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Every Mother
is a Working Mother Statement given by Lynda Brewer I am caring for four grandchildren: an eleven-year-old, two mentally challenged boys, and a three-year-old. I wake up around 2:30 in the morning to wash and iron clothes for an hour or two. Then I go back to sleep and wake again at 5:30. After I cook breakfast, I dress the two youngest; drop the two older children at the school bus and then rush back home to put another child on the bus that services special education. Sometimes, the school calls me to pick up one of the children due to 'behavioral problems'. I have to drop whatever household chores -cleaning, vacuuming, preparing dinner in advance, and more- to rush to two different schools, or just to perform my routine tasks of picking up the children. On top of all this, I take a class at the local community college twice a week. On a typical afternoon, I help the kids with their homework, and pick the youngest up from childcare. After the evening meal, I wash dishes, bathe two of the kids, and after their teeth are all brushed, we play games, and read bedtime stories. The youngest child has insomnia and doesn't fall asleep sometimes until midnight. Occasionally, I spend hours in the Emergency Room with a sick child. I might have to go to an all-night pharmacy and stay up all night making sure everything is all right. On the weekends, I don't get a break; the routine is just different.Every few months, I get this letter in the mail. The first line goes like this: "Congratulations. You have been chosen to participate in GAIN." It doesn't matter that I already have a full time job taking care of my grandchildren, that doesn't count in welfare "reform". Then you get another letter saying you'd better keep the GAIN appointment and don't bring any children! If you don't call what I do work, what do you call it? I had to quit my outside job in the first place just to be able to meet all my obligations for the children. Welfare "reform" would rather pay someone else to care for my grandchildren, instead of giving me the money and the choice to care for them myself. I who love them and understand the challenges they face. I am part of the Every Mother is a Working Mother network, and some of us live in your district, Congressman Becerra. We want the right, the economic support, to be able to choose to raise our own kids. We also want the right to choose, not be mandated, to work outside the home, and we should have quality childcare, pay equity, and protection from discrimination. They tell us there is no money for mothers and other caregivers, but money can be found to bomb Afghanistan and to "bail out" big corporations in corporate "welfare". It is outrageous! Our money is used to kill other people while we are left destitute or criminalized. And welfare "reform" is racist. Most of us impacted are Black and Latina. There is no safety net left even for those loosing their waged jobs in the current economic crisis. We are begging anyone for anything. We are not here to say: "just give us a chance to get a job"; we already have a job, it is called care giving and we are on duty twenty-four/seven. If they counted caregivers work in the Gross Domestic Product it would be the largest contribution. Even the UN has said that all governments should value caring work, but welfare "reform" ignores that. The value of our work as mothers and grandmothers must be reflected in welfare benefits. Welfare is our right, our entitlement. Caregivers are the heart of the economy, but we come last, we are tokenized, neglected, abused and discriminated against. What job is more important than caring for children? What job is harder? We are calling for the value of caring work to be reflected in welfare benefits: and end to time limits, other punitive measures and discrimination; and end to forced work; education and training of our choice; the right to benefits must not depend on immigration status. We say invest in caring not in killing!Caregivers
Count, Value our Work in Welfare Policy!
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