Wanda N. Lockett reflects on decades of experience in social work
Looking into the face of a child or adult who has lived through the challenge of abuse, neglect or exploitation has been my stay for 24 years in the state of Alabama. Poverty has shown permanent facial damage in these individuals, and I've seen that preventing poverty can protect many faces.
Let's view the faces in a destitute family — adults and children — in rural Alabama. Neglect takes you into the home of this family. Look into all family member's faces. You see their cheeks are covered with smudges from the wood burning stove or gas stove that has no ventilation. You hear the coughs that utter from their mouths as they try to tell their story. Ears are running with a liquid that you have seen so many times and what you know can be a physical sign of hearing loss or worse. You see a runny nose that shares many germs and can cause the entire family to suffer and self-destruct.
Looking closer, we now see vivid signs of abuse in the same faces. In the smote on the face, we see a hand print. The ear lobes show cigarette burns. Around the mouth, we see a white substance. When the lips begin to move, we hear frightening tales of self-mutilation, inflected burns, drug use, sexual acts, and what we see substantiates the story. The parts began to come together. Yet, there is now time to look on the frail body that you know is in such a state from the lack of food, whether unavailable, not prepared or the dietary needs of the family not met. We now have to focus on immediate safety issues.
Once safety measures are in place — if it's even possible for us to keep this family intact and help them to become self-sufficient — we will have to help them find resources to meet their needs and educate them on their usages. The Self-Sufficiency Standard for Alabama by Diana Pearce, Ph.D., with Jennifer Brooks, dated February 2003, finds that the number of poverty-level families is rising and poor families in Alabama are hit harder by income tax than those in other states. This study helps substantiate that Heath and Nutrition Assistance, Wages and Income Support, Childcare Assistance and Education could have eliminated many of the needs that cause abuse, neglect and exploitation in the faces of the families we serve today.
When I started to work for the Alabama Department of Human Resources in 1979, the effects of poverty that I saw in the faces of people around me was what pushed me to take note of the conditions in Alabama and my hometown. I could no longer hide this face in my family's bosom, finding security in their history without finding a way to help others find the same security.
That is why today, 25 years later, I still join with families hoping to find ways to eliminate the abusive frowns of poverty and to bring about self-maintenance.
Wanda N. Lockett is a supervisor of Family Services/Food Assistance in Alabama.
