Through My Own Eyes: Single Mothers and the Cultures of Poverty

Shirl is a single mother who urges her son's baby-sitter to swat him when he misbehaves. Helena went back to work to get off welfare, then quit to be with her small daughter. Kathy was making good money but got into cocaine and had to give up her two-year-old son during her rehabilitation. Pundits, politicians, and social critics have plenty to say about such women and their behaviour. In this book we hear what these women have to say for themselves. It is an account from the front lines of poverty, which offers a firsthand look at how single mothers with the slimmest of resources manage from day-to-day. We witness their struggles to balance work and motherhood and watch as they negotiate a bewildering maze of child-care and social agencies.