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Who Deserves To Be A Mother: The Impact Of Class, Age And Powerlessness,, Mirah Riben
Who Deserves To Be A Mother: The Impact Of Class, Age And Powerlessness,, Mirah Riben
Mirah Riben
Worldwide, poverty far exceeds abuse, neglect or abandonment as adoption moves children from economically at-risk mothers to adopters of higher socio-economic status. Domestically, American mothers (and those in other industrialized countries) have historically lost children to protect their parents from the shame and stigma of out-of-wedlock, “unwed” pregnancy. It is socially created criteria such as age, marital and financial status, which change over time and place - not fitness - that determine who is considered "deserving" to be a mother and who is made to feel inadequate, selfish and undeserving of their own child. These criteria create pressure on marginalized, …