail chain-gangs). Spigot turns off after 6-mo. and ‘resets’ after each 5 yrs. of gainful employment.

Don’t like those rules? One then needs to turn to family, friends, neighbors, worship and plead their case.

I really feel for those who lost jobs/etc. but maybe this would finally get ‘em up and out from just making calls to their critters and storming City Hall or Congress. Otherwise, I have no sympathy anymore knowing I could sit on my ass, receive more $$ than I could make at my current position while busting my ass.

[LibsRJerks]

The single mom cited in the article is now on her feet, working full time and looking to go back to school. She says she had the help of a lady in the Social Services. It takes a mom willing to pick herself up by the bootstraps and with help from someone who took an personal interest in her success. She is in the minority...and the odds are overwhelming... There are good people out there, both those that find themselves in that situation...and those willing to help.

**
It’s all admirable — but now she’s working full time, and who is watching the kid? Does he yet still not have a father figure in his life? A woman working full time and going to school is not going to have the energy left to properly raise an energetic young boy.

Sometimes I get so sick of thinking about it, I want to throw up.

My solution? Welfare ends tomorrow. You can’t make it? Call up the Dad. He’s not around? Call up your friends and find a solution. Both parents get back to work. Get married. Stop bugging taxpayers to cover your every freaking need. You can’t make it in American without welfare? Sorry, go home, or figure it out somehow. Come back later when you’ve got the money.

[jocon307]

I agree, and she’s not getting much moral support from our brother and sister freepers, is she? Or even from her own parents, which I think is appalling.

I’m not encouraging non-marital sex, but babies happen people and if we are going to be pro-life (as I for one intend to always be) we need to deal with that reality.

Unlike the unfortunate woman discussed on another thread tonight this woman didn’t kill her child. The other woman was employed as a school teacher and married and had family support even when she decided to terminate her pregnancy in the third trimester. I’m sure she had a college degree and many advantages this gal never had. However, that woman and her child are beastly dead, at least this gal in Newark and her son are still alive and kicking.

I wish them a good life.