"Invisible Child:" What If Escaping Poverty Meant Leaving Your Family Behind? | Amanpour and Company

[@feralLove]

Much respect to journalist Andrea Elliot for her years of dedication to make the telling of this beautiful, smart; brave young girls, lived experience growing up in poverty with her family told with nothing less then dignity and respect. Andrea cut to the heart of the matter with exposing the cracks in the system which just perpetuates the cycle of poverty. Investing money into families instead of foster care would be a good start.Thank u to Chanel for your bravery in sharing your story with all of us. I'm glad your family is all together, thriving and staying strong. 💓🙏✌

[@kusheran]

Not cracks in the system at all. This is the system as it is designed to function. It is hard to come out of denial, but this is not just bravery. It is desperation transformed. The family is not strong without strong men. They are not thriving they are surviving. Words matter and these words are misinformation. They do not cut to the heart of the matter but only deal with the outcomes. With nothing taken away from Andrea Elliott, this half-told tale perpetuates misery as well as misunderstanding.

[@hopesdaughter5947]

I worked in youth development for 20 years in NYC. I started as a Education Coordinator at The DOME Project giving children from disadvantaged homes the opportunity to attend and board at college preparatory schools when the dysfunction in their households we're preventing their individual upward mobility. I am now moving into public policy to change the things I've encountered on the ground level in more longer standing ways. I know this story. It is one of thousands, dare I say millions. And, even though I may be completing a dissertation for a PhD now, I've experienced some of this myself or my colleagues and friends. Thus, the duplicity of trying to lead those out of circumstances you are just a step or two removed from yourself while being seen as a leader or at least one who has "made it" in the community. God bless that family. God speed. Keep going Dasani! Go! 🏃🏾‍♀️🙏🏽❤️☮️

[@RamenNoodle1985]

I used to work at a homeless shelter, and one of the more heartbreaking experiences was when a family with 2 small children, who had just lost their housing, came to the shelter, and were turned away because we didn't have facilities for children. This was over a decade ago. There weren't enough shelters for families then, and there still aren't. Abf God help us all when the rent/eviction moratorium finally ends. It's going to be a disaster.

[@JohnM51982]

Powerful interview bringing the story of family poverty to a personal level.

[@loveblue2]

I grew up very poor in the 1960's. (I was the youngest of 5). To even APPLY for welfare in those days, a woman's husband/partner could not live in the same household. So, right there, the struggle was made more difficult because the husband/father was systematically separated from his family. I believe this country strives to keep a certain sector of its citizens in poverty and in a constant state of want because it helps keep the powers that be in power and control. So, I find it almost laughable when they talk about programs to end poverty and hunger. This country has MORE than enough resources to provide the assistance to help lift families in need to a level playing field, so that these families can learn to be self-sufficient. The powers that be aren't interested in helping families be self-sustaining. They could care less about the homeless. They could care less that children literally right under their noses go to sleep hungry at night. They could care less that children are receiving sub-standard educations. They could care less that children are being victimized in all manner of ways. Their focus is on one thing and one thing only - power (and how having it lines their own pockets). Thank you for keeping issues like this in the forefront. Unfortunately, those that can affect real change don't give a damn.

[@AmanpourandCompany]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experience.

[@sharona752]

@@AmanpourandCompany lol-thank u for the opportunity

[@kusheran]

You are correct and they, the millions of witnesses, dare not hear you.

[@shyanedejesus75]

I’ve been in the shelter system 4 times with my mom. I’m now 34 years old and I still have nightmares about Auburn. We were placed there twice within our shelter stints ! I feel for everyone whose survived The NYC shelter system! It’s not a joke !

[@mandyinseattle]

So many people who consider themselves religious believe that God rewards good people and punishes sinners, and if you're poor, it's because you've sinned and you've brought it on yourself, which makes turning away from poor people easier. That is this real sickness in our society, I believe.

[@loveblue2]

So very true. I know so many people who believe if you don't have a great paying job, a mortgage on a 3,000 square foot home and a minimum of two, late model cars, it's your fault for not stepping up to the plate. They just do not understand that some people are born into situations where there WAS no plate. The odds were literally stacked against you before you were even born. And, there is a system in place designed to keep you there.

