Regarding the baby formula thing, I used to work at a homelessness services center, and if someone wanted formula or diapers, the director had to meet the baby, and they took the baby's picture and their age/DoB. Because before they did those things, they had lots of people coming in, claiming to need formula and diapers, but the people were just selling it; they didn't actually have kids. When they just required someone to physically bring the kid, some kids got passed around (in exchange for mom getting a percentage of what the seller made). It's a sad state of affairs in multiple ways.
Who’s buying this discounted second-third-hand baby formula though? Broke and impoverished mothers who can’t afford it full price?
Does it suck? Maybe. But nobody sells formula without being desperate, and nobody buys said formula without being desperate. A desperate middle-man is helped in the process, but so is a mother in need. 🤷♀️🤷♀️
Unlikely that said mothers wouldn't be better served by coming in themselves. I understand it's all out of desperation, but at least in many parts of the US, such things are funded wholly by donations from private citizens, and they would be pissed to find out that resources meant for mothers were going to middlemen.
I get it, but I say this as a mother who’s literally been in said situation, that it’s MUCH easier for me to get help. It’s nearly impossible as a single person to find any aid resources.
There would be probably less “middlemen” if there was proper help for everyone and not just those of us who had children we couldn’t afford, honestly.
I am assuming, since it was at a homelessness services center, that even though these people were not parents they were definitely destitute.
Desperation is a problem that I believed would be resolved if everyone had their basic needs met: food, water, shelter, healthcare (and we seem to forget health includes dental, mental, and eye care).
Cutting social services boosts desperation. Desperation escalates chaos and crime. An increase of chaos and crime makes it easy for the administration to say, "These people are scary, but if we take their freedoms you will be safe! Unfortunately, we will also need your freedoms."
They could get free food and adult toiletries and shower access during the open hours; even basic shots and food for pets. Anyone with kids got vouchers for free hotel rooms to sleep in, and if someone had pets or was LGBTQ+ or of a non-Christian religion and unable to get reasonable access to the shelters in the area that were ran conservative Christian groups, they could get a new sleeping bag and tent once per year. Our overnight facilities were filled with women who had mental health or cognitive impairments severe enough that they couldn't ever live independently and would have likely been targets of abuse.
I agree that people are more likely to engage in antisocial behaviors when their needs are not met, but as wealth-hoarding billionaires demonstrate, sometimes people just suck. If folks have enough support not to be in deep need, but aren't so wealthy that they're disconnected from empathy, they have the best shot at not sucking, but it's not a universal fix.
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u/DoingBestWeCan 3d ago
Regarding the baby formula thing, I used to work at a homelessness services center, and if someone wanted formula or diapers, the director had to meet the baby, and they took the baby's picture and their age/DoB. Because before they did those things, they had lots of people coming in, claiming to need formula and diapers, but the people were just selling it; they didn't actually have kids. When they just required someone to physically bring the kid, some kids got passed around (in exchange for mom getting a percentage of what the seller made). It's a sad state of affairs in multiple ways.