A Framework for Understanding Poverty by Ruby K. Payne Read Free Book Online Page A

view of the situation gives more insight into the reality of generational poverty. While there is a deep distaste for sexual abuse of children, the story is really to make fun of Walter and his family, as well as spread the news. Humor is used to cast aspersions on the character of Walter and his family. In many of these stories, aspersions would also be cast on the legal system and "rich lawyers." But there is an attitude of fate or fatalism; what are you going to do about it? That's the way it is.
    FAMILY PATTERNS IN GENERATIONAL POVERTY
    One of the most confusing things about understanding generational poverty is the family patterns. In the middle-class family, even with divorce, lineage is fairly easy to trace because of the legal documents. In generational poverty, on the other hand, many marital arrangements are common-law. Marriage and divorce in a legal court are only important if there is property to distribute or custody of children. When you were never legally married to begin with and you have no property, why pay a lawyer for something you don't have, don't need, and don't have the money to purchase?
    In the middle class, family diagrams tend to be drawn as shown at the top of page 55. The notion is that lineage is traceable and that a linear pattern can be found.
    In generational poverty, the mother is the center of the organization, and the family radiates from that center. Although it can happen that the mother is uncertain of the biological father, most of the time the father of the child is known. The second diagram on page 55 is based on a real situation. (Names have been changed.)
    In this pattern, Jolyn has been legally married three times. Jolyn and Husband #i had no children. Jolyn and Husband #2 had one child, Willy. They divorced. Husband #2 eventually married the woman he lived with for several years, and they had a child together. She also had a son from a previous marriage. Willy has a common-law wife, Shea; Shea and Willy have a daughter. Jolyn and Husband #3 lived together several years before they were married, and they have a son named M.J. When M.J. was 13 he had a child with a 13-year-old girl, but that child lives with the girl's mother. Husband #3 and Jolyn divorced; Jolyn is now living with a woman in a lesbian relationship. Husband #3 is living with a younger woman who is pregnant with his child.

    DIAGRAM OF MIDDLE-CLASS FAMILY

    DIAGRAM OF FAMILY FROM GENERATIONAL POVERTY

    The mother is always at the center, though she may have multiple sexual relationships. Many of her children also will have multiple relationships, which may or may not produce children. The basic pattern is the mother at the heart of things, with nearly everyone having multiple relationships, some legal and some not. Eventually the relationships become intertwined. It wouldn't be out of the question for your sister's third husband to become your brother's ex-wife's live-in boyfriend. Also in this pattern are babies born out of wedlock to children in their early teens; these youngsters are often raised by the grandmother as her own children. For example, the oldest daughter has a child at 14. This infant becomes the youngest child in the existing family. The oldest daughter, who is actually the mother of the child, is referred to as her sister-and the relationship is a sibling one, not a mother-daughter one.
    But the mother or maternal grandmother tends to keep her biological children. Because of the violence in poverty, death tends to be a prominent part of the family history. But it is also part of the family present because the deceased plays such a role in the memories of the family. It is important to note when dealing with the family patterns who is alive and who is deadbecause in the discussions they are often still living (unless you, the listener, know differently).
    Frequently, in the stories that are brought to school officials, the individual will tell the story in the episodic, random manner of the