Compassion Fatigue

Did you know that about 75% of low-wage earners in the USA do not have health insurance? Or that when a man gets divorced his household income increases by 10% whereas a woman's decreases by 27%? Or that only 37% of families headed by single mothers receive child support? Or that since 1977, there has been a 50 percent increase in the number of people working full time who are still poor?

POV's presentation this evening, "Waging a Living," was a distressing portrait of four working- poor families representative of the above statistics. One women who takes care of the elderly in a nursing home commented that although she works to make people feel more comfortable and cared for at the end of their lives, she is paid less than garbage men.

This week I also attended a "town hall" for parents and guardians with children involved in the child welfare (or child protection) system. After listening to story after story of parents being ignored, demeaned, and abused by "professionals," my colleague said that she is considering leaving the field. She said, "It's never going to change."

It made me think of the last time I went to family court with a client. The judge asked her if she had requested an order of protection against her husband so that she could get "better housing." My client replied, "No, I asked for the order to protect myself and my child. We are afraid of him."