Working with some friends to help find resources for a young mom & babe has me thinking about nets, of which I know very little...nets. But I do know that nets of safety are real, and really needed. Especially as the persons I'm thinking of, even just when looking at public transportation systems, are being told 3 conflicting stories about how it will (and won't work) in your scenario. Or, when your employer (even if it's a popular chain) indicates that you'll be fired if you don't show up, even if your baby is sick. But daycare can't take the babe if sick. And if you get sick, too, and need to take care of you and the baby, and will probably lose your job, that takes mountains to get to because of the aforementioned transportation issue, where's your net? Family, neighbors? If your ex abused you (as your own family did, too) and you don't know anyone here and are trying to make a fresh start so your kid (and you, just a kid yourself) can have a better life...you need a net.
There's a system that can help, and it does help, in a lot of ways, but it is stressed and stretched and fragile, and not much help on a day that everything can come crashing in...because you got sick. And the system has to be augmented by people, anyway (or it won't work)...people all the more willing to be community, sacrificing (time, which is already likely stressed, and resources, already likely stretched) together (so one doesn't become depleted) to create something strong and new, a better safety-net for one dangerously missing.
Net-weavers, and brave moms, and kids who'll get a chance because of them--they need you and me to stay connected.
From FB notes 8/25/11
