Foreclosures and Recession Are Tearing Apart the Social Fabric

Foreclosures together with recession are tearing apart the social fabric. The biggest price is being paid by the children. Lives are being twisted and warped – something that happened during the time of the Great Depression.

This time hunger and homelessness are not that acute and obvious. It is far more subtle but equally devastating. The children are stressed and families with low income are moving from place to place much more than before.

Ana Leon is a school counselor at Wilton Manors Elementary, Fort Lauderdale. She said that the problem is huge with mobility having increased in her school that comprises mostly of children coming from low income families. Many of the children are from families who are now returning to their Central and South American homes because of lack of work opportunities in USA. Many have come from Florida after the housing market collapsed there and are now looking for employment in Texas.

Experts dealing with education and demography opine that frequent shifts undermine the performances of children in school. It makes things ten times worse for handicapped children as appropriate resources cannot be provided. Mobility is a key factor in student’s achievements, thinks Leon.

Many students are leaving without warning. One fine day the families just disappear. The educators get no chance to prepare the child for the shift of scene.

The Principal of Whitney Elementary School, Boise, Jean Lovelace commented that the children who had been struggling from the start were the worst hit.

Changes on the home front can also cause stress. The once organized family now find themselves cramped with others with hardly any elbow space. When one child’s maternal uncle moved in the father became more and more violent and irritable.

During the 1920’s the economy had gone through worse strain. At that time unemployment had touched 25% but now it is 8%. The government today is helping in as many ways as it can. School counselor Julie Hartline said, “The kids have clothes. They can get breakfast and lunch at school. It’s just a change in lifestyle with a lot of kids. That’s a big deal, even for adults, but especially when you’re young and just developing.”

The IRS and the Census Bureau of USA do not as yet have the data about family mobility patterns from the time the crisis spread its wings from September 2008. Without it one cannot say with certainty about the increase in mobility – the evide