There is no benefit to death…
Lest I forget that there are some extraordinary men and women out there who are still engaged in giving up their lives for a war I don’t understand… the Washington Post’s Donna St. George wrote a moving piece (The Forgotten Families) the other day about the plight of some the war has left behind: the grandparents of single mothers and fathers who raise a child as their own after war has claimed the parent. A $100,00 death ‘annuity’ the government provides, “a payment intended to ease the financial strain as families await government survivors’ benefits,” is denied to anyone but a spouse of the deceased. So these grandmothers and grandfathers, aunts and uncles, who take on the burden of caring for a parentless child, must do it without one of the very safety nets that should be provided.
I hope they find a way to make ends meet, or get these things changed.
Tags: 000, death-annuity.-$100, Donna-St.-George, Forgotten-Families, single-mom, single-mother, single-parent, Washington-PostRelated Stories
POSTED IN: child support
2 opinions for There is no benefit to death…
Kate
Feb 20, 2007 at 12:55 pm
So, the kids make the greatest sacrifice that can be made (without even being asked) and then they get the priviledge of living in terrible poverty because of it? This news made me feel sick.
christina
Feb 21, 2007 at 9:31 am
It’s hard to think about.
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