The Impact Of Poverty On Children

Who are America’s poor children? How many children in America are poor? What are some of the hardships that face poor children in America? These are only a few questions that we can ask ourselves when considering children who live in poverty in America. Children face monumental hardships in our country because of poverty or the condition of not possessing the means to afford basic human needs. The economic crisis that we find ourselves in today threatens to cause a dramatic increase in the number of America’s poor children; however poverty in America has long been a crisis that has faced the children of our nation. This essay will investigate the previous asked questions and research

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 topic being addressed in this article is the changing association among marriage, work, and child poverty in the United States. There has been numerous research conducted on the importance of marriage and work and the link that it has to child poverty and the negative association that has been shown through research. However over many decades, there has been a transformation that marriage and work is no longer a negative association with child poverty. This study thoroughly examined the relationships between marriage, work, and the relative measures from 1974-2010 using 10 waves of the U.S. Census Current Populations Survey data from the Luxembourg Income Study. The influence of demographic characteristics that relate to poverty shows that marriage negative association with child poverty has declined whereas work’s negative association with child poverty has increased.

Educators and caregivers must understand that children come from diverse backgrounds. Children who live in poverty or low-income families face many challenges. When a child is from a low-income family, you must know and understand the obstacles the child and their families may face. There are many ways living in poverty can affect children and families; educationally, physically, and emotionally, cognitively, and socially. There are resources available and beneficial information to encourage and benefit families who live in poverty or low-income families.

“Poverty is about not having enough money to meet basic needs including food, clothing and shelter” (“What is Poverty,” 2016). In the United States, there are 45 million Americans are living in poverty (“45 Million Americans,” 2014). In order to determine if one is living in poverty, the United States Census Bureau has established a poverty line that they then measure, according to the individual’s income and their family size (“Poverty Thresholds,” 2016; “Poorest Cities in America,” 2016). Since the recession in 2008, many states have seen a rise of families living in poverty. Poverty is a vicious cycle and has devastating effects on young children.

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).

In the United States of America more than sixteen million children live in poverty. In the news today we notice many examples of poverty due to the lack of jobs. Job scarcity is a root cause for lower-income families. Poverty has a substantial effect on children: physically, mentally, and educationally.

Nelson Mandela once said, "Children are our greatest treasure. They are our future." (Nepaul). Yet, in 2014, 31.4 million American children lived in low-income households and 15.4 million lived in poor families (phys.org). By 2016, the number of children living in poverty still stay the same. In fact, it even shows sign of increasing when nearly half of children in America are living dangerously close to the poverty line, where their families barely make enough to afford the most basic needs (phys.org). Looking at these statistics, it is clear that we need to these children and their families. And in order to do so, we first need to change our attitudes towards the poor and create more effective plans, such as...

Poverty causes most stress within households and has an impact on the healthy development of a child.

When analyzing children growing up in poverty a lot of factors come into play such as their physical, psychological and emotional development. To grow up in poverty can have long term effect on a child. What should be emphasized in analyzing the effects of poverty on