[@valiizajames925]

And that's a part of the "American Lie" using "GOD" and "You" as the scapegoat, to why someone poor etc.. "You" don't deserve these things because "You" are lazy, so "You're" not worth the investment within Our Society...Then the "American Success" story of wealth is Blasted, like it's in Everyone's grasp...But is it? What do real Success look like to You the person? I 🤔 💭 we are conflicted with that story of 🇺🇸 and somewhat choose to believe the Lie. To a degree it gives us hope...but that hope is very unstable

[@lynns4426]

Very true. Because religion in America is elitist and classist amongst other things.

[@mandyinseattle]

14:15 That's what America does, spend more on the back end with terrible results than spend less on the front end to take care of people and because people believe somehow that poor people deserve to be poor, they view that assistance as rewarding bad behavior. It's so short-sighted and cruel and expensive.

[@belladonnatook8851]

15:28. The "system" made a project of them.

[@AmanpourandCompany]

Thanks for weighing in.

[@sharona752]

@@AmanpourandCompany thanks for actually replying to some of these comments-it means a lot to me and reinforces my belief i am watching the right shows (uh-oh)

[@MarciaMatthews]

Andrea Elliott thank you!

[@bobbysquinch5085]

This channel is consistently enlightening and engaging. I can’t believe the govt would rather spend 30g a month on foster care instead of just giving them 2g.

[@ganamoneyeccles6683]

A fantastic presentation and thank you Andrea Elliott for making us aware of what hardship poor people have to endure.🙏🏾👏🏾

[@kusheran]

Like you did not know before this book? Every heard of Le Mis'erables, Spartacus... Esther in the Bible? 'Stay woke' please!

[@edwardanthony8929]

A sad story but there are many. After his mother died of a brain cancer and my dad and sister were abandoned by his alcoholic father, and my dad went through a series of homes in NY state and was then sent to Northern Ireland where he met the Christian Brothers who scarred him for life.

[@karenl7786]

Those statistics in dollar amounts at the end make it impossible to believe this is not very deliberate. Powerful story.

[@drockeducation]

I’m curious about what happened at the Pennsylvania school that was first the answer to dreams but then kicked Dasani out. If Ms. Elliot knew that whatever was happening at school was about conditions at home, why did the school, “kick her out”? I guess I’ll have to read the book. I’m a social worker who works in the special needs district of New York City’s public schools. I work with many students and families experiencing similar routine trauma that is largely due to the conditions of poverty. I was pleased to hear that Dasani’s NYC school was a refuge for her. Our schools should and need to be a refuge from the conditions of crippling poverty and inequality that is harming the learning of so many children.

[@drockeducation]

@A 7108 I had to replay the video five times, so I could be wrong. I’ll listen again later, but that is what I thought I heard. I do work with a lot of students in foster care, many of whom have had the unfortunate experience of being pushed out of their schools. This is a book I’d like to read.

[@karenmassey8354]

@A 7108 Around 13:00 it sounds like she was kicked out because her academic performance suffered. Her academic performance suffered because she was distracted by what was happening in her mother’s home.

[@deathstar71]

I've read the book. The way the author tells it, she planned her exit from Hershey because she wanted to get back to NY and she wasn't being allowed to leave voluntarily. Her way of acting out in general was getting into fights with other kids which she did throughout her life. Towards the end of her time at Hershey's though, she got into a whole series of disciplinary issues (deliberately) and ended up leaving another girl with a bloody nose and black eye. That's when she got kicked out. The school had counsellors and house parents and knew all about her issues, but most of the school kids had home issues and there were strict rules for behaviour.

[@tiffanysmith2407]

Dasani and her family’s circumstances are about more than “poverty”. It is about systemic and institutional racism that has codified the oppression of Black Americans (ADOS) into law for CENTURIES. This is going to go over the heads of those in the comments who want to blame their circumstances on “individual choices”. A history of policies and laws like Jim Crow, segregation, red lining, peonage, and mass incarceration aimed specifically at Black Americans created the legacy of poverty experienced by families like Dasani’s. At the same time, Black Americans have been systematically denied policies and laws that would actually repair and provide redress for the state sanctioned oppression they still face today. Black Americans like Dasani and her family need reparations to properly address their circumstances and it won’t be fixed with individual acts of charity or universal social programs.

[@Jaybandz1540]

👏🏾👏🏾

[@pamogburn6151]

All my best to your city and I know your new mayor is going to be great. Let's help these homeless. Great work to the little girl.

