Study: Single Parents In Mass. Don’t Earn Enough

By Bob Oakes and Benjamin Swasey
Mar 8, 2010, 8:08 AM
16 Comments

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BOSTON — A new study out Monday says a single parent with two kids needs $62,000 a year just to get by in Massachusetts.

But for two single mothers we spoke to recently, that number seems far off.

“That’s double my salary almost,” said Michelle Feliz, raising her eyebrows. “And I’m like, ‘Wow, I have a long way to go. How am I going to get there?’ ” Feliz works full-time as an administrative assistant at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, while raising a five-month-old son and 13-year-old daughter in one of Boston’s oldest housing projects.

The Feliz children (Courtesy)

In Newton, where Michelle Duncan works as a crossing guard at Lincoln-Eliot School, the $62,000-a-year figure elicits a different reaction — a laugh.

“Yeah, I know I don’t make nearly that much,” Duncan said. The position at the school is one the three part-time jobs she holds to help take care of her two kids — one of whom is bipolar.

Feliz and Duncan are not alone. According to a study (PDF) by the Crittenton Women’s Union, a Boston non-profit, most single parents in Massachusetts earn less than they need to live.

The study also finds that daycare for two children adds up to more than rent. Duncan feels that crunch. That is why she opts for multiple part-time jobs, as opposed to one full-time position.

“You have to pay for daycare, so you’re basically working for the daycare and you’re not really making enough to survive,” Duncan said. “So, doing the part-time work, it allows me to be there for my children, not to have to pay for daycare, and I think actually I come out a lot more ahead that way.”

Feliz says child care for an infant can cost $300 a week. She pays $100, using vouchers from the state that subsidize the cost of care based on a family’s income.

Even that leaves her room for little else.

“By the time I pay my rent and pay my child care, we have very little for extra things that the children need,” Feliz said. “And to buy food and to pay for transportation, it’s very hard. I have to really budget myself and see where I’m going to spend more or less.”

Feliz applied for food stamps after her son was born. She said she was denied the first time and when she applied again, she was offered only $10 a month. She said the paperwork and time away from work isn’t worth it for such a small amount.

“They see you going to work every day and they see your kids clean and fed and they think everything is OK. But it’s not like that.”

–Michelle Feliz

“It’s funny, if you make a certain amount, you don’t qualify for a certain assistance. But then again, you’re still living in poverty,” Feliz said. “I don’t understand the system at all sometimes.”

Still, Feliz has a plan. She is a part of the Career Family Opportunity Program, a support group that launched last June and is being tested at four South Boston housing developments. She is also working to get a bachelor’s degree. Her goal — despite having just $5 in a newly opened savings account — is to take her two children out of the projects and buy her own home.

“I don’t want to be in that environment with my kids,” Feliz said. After Christmas, her 13-year-old was mugged. “I worked overtime to buy an iPod, and that was her Christmas gift. And that’s what they took.”

“They see you going to work every day and they see your kids clean and fed and they think everything is OK,” Feliz added. “But it’s not like that. A lot of single mothers, we do need a lot of support and a lot of help. It’s not that easy.”

WBUR’s Lisa Tobin produced this story for broadcast.

Please follow our community rules when engaging in comment discussion on wbur.org.

Betsy Kessler

While it’s not much at all, I’d love to send an ipod to the woman whose daughter’s was stolen. Can you possibly send me her address or, if I sent it to the station, could you get it to her. What an incredible story.
spsmith

Betsy, I felt the same way after listening to the story. I wish there was a way to link those of us with means with those with less—or at least I wish I knew how to do this. Think of the impact we all could have
Jim Murphy

Interesting piece – One VERY important question was not raised. “Where is the father?”
Sue Parsons

Thank you for this story and for the two comments here on how to contribute to a family’s ability to be self-sufficient. One major way is to adovcate for an imporant bill before the MA legislature – authored by the Crittenton Women’s Union, call the Worker’s Pathways to Self-Sufficiency, Senate bill 37. You can contact CWU to be part of their network to help pass this bill. All of us working together on this can help many worthy MA families!
jeanette berrios

This is a great topic as I know how hard it is to raise children as a single parent. I also wanted to address the person that ask the key question (Where are the dads)… Well dads may or may not be involved in our childrens life however,the system is not quite right as when you go to the court and try for the fathers to be involved in the children life and also pay child support, if you are earning more gross income than the father, the court will minimize how much this person (DADS) is to pay, so you are still struggling.
Rosie

The social structure of our society is to blame. Those who are empowered (elites) are the one’s who are consuming most of the wealth in the United States, while the poor suffer to make ends meet. Poverty is clearly a huge issue’s in the United States, but the elites tend to ignore it. Society generally blame the poor for being in the situtaion that they are in, but never take a closer look into the actually cause of poverty. Do you know that the world’s richest 200 people together have more money than the combined income of the lowest 40% of the worlds population, or about 2.4 billion people.
Tracy

I would also like to help Michelle Feliz get her new start. I was very moved by this story. Can you please post information about how those of us who would like to help can help?
Thanks.
brooke

I am sure I will be considered heartless, but what did they expect?

