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Demassifying Food Insecurity

for Impoverished Single Mothers
on a National Scale

Mohammed Turfe
Political Science 1010
Professor Buccellato
March 31, 2015

Abstract: In the United States, 19 million children reside with single mothers, which is third
most in the world, and 60% of said families situate below the poverty line (U.S. Census Bureau,
2011) . The ultimate signifier of this dilemma is that children of impoverished single mothers
have to endure the cringing fear of not knowing where their next is meal is from. Interestingly
enough, despite the ubiquity and alarming nature of the issue, government assistance for these
families has decreased by one third. Washington politicians, instead, have been primarily
concerned with entitlements such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security where $0.49 out of
every tax dollar is spent in that regard (New York Times, 2015). This approach of appropriating
significant tax dollars on safety nets is fundamentally flawed for that it serves these mothers no
initiative or opportunity to find stable employment and provide for their families. The rather
pragmatic solution therefore is to invest in a child support floor to instill minimum child support
benefits which will consequently reduce dependence on TANF and other safety-net programs,
along with facilitating a bolster in the socio-economic well-being of these families. In an era of
neoliberalism and meritocracy, such reform may appear leftist. This essay, however, delves into
the finer details of this issue, demassify, and delineate how adoption of these public policies
can entail a significant decrease in unemployment and eventually stimulate a revival of the
middle class.

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Defining the Single Motherhood Dilemma

Single motherhood in the United States has escalated immensely over the past century as
60% of children in the City of Detroit, 19 million kids nationwide, reside with only their mother
(U.S. Census Bureau, 2015). This dramatic increase is only exacerbating nowadays as out of the
9,900 women who gave birth in Detroit for the year 2012, 80% of them were single mothers
(Frohardt-Lane, 2015). Such youth are burdened with susceptibility to low graduation rates,
crime involvement and incarceration, poverty and a higher probability of being single themselves
(Maginnis, R L., 1997). These obstacles however are only on the periphery as the prioritized and
most troublesome issue to combat is food insecurity. In fact, when compared to major household
characteristics, single mothers and their children are afflicted by the highest prevalence for very
low food security at 35% (United States Department of Agriculture, 2014). Food insecurity is
also an issue that impacts Detroit as 1.8 million Michiganders live in areas with limited access to
healthy food (Bouffard, 2015). Despite the lack of adequate fresh food markets in both rural and
urban areas, lack of transportation and high prices ultimately restrict single mothers from
providing nutritious food to their children.
Considering the ubiquity of this dilemma, the adequate savior is seen in the national
government as it has the resources to fund, regulate and implement policy that can alleviate food
insecurity for single mothers. Formulating sustainable public policy however, has been fairly
difficult due to inadequate funding and a congress that associates neoliberalism as an apparatus
to dissuade funding into the welfare state. History has also served itself as an impeding structure
to the well-being of single mother families as modernity has impacted marriage practices and
altered political views on this issue. Intertwined, the three pronged association of modernity,

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ineffective public policy and politics effectively demonstrates the seriousness and pervasiveness
of food insecurity for single mothers and highlights the numerous challenges that need to be
overcome in order to alleviate this issue via national legislation.

Modernity as a Structural Impediment to Suitable Legislation

Responsible for global dynamism and continually igniting change in social
developments, modernity provoked a metamorphosis in politics, demographics and perspectives
of individuality. Blended together, these elements pose a threat to creating sufficient public
policy to alleviate this issue. From a political perspective, modernity inspires the adoption of
innovative political ideologies such as neoliberalism that promotes minimal government
involvement in economic affairs. In her research, Kay Cook from RMIT University in Australia
proposes that neoliberal public policy in America results in job programs for single mothers
rather than financial assistance and food stamps (Cook, 2012). Consequently, single mothers
were burdened with paying the hefty expenses of child care services, health care and housing
leaving little funds available for nutritious sustenance. In fact, welfare recipients often relied on
food banks and sometimes went without food (Cook, 2012). Essentially, these welfare-to-work
policies are underpinned by the neoliberal assumption that the market distributes resources more
effectively than the state. Complimented with vocational assistance, the government is entitled to
providing additional financial resources for these families in order to allow single mothers to
purchase nutritious food for their children.
When appreciating the affects of modernity on contemporary society, one must
acknowledge the paradigm shift of demographics as proposed by Sociologist Ferdinand Tnnies.
The primitive organization of Gemeinschaft, in which close knit communities and relationships

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prospered, was replaced by that of Gesellschaft where non-intimate relationships produced
greater senses of individuality and a sharper sense of detachment. In her book, Motherhood and
Modernity, Christine Everingham utilizes Tnnies proposal as evidence for decreased marriage
rates. In a comprehensive deconstruction of Gesellschaft, Everingham proposes that increased
senses of individuality complicate marriages and limit the role of the household (Everingham,
1994, Pg. 23). Despite increased congregations of people in large urban cities, merely transitory
relationships were derived and consequently resulted in a segmentation of lifestyles. Thusly,
more marriages result in divorce and leave mothers helpless in raising their kids as deadbeat
dads maneuver their way out of paying child support (Everingham, 1994, Pg. 24). With this
transition toward individuality, the ramifications are felt within the American welfare state that
also restricts benefits for single mothers.