[@mandyinseattle]

When you look at our systems, all of them, it becomes clear that America was built on a lot of myths. This book is important.

[@tbz1551]

"America" is a myth... from either perspective it's truth defies it's claimed principles. "America" is also two continents called "the Americas" if being pedantic, look up the word "of" for those disputing it? 😉

[@belladonnatook8851]

@@tbz1551 Actually, of "5" geographic regions truthfully.

[@tbz1551]

@@belladonnatook8851 A pedant never minds being shown they are incorrect. Are you meaning the 5 physical regions that make up North America? Otherwise I always understood Americas or America consists of N and S America only... in their entirety.

[@belladonnatook8851]

@@tbz1551 I'm counting the regions of: North America (Canada & the US), South America, Central America & the Caribbean. Sorry, 4.

[@tbz1551]

@@belladonnatook8851 Those are referred to as Latin America (central, south and the Caribbean islands)

[@lindachancellor7538]

Pulling families apart is what I call government over reach. Thanks Andrea for seeing and reporting the true facts behind our need to change the way we approach and think of poverty.

[@kevinjenner9502]

It’s angering that defense contractors made well over 2 trillion during our 20 year occupation of Afghanistan. And this going on in our backyard.

[@Missy-Missy1111]

Less landlords accepting Section 8 vouchers, the gentrification of older neighborhoods, & the "don't build affordable housing in my backyard" attitude has contributed to the scarcity of affordable housing.

[@AmanpourandCompany]

Thanks for weighing in.

[@kusheran]

Barn raising and building homes was and is masculine job. Criminalize and incarcerate black masculinity and... like magic, a culture of homelessness appears. Things are working as designed. Generations of white denial leads to a delusional society (of course).

[@Missy-Missy1111]

@Ash Hegde I'm a well educated, articulate, & intelligent woman with a Master's degree in Modern European History & I'm on Section 8...so what do you mean by "Section 8 folks?" Many are hardworking honest people who have fallen on hard times & need a helping hand. Ash I hope you never find yourself in our situation. Take care & have a nice day.

[@Missy-Missy1111]

@Ash Hegde UNC-Greensboro

[@Missy-Missy1111]

@Ash Hegde my father was illiterate until the day he died & I'm fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to earn my Master's. Also I've traveled to the UK, Amsterdam & the USSR, now Russia.

[@toepetal5pink244]

Our ineffective broken system need to understand this if they want to help families, our system wastes money and causes more harm than it helps. I have seen it and worked in it for over 30 years. It has broken me working in it.

[@jujutsu_panda]

Powerful story. Poverty is a CRIME, agreed.

[@providencephelps1497]

Elliot’s book is incredible!

[@ottodidakt3069]

poverty isn't accidental, it's a voluntary effect of the system, takes many poor to make one rich person. division is the key to power !

[@kusheran]

I look at poverty as the pollution from capitalISM.

[@lukeyznaga7627]

people were happier when they were more free and allowed to live in the forests, hunt for their own food, and build homes without regulations where they wanted. Modern civilization is trash. People don't live in a civilization that is BUILT for poor people surviving. market capitalism is BULLSHIT. Those poor people, and children...if you trained them how to plant gardens, hunt with a bow and arrow, prepare food and do survival outdoor living and AND THEN..then. transported them to free land somewhere, they would be happier and their would be no drugs or crime. Animals don't fuck people over for a dime. That black girl would have been happier living in the countryside rather than a city that always demands money for EVERYTHING.

[@leannbridwell1853]

Thank you for highlighting this for us.

[@louisethomas8074]

I will read this book and I’m hoping that birth control and abortion will be addressed. It’s really hard to feel empathy for poverty stricken families when there are multiple children and in this case 11. I’m having a hard time getting past that. I’m hoping this book will shed some light on it

[@sherribarman915]

Fantastic interview!!

[@AmanpourandCompany]

Thanks for tuning in. We appreciate you!

[@Missy-Missy1111]

Provide support from day one!

[@ronhanson9453]

The only morally defensible justification for the accumulation of a huge amount of wealth is to do so to share it; to help others. Any other motivation is rooted in selfishness and greed. Here is an example of an instance where that wealth could, and should, be directed.

[@meggallucci5300]

The journalist is pretty upbeat about the parentification of children. In this case, eight children? That’s a choice and a bad one. Dasani appears a sweet, smart girl. But she was the parent well before her time. The actual parents subjugated her. And that is where she remains. What about her promise in life? She could do so much.

