Jennifer Garner nearly broke down in tears as she delivered her testimony against child poverty in Washington, D.C. The actress and mother-of-three was in the capital to convince lawmakers to retain and fund early education programs. She told them of her experience working with Save the Children, an early education charity organization.
Garner recounted how her work with Save the Children enabled her to meet with several low-income families. She saw how their young children have been so deprived not only of education and opportunities for learning but also of love and affection from their parents.
Garner defended the parents are not entirely to be blamed if their children have been deprived. The lack of learning and stimulation, as well as the lack of affection of the kids' experience, could also be attributed to poverty. Among other social ills, low-income parents were reported to be more focused on finding work for food, thus they cannot tend to their kids properly.
"Who doesn't talk to a child? Who doesn't sing to their child?' I'll tell you who - parents who have lived their whole lives with the stresses that come with food scarcity, with lack of adequate shelter, with drug addiction and abuse," Garner said in her statement, People reported. She urged lawmakers in Washington that keeping early education programs funded, such as Head Start, child care grants and social worker home visits, will help these struggling families cope and thus must be retained.
Garner talked for 25 minutes, addressing the House Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services and Education that determines the funding of the Department of Health and Human Services, according to E! Online. She said she was speaking on behalf of these low-income parents who've asked her to do something and she cannot imagine going back to them to tell them nothing can be done.
Read her whole testimony via Save the Children. Watch her give her speech in the video below.