Why would you have a child you can’t support? Certainly, these days, access to birth control is such that pregnancy can be prevented until there are TWO available parents committed to providing for the child.

I don’t feel sorry for the mothers- they knew what they were getting into. I feel for the children who probably never would have chosen to have only one parent.
anonymous

Brooke, I do consider you heartless not all single mothers are that way by choice and not all babies of single parent household are accidents, and in this economy not all people are making the same money as they were a few years back, you don’t know the situations of these or other single mother’s they may or may not have been married, the father could have left or died, they may have been laid off from a good paying job you don’t know. I am a single mother and I thought I was in a loving committed relationship before I had any children with my ex-husband, apparently I was more committed than he was. So yes I struggle with my bills but I did what was right for myself and my child and I left a bad situation. Do not judge people who you do not know. And do not stereotype just to make yourself feel high and mighty because it just makes you look ignorant.
http://www.liveworkthrive.org Stephanie Nichols

To help Michelle Feliz and others in Crittenton Women’s Union (CWU) programs, you can make a contribution to CWU either online at http://www.liveworkthrive.org or by mail:

Crittenton Women’s Union
One Washington Mall, 2nd Floor
Boston, MA 02108
Tel 617.259.2900

Thank you!
Stephanie Nichols
Director of Marketing and Communications
brooke

In response to the anonymous person who told me not to judge(right before she called me “ignorant”)–aren’t YOU judging me?

I am glad that you put your child first: that is appropriate behavior for parents, and certainly what I have always tried to do.

We all judge- you judged me! I do not think it is right to bring a child into the world with only one parent. Things happen that you can’t control: with 2 parents you are doubling the odds that the child will be taken care of.
michelle

people who judge others will be judge one day themselves. The courts order parents to pay child support and dont reinforce it then you have to take another day off of work to go back to court its a cycle. Also many women such as myself were in abusive relationships and the only and best option was to leave. Maybe these children have less material things but they have what is important a loving non abusive safe home. It angers me the ignorance of some people who have no idea the situation of most single women, and its people like you that make the situation worse. Stop blaming the single mothers and start blaming the fathers who walk away free and clear without a second thought and blame yourself for sitting back and judging others instead of showing compassion shame on you.
http://wbur serenescene

Maybe these kids would have a better shot out of poverty if they were given books for Christmas instead of an ipod. Education and values should trump the need for entertainment.
Kendra

so brooke, to make this clear… i was on birth control when i had my son…. his father whos in the coast guard wanted me to get an abortion… something i find heartless he wants nothing to do with his son and maybe if you were in a situation similar ( being a single parent) you would understand the pain we go through. i dont rrecieve child support for either one of my kids i work all the time plus paying rent bills and child care. i have my kids 24/7 unless at work i dont get me time i dont get time just to relax i work and take care of my kids. i know alot of single parents and they seriously dont have it as bad but some people have it worse.. i dont get help from the state i dont qualify and i work for that money that comes from them…. does that make any seince.. brooke this happen for a reason and im sorry but you are heartless and i dont want pity everything happens for a reason and i just became a stronger person … one more wueation brooke sooo if we have an “accident” and their arent 2 perants im guess you thing abortions are fine too right …. have you had one why dont you watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYRpIf2F9NA … tell me what you think
Kathleen Cook

Everyone is missing the main points. Once a child exists in this world, that miracle should be respected and it is WAY TOO LATE to discuss “should haves”. Single moms are the hardest workers ever. Instead of assisting us, the state of Massachusetts has so many loopholes that once jumped through by the busiest single moms, it is not enough to keep a job/career. We don’t need more stress of fill out this paperwork, this way, by this date, fax this, get your employer to do this, notarize this; and Child Care resources has cut so much staff, they need to cut more single moms. So the busiest single moms have to stop everything and lobby for more money to their cause. Alas, this is not limited to single moms. Working parents can’t afford daycare either. Depending on when you bought your home, the mortgage alone is one person’s salary. The middle class has fallen to poverty, and people in poverty have fallen to something I don’t have terminology for. I just find it ironic that Massachusetts of all states is the WORST for helping single moms and their children when Boston, Massachusetts has served as an icon for higher learning and democracy. Especially in a time when the United States is facing such an economic crisis, I simply hope that Massachusetts will change and assess the calculations for income/cash assistance, food stamps, and housing to be sufficient for survival. To allow scanning of documents to be official and avoid long drives and constant appointments. To find new ways to get funding for assistance and bring back the workers at Seven Hills Foundation. Massachusetts can do better!!!
http://www.singleparentcenter.net/single-parenting/single-parent-grants.html single parent grants

Hi,

I can understand that how difficult it is to survive in the world being a single parent.. I am glad I visited here and come to know about it.. I was looking for such help..