[@elizabethnelson4110]

The choice of 8 children...stopping that...easier said than done. How would you know about that. No judgements please

[@Pou1gie1]

If she spent eight years analyzing this family to write a book about them, then I hope they get a good cut of the profits (if they get any at all).

[@deathstar71]

They did. She mentions it in the book. Not the percentage though.

[@Diane-xh7vl]

This country has gone to hell in a hand basket . Even a high school education won't get u a good job, " so if you can't afford that then it's the system at the very top that has made it that way! If this plague hasn't opened your eyes then sadly nothing will🤑

[@kayzyr9442]

Should be required viewing.

[@louisethomas8074]

My sons former friend from school is the oldest of 11. It might be 12 now. They live like rats in a small house. They had one boy and tried unsuccessfully 10 times to have another boy. They benefit from public assistance but somehow can afford to visit their relatives in Thailand. No sympathy.

[@paulamcgowan8596]

I hope you do read this book and wrap your head around poverty. From your comments here you are judge and jury and probably wake up every day with what you need.

[@drejlangseth2579]

This book should be mandatory for SSW & Congressional Committees twho areandated to be help, but don't.

[@mandyinseattle]

I don't understand how having that many kids creates a system of survival. I don't mean to judge but I don't believe anybody should have that many kids, especially if you're poor.

[@belladonnatook8851]

@mandy: Key words "I don't understand..." & "I don't mean to judge..." But that won't keep you from judging. Bugger your "beliefs".

[@darylallen2485]

Glad I'm not the only one who had that thought.

[@belladonnatook8851]

@@darylallen2485 👍🏽

[@darylallen2485]

@@belladonnatook8851 if you were going to advise someone you care about on how to stay out of poverty, you would tell them to have as many kids as possible?

[@loveblue2]

I have to agree with you. A family would literally need an income of a MINIMUM 200k to support 8 children. For this couple, even 4 children would have been too many. My nightmare as a parent would be to have to listen to my child/children cry because they were hungry and I had no ability to feed them. As a woman, "...how am I going to feed this child?..." would be on my mind before I even LOOKED at a man, much less considered sleeping with him.

[@sharona752]

Maybe next time she will look at the lack of shelters for homeless childless women. plenty of places for men compared to women

[@Vainashell]

♥️

[@boogiedownbronx73]

the writer is very pretty

[@nathondrake8830]

i wish she could just look into the camera. Its hard to follow her.

[@darylallen2485]

Maybe it one of her first interviews. I perceive people who look off to the right as someone whose giving a thoughtful response, rather than a scripted one.

[@qake2021]

😱😯🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🤞

[@dianabraley8307]

How patronizing - why not publish the book of the girls story written by her with a ghost writer and she gets the benefit of the book - through having money to go to college and buy a house and get out of generational poverty.

[@michaelhapgood782]

We have no time or money for the "Homeless". We have millions of potential democrat voters at the border who liberals need to help first. The homeless will not help the party

[@sharona752]

are u talking about the nazi party?

[@christal8978]

That is incorrect. Immigrant children are the children that are treated like this according to current studies and the the immigrant children treat other races of cf children in this behavior.

[@eunsookmoon3239]

sorry。interested of your secretive.life.Nd cuz services reason.if ~~~~~wh..is 6motions.of. what.and. for whaT .and by what and. The other's life with and wh.pluse the line is I was just line. Is animations..you knewn horrible and sickness and fighting life with someone familiar line the war times always channel changes line changes so mental is unbreakable. Line through is all pro.cuz every builder and building line is road and loading line so every wanna through line war time is didn't..want crimed and crimes but they is the. Wanna be with another's life with ➕ and white ✝️ but I am so comfortable sleep wanna do some times so gard timed passes line is mend is so very not yea.

[@ThiccBoi23]

Maybe don't have 8 kids?

[@deathstar71]

Doesn't solve the homelessness problem. Plenty of people are homeless with only a couple of or no kids.

[@plantainprincess7427]

I know right, I read the story it made me so angry. Chanel is a terrible mother, 8 kids for poor Dasani to raise alone #smh

[@plantainprincess7427]

@Ash Hegde well whatever the names are, the 'mother' and 'father' are very selfish for bringing children into their misery and expecting the older kids to look after the younger ones.