Children and PovertyIntroduction to Family Studies

Thinking about Poverty What percentage of the population is poor? What percentage of children are poor? What are poor children’s lives like?

Terminology Poverty: Income below the federal poverty

level (FPL) $$22,050 per year for a family of four

Low-income: Income below 200 percent of the 2005 federal poverty level (FPL) $44,100 per year for a family of four

Source: http://www.childstats.gov/americaschildren/eco1.asp

Child Poverty How many children live in poverty? Children represent a disproportionate share of the

poor in the United States 25 percent of the total population, are children in the

U.S. but 35 percent of the poor population are children In 2011, 21 percent, were poor.

Child Poverty Rates in the U.S. from 2006-2010

Source: Kids Count retrieved from http://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/acrossstates/NationalProfile.aspx?cat=16&group=Category&loc=1&dt=1%2c3%2c2%2c4

http://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/tables/43-children-in-poverty?loc=1&loct=2#ranking/6/any/true/38/any/322http://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/acrossstates/NationalProfile.aspx?cat=16&group=Category&loc=1&dt=1%2c3%2c2%2c4

http://www.npc.umich.edu/poverty/

Sources for Statistics on Child Poverty

Child Poverty varies by race and ethnicity The poverty rate for children also varies substantially by race

and Hispanic origin, as shown in the table below Children Under 18 Living in Poverty, 2011 All children under 18: 23% White only, non-Hispanic: 12.5% Black: 37.4 % Hispanic: 34.1 %

SOURCE: http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/12/povertyandincomeest/ib.shtml

Child Poverty Rate by Family Structure

Source: http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/12/povertyandincomeest/ib.shtml

Child Poverty, Race/Ethnicity & Family Structure

Latino/a and African American children are disproportionately low income.

Nearly one-half of children living in female-headed families live below poverty

Effects of Poverty on Children Health

Mortality Low birth weight Health problems Abuse

Educational Outcomes High drop out rate Underfunded schools

Kidscount website What are poverty rates for Children in New

Jersey? http://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/bystate/

Default.aspx

There Are No Children Here The Henry Horner Homes were not always bad In the 1960s there were groups like girl scouts

who met regularly And the crime rate was lower But during the 1970s and 1980s drug and gang

activity increased

There Are No Children Here The local Chicago government officials and the Chicago

Housing Authority never wanted the Henry Horner Homes to be built in the first place

The buildings were not well funded and were not well built

So they never put much money into them, even from the beginning

Later, in the 1980s, findings of a housing authority tour of facilities revealed terrible conditions…rats, filthy, flooded basements

Chicago’s public housing has a history of neglect

There Are No Children Here In Philadelphia, and Newark -- high-rise

public housing is being replaced by: two-story, low density townhouses Section 8 vouchers

Strategies to increase home ownership: targeted at low to moderate income who

can afford to pay a mortgage, but cannot get together enough $$ for a down payment & closing costs

Summary For a rich nation, the U.S. has high rates of

child poverty Children are more likely to be in poverty than

adults Child poverty varies by race and ethnicity Is this the U.S. we want? How can we do better as a society and as

individuals to fight child poverty?