Episode Synopsis "Personal Experience 4"

  I wouldn’t say my family has ever been in poverty, but there was a time when my parents struggled due to my dad being out of work for 6 months. I was in college but still living at home. I worked 2 jobs and went to school so that I could pay for my own things and help with bills at home too. My mom had to take out a large loan and was always so stressed and worried. I don’t think it was to the point of severity where it personally affected my schooling, but I know exactly how it could have. Stress is a big factor, because while I personally wasn’t stressing as much I could see my mom was being eaten away by it. As her child I was worried about her. Children’s stress can be second hand stress, and when they enter the classroom, it isn’t something they just turn off. I see it a lot with our foster youth. They can’t function in the classroom some days because they are missing their moms and siblings. While not all of their cases are related to poverty, some of them are. They were taken out of that poverty situation but the stress from poverty has manifested itself into new stressors like when they will get to see their families or when they will get to go home. Poverty is still the culprit here because it is what started the cycle.  

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