The American Welfare State and a Conflict of Values

Comprised of both capitalistic and socialist components, the modern welfare state is
attacked by leftists and rightists alike. On one hand, socialists disapprove of privatization,
amongst other liberal practices, and are critical of limited achievements of the welfare state. The
prosperity of the welfare state, they propose, can ultimately lead to the elimination of poverty
and enhance equality as well as opportunity. On the other hand, some capitalists dub the
American welfare system as a miniature penal apparatus that restricts national growth
(Baskerville, 2008, Pg. 416). Increased governmental involvement in economic affairs, they
argue, control the lives of single mothers especially with governmental institutions such a family
courts, protective services and child-support enforcement agents. Nonetheless, it is a prerogative
of the American government to provide for people in need. So when scanning the socioeconomic

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landscape for at risk, impoverished families, it is imperative to identify single families as a top
priority. Unfortunately, this has not been accentuated upon in the United States as governmental
benefits have decreased by one third over the past decade (Cohen, 2015). Alternatively, the
Republican initiative promote marriage in lieu of government funding as such an ideology is
represented in President George Bushs cultural assumptions and promoting healthier
marriages via welfare funds (Baskerville, 2008, Pg. 416). Such programs rendered themselves
useless and merely served as a form of political patronage, increasing the client population on the
public payroll.
Other than unilateralism in congress, the dilemma is intensified because creating
adequate policy for these families involves a conflict of values. The three overarching American
values of compassion, self-interest and self-reliance appear paradoxical in this context. To give
more is compassionate, but giving more may go against our self-interest and may undermine the
self-reliance of the recipients. The goal of such legislation is to not only provide basic necessities
of life for these families, but to more importantly provide single mothers with the education,
child-care services and vocational training needed to reduce reliance on the government.
Otherwise, funds will deplete and the number of single mothers will only increase. Two
powerhouse public policies, Aid to Families with Dependent Children and its successor,
Temporary Assistance to Needy Families will be passed in response to this issue. Both policies
have there respective positive outcomes on combating this issue but ultimately could not
alleviate food insecurity of single mothers.

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Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and Temporary Assistance

to Needy Families (TANF): A Stepping Stone in the Right Direction
Part of a revolutionary wave of reform in the New Deal, AFDC represented the primitive
public policy to provide relief to single mothers and established a national minimum benefit
safety-net. Such an extensive program was funded by the federal government subsidizing state
expenditures by paying the states $0.55 for every dollar the state spends.(Garfinkel, Irwin and
McLanahan, 2010, Pg. 132). Requirements for these benefits is for a parent to have a child under
18 who is deprived of financial support from one of their parents due to death, continued absence
or incapacity. The ultimate goal of this legislation is three-pronged in that it should reduce
economic insecurity, decrease dependence on the government and reducing the prevalence of
families headed by single mothers (Garfinkel, Irwin and McLanahan, 2010, Pg. 135). AFDC
however, will deviate from its simplistic form as it undergoes major reform during the Reagan
administration.
When Reagan took office, he carried out the initiative to reduce federal domestic
expenditures for that he believed that the accompanying high taxes were undermining economic
incentives and strangling growth. In fact, Reagan even proposed to eradicate AFDC and food
stamps all together but such legislation was never taken seriously but managed to decrease
AFDC funding by 14%(Garfinkel, Irwin and McLanahan, 2010, Pg. 133). More importantly,
Reagan eroded typical norms of preventing poor single mothers from working and started a
policy era of employment rather than government checks. Single mothers were thusly required
by law to participate in a job-search program to receive benefits. Lastly, President Reagan
persisted in increasing private child support as a method of reducing public child support. Such

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actions are seen in the 1984 Child Support Enforcement Amendments which authorized the
Department of Health and Human Services to authorize states to appropriate federal funds as
they see fit (Garfinkel, Irwin and McLanahan, 2010, Pg. 145). This privatization however had
notable ramifications on the well-being and prevalence of the single mother.

Evaluating AFDC and Transition into TANF

Referring back to the three goals of AFDC, economic well-being, prevalence of single
mother families and welfare dependence, fluctuations occurred for each of these three categories.
Depicted below is a table derived from Garfinkels Single Mothers and Their Children that
analyzes the effects of Reagan policy initiatives. Upon extrapolation, a 13% decrease in welfare
dependence came at the cost of a 3.3% increase in poverty and a 3.9% increase of single mother
families (Garfinkel, Irwin and McLanahan,
2010, Pg. 138). Despite the negative
outcomes, a foundation of feasibility within
these policies is a huge benefit. For starters,
enforcing work requirements is beneficial
despite appearing detrimental. In the shortrun, federal costs escalate due to finding or creating jobs as well as any benefits and child care
costs to recipients while they are being trained or placed. Long-term however, as argued by
Garfinkel, social benefits of beneficiaries and nonparticipants alike exceed the social costs.
Future increases in the earnings of participants delineate substantial positive financial gains
which exceeded the value of costs by $8,000 per participant (Garfinkel, Irwin and McLanahan,
2010, Pg. 147). Politically, this policy is feasible for that creating jobs will decrease government

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reliance and serve an appreciable portion of the AFDC caseload.
Despite these positive characteristics, AFDC will be eventually replaced by a nonentitlement program in temporary assistance to needy families (TANF). Unfortunately, the newly
implemented TANF has reckoned itself significantly less effective as depicted below (Loprest
2012, Pg. 2).

In terms of effectiveness, the TANF caseload has significantly decreased due to many
families not knowing if they are eligible along with having difficulties with the registration
process. This inability is either a sign of failed implementation by government agencies or a
mechanism of diversion to save federal dollars (Loprest, 2012, Pg. 4). Peculiarly so, despite the
dramatic decrease in food stamps and TANF beneficiaries, a slight decrease in food insecurity
occurred based on a survey of local Illinois residents (Lewis, 2012). Such a trend highlights the
ineffectiveness of TANF as time limits and work requirements restrict single mother families
from financial gain (Lewis, 2012). Conclusively, TANF is unsuitable in providing ample work
and single mothers are better off seeking employment on their own accord. Both AFDC and

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TANF have their positive aspects of feasibility and decreased government dependance but
inadequate funding and ineffectiveness plague these policies from full potential.

State of Food Insecurity and Proposal for Future Policies

Due to the overwhelming costs that single mothers are burdened with, food stamps alone
are not suitable in providing their children with healthy food options. They indirectly single out
and ostracizes beneficiaries since it pays in a debased currency. Additionally, the support of food
stamps is minuscule for that recipients spend more on food than the food stamps they receive
(Garfinkel, Irwin and McLanahan, 2010, Pg. 165). It is the role of public policy to not only
stabilize single mothers, but to more importantly provide them with the tools needed for them to
acquire jobs and provide for their families on their own. AFDC was a positive attempt at
alleviating this issue but could not decrease poverty rates and food insecurity. In order for
suitable legislation to pass, political parties need to come together and comprehend the collateral
benefits associated with providing for these families. Decreased food insecurity, increased
graduation rates and decreased entitlement spending are major positives and should persuade
politicians, in disregard of political affiliation, to stabilize our nations most needy. Instead of
investing in safety-nets, creating a child support floor will reduce poverty and insecurity of
single mothers and their children. A publicly financed minimum child support benefit will reduce
reliance on TANF, formerly AFDC, and will reckon itself as a wiser and cost-effective
investment (Garfinkel, Rainwater and Smeeding, 2010, 205). In order to create suitable
legislation however, the structural obstacles of modernity and political differences will need to be
overcome in pursuit of alleviating food insecurity in single mothers.

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Works Cited
1. "Access to Affordable and Nutritious Food: Measuring and Understanding Food Deserts and
Their Consequences." United States Department of Agriculture, June 2009. Web.

2.

Mather, Mark. "U.S. Children in Single-Mother Families." Population Reference Bureau,

May 2010. Web.

3.

Baskerville, Stephen. From Welfare State to Police State. XII.3 (2008): 401-422. The
Independent Review. Web.

4. Social and Economic Characteristics of Currently Unmarried Women With a Recent Birth:
2011 Rachel M. Shattuck and Rose M. Kreider.
5.

Everingham, Christine. Motherhood and Modernity: An Investigation into the Rational

Dimension of Mothering. Buckingham: Open UP, 1994. Print.

6. Garfinkel, Irwin, and e Rainwater. Wealth and Welfare States Is America a Laggard or
Leader? Oxford UP, 2010. Print.
7. Garfinkel, Irwin, and Sara McLanahan. Single Mothers and Their Children: A New American
Dilemma. Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute, 1986. Print.
8. Edin, Kathryn, and Laura Lein. Making Ends Meet: How Single Mothers Survive Welfare and
Low-wage Work. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1997. Print.

9. Cohen, Patricia. "Aid to Needy Often Excludes the Poorest in America." The New York
Times, 16 Feb. 2015. Web.
10. Loprest, Pamela. "How Has the TANF Caseload Changed over Time?" Urban Institute
Press, Mar. 2012. Web.
11. "State & County QuickFacts: Michigan." U.S. Census Bureau, 24 Mar. 2015. Web.
12. Sidel, Ruth. Keeping Women and Children Last Revised. New York: Penguin, 2014. Print.

13. Bouffard, Karen. "Report: Michigan Lacks Easy Access to Wholesome Foods." 19 Mar.
2015. The Detroit News. Web.
14. Lewis, Dan. "Putting Food on the Table after Welfare Reform." What Protects Families from
Food Insecurity? Institute for Policy Research: Northwestern University, Oct. 2012. Web.
15. . Kit, Frohardt-Lane Interview by Mohammed Turfe. 26 Mar. 2015. E-Mail.