I have also faced a situation like this, even living in America. I have been required to send money home (a poor region of the Midwest) due to an extreme family

I have also faced a situation like this, even living in America. I have been required to send money home (a poor region of the Midwest) due to an extreme family circumstance involving potential child abuse, a bitter and drawn out custody dispute for one of my siblings, and a slow-moving criminal case that would affect the custody dispute, as well as some mental health issues for involved parties. For a long time it required me to work jobs in which I was treated horribly, and I had to forgo any extraneous personal consumption and give up life goals like ever owning property. I went through many years in a row in which I couldn't even afford to fly home for holidays because the ~$750 plane tickets represented money that had to go to legal fees. It damaged my personal relationships with friends and romantic partners, embittered me towards employers who delighted in my lack of negotiation power because of the situation, and led to a lot of youthful years gone by in which I accomplished none of the goals I had. And, this was just for basic protection -- protecting a minor from a potential source of criminal harm. I will never recover from that financial loss, and we're not even talking about affording an extreme luxury like a college education which the article's protagonist worked to provide. I wish I was so lucky as Emma that the problem I had to solve, and in doing so go years without even seeing my family, was to pay for college, instead of paying for basic legal protection from serious abuse. It has really disillusioned me with America. I have always worked unbelievably hard and sought to work intelligently and efficiently. I have fancy credentials and have worked well-paying, sought-after jobs. But it's all hollow and empty. I feel American style corporations are one of the primary sources of harm and suffering in the world, and that in America there is no such thing as pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. Your hard work is irrelevant. At any rate, I sympathize with the article's story, but I wish that it wasn't seen as something that happens to "other people" ... the same kind of long suffering hardship and unrecognizeably ascetic sacrificial life style can happen to anyone, from any place or background, if you are unlucky enough.