Child Poverty

As mentioned by Ruane and Cerulo in Second Thoughts, harsh realities of poverty affect children’s lives in profound ways. Children lack any power in improving their circumstances and depend on adults to gain access to basic necessities. Access to proper healthcare, education, and basic nutrition continues to be an obstacle for children. Poverty impedes children’s aptitude to learn and contributes to poor overall health and mental health. Perhaps most important, poverty becomes a cyclical nature that is difficult to overcome. Children who experience poverty when they are young tend to experience persistent poverty over the course of their entire lives. According to the Child Welfare League of America, the national poverty rate for children

When people hear the words “child poverty” some assume that this term may refer to homeless children who are living on the streets. This isn’t necessarily true, in fact some children who go to bed every night with a roof above their head still suffer from some form poverty. According to National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP), 21% of children throughout the United States live in families who are considered poor. It is crucial for society to be more aware of this issue and to take part in contributing to help reduce child poverty within our country.

In the documentary “Poor Kids” you get to truly see and feel how it is to be a child that suffers from food insecurity, poverty and the rest that comes with it. The fact that this problem exists in a developed country that you would assume it could provide for all their citizens. Well, the reality is we have many families suffering because of lack food and on top of that, we have children suffering from lack and food and more. As a society, we have grown to just be concerned about ourselves and we don’t focus on issues that affect others. We fail to see the struggles of others because it doesn’t directly impact us. We are focused on attaining wealth at all cost we would rather waste food than provide help for the ones in need. Ultimately, we are creating policies that, make sure no one gives food to the ones that needed the most. It’s a sad reality that we must face in order to continue to strive as a nation. Therefore, we need to acknowledge others and provide them with the respect that they deserve. We also have many corporations and elites that have control, power, and wealth. The stratified system in the U.S is making it that much harder for lower-income families to come out of poverty. Not only are they suffering from lack of food, lack income, and resources, but this also is affecting their pride and self-worth.

Poverty is a harsh condition which is relentless at any given age. The difference among poverty in children and poverty in adults is that poverty in children could leave effects impacting the children for the rest of his life. Southern Nevada, specifically the Las Vegas Valley has one of the highest rates in children poverty of the nation. According to Talkpoberty.org in the state of Nevada itself, one in every four kids live in poverty. The issue of child poverty is one which the majority of Nevadans don’t take into consideration. Child poverty is an issue which affects the children in all aspects of his life and leaving life lasting impacts.

Grace Abbott once said, “Child labor and poverty are inevitably bound together and if you continue to use the labor of children as the treatment for the social disease of poverty, you will have both poverty and child labor to the end of time.” Child poverty is one of the biggest issues facing Canadian children today. Child poverty can significantly shorten a child’s life. One of the major reasons child poverty in Canada is so high is because of low wages. These children have a disadvantage to all the other children in Canada. There is major inequality among these children. There are many problems that come out of child poverty and effect the children directly. This paper will talk about the four major effects of child poverty; health issues and nutrition, emotional and behavioural issues, education, and their home environment. (Introduction: dimensions of children’s inequality, 2003).

The U.S. is among the richest countries in the world today, yet millions of people in America still live below the poverty level. The number of Americans living in poverty is increasing day by day as well as the number of children. Poverty in America has become a great threat to children’s wellbeing as they are affected emotionally, socially, and even in their school performance (Wood 720). Poverty in America is mainly caused by lack of jobs. Many people who live in poverty in the United States is due to lack of jobs and getting jobs with minimum wage. Another cause of poverty is due to the rise in the cost of living. Poverty exists in America despite the fact that is among the richest nations in the world.

In the introduction of this essay we will be looking at ‘what is child poverty?’ Poverty is often associated with the third world and developing countries where death from starvation and disease is the outcome. This kind of poverty is rarely seen in the UK though. Child poverty is unfortunately a result of adult poverty with Child poverty having lifelong consequences. There are 3.5 million children living in poverty in the UK today, that’s 27 per cent of children or more than one in four (department for work and pensions, 2013.) Poverty in the UK is about a lack of resources, lack of capital both income and wealth. But it can also be resource poor such as; education and good health

The face of poverty is changing in the United States. When someone mentions that a person is living in poverty, we are inclined to think of a bum living on the street, eating at shelters, and using whatever money they have for alcohol, drugs and tobacco. Usually we visualize this person as being a middle-aged male with drab clothing and a long beard. This description may have fit the average person living in poverty or on the street a few years ago, but it is no longer a correct generalization. Children are the face of poverty in 2015. These children have little chance to rise up out of the lifestyle they are born into. Many of these children are born to teenage girls. The economic states of these mothers and their lifestyles many times

According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, over 16 million children (22%) in the United States live below the federal poverty level, which is $23,550 per year for a family of four. Research has shown that a family requires an income of about twice that amount just to cover basic needs and expenses. Using these statistics, 45% of children in the US live in low-income households. Most parents of low-income children are employed, but unsteady employment accompanied with low wages leave families struggling to make ends meet. The effects of poverty on children are numerous and long lasting, such as impaired learning ability as well as social, behavioral, and emotional difficulties. Childhood poverty can also contribute to poor physical and mental health. Research has shown that poverty is the greatest threat to s child’s well-being, but public policies can make a difference when they are implemented effectively.

It is known that the children are unable to determine their life circumstances, their families, and care solely for themselves without supervision. With this being said, children have little to no jurisdiction in determining the situations that they are confronted with. Most of the time when we ponder child poverty we think of low-income families or lack of food in the household, but it extends beyond that to “an environment that is damaging to their mental, physical, emotional and spiritual development” (“Children Under Threat,” 2005). Unfortunately, the prevalence of youth poverty in the United States may seem uncommon to those who are personally unaffected by the crisis; however, statistics show that 15 million children (21% of all children) live in families with incomes below the federal poverty threshold (Child Poverty, 2017). Moreover, when considering the demographics of impoverished children the following are true: a child in the U.S. has a 1 in 5 chance of being poor and the younger they are the poorer they are likely to be, and a child of color is more than twice as likely to be poor than a White child (Child Poverty, 2017). Research proves that poverty is the single greatest threat to a child’s well-being as it decreases the likelihood of a child graduating from high school, and it increases the chances of them becoming involved with the criminal justice system (Ending Child Poverty Now, 2017).

Within the United States, in 2014 we had 1 out of 7 children born into poverty (C., 2016). That is an outstanding amount of children starting life out with a disadvantage. Statistics show that the U.S. has higher poverty rates than other developed countries (O., 2014). When a child is born into poverty, they are faced with many challenges that people are not very cognizant of. Children living in poverty usually have trouble accessing proper healthcare, education, and nutrition. These simple things are taken for granted by most people, but all have a close relation to one’s wellbeing. When child’s health is poor and they are lacking adequate nutrition, they are more than likely going to struggle in school and potentially drop out. All in all, telling us at Uber that food insecurity is a serious problem that we plan on improving, starting in Dallas, TX.

Statistics stated, “There are about 15 million children within the United States, which is 21 percent the children who family has an incomes below the federal poverty threshold. (Child Poverty, 2017). Most of these children come from a hard working families, but low wages have their family just struggling to make ends meet. Poverty is define as the being poor or a person condition of having little or no money, goods and no support system. The government system placed most family in an area which the crime rate is high, the property area is cheap, low education score, the area population is high and the area cost of living is cheap. (Ward, 2015). Poverty can impede a child behavioral, emotional, learning ability, social ability, health and mental

Children in poverty is a typical social issue occurring in society today. “More than 16 million children in the United States – 22% of all children – live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level” (“National Center For Children In Poverty,” n.d.). The federal poverty level measures the amount of income a family takes in per year. It varies depending on the number of people in a family. For a nuclear family (two parents and two children) the federal poverty level is around twenty-four thousand dollars in a year (“Health Care.gov,” n.d.). The average American makes around forty-six thousand dollars a year. The parents of the children in poverty make at least twenty-two thousand dollars below the average. Their families are extremely poor. Also, not just one child is facing this hardship, sixteen million children are part of families below the federal poverty line, just in America. “About 22% of children in the U.S. lived below the poverty line in 2013, compared with 18% in 2008” (Calfas, 2015). Unfortunately, the rate of poverty affecting children has gone up through the years. More and more children will face poverty during day to day life. Children can be affected by poverty in many ways. “Poverty can impede children’s ability to learn and contribute to social, emotional, and behavioral problems. Poverty also can contribute to poor

Throughout the course of history, millions of children have been victims of physical abuse; it has been shown that the effects of this abuse can profoundly influence ones mental and physical health in the span of his or hers life.

Poverty is a considerable social problem; with a significant impact on those who suffer within. Growing up in poverty “reduces a child’s chance of growing up to be a healthy, well-adjusted, and contributing adult in our society” (Crosson-Tower, 2014, p. 59). Poverty is families having to struggle to afford necessities. Poverty does not know where your next meal is coming from or having to choose between paying rent and seeing a health care provider. The impact of poverty affects one’s ability through physical, social, emotional, and educational health. Even though individual overcome poverty it still extends across cultural, racial, ethnic, and geographical borders. Children represent the largest group of poverty in the United States. “Growing up in poverty places a child at a profound disadvantage and substantially lowers the chances that the child will mature into a well-adjusted, productive, and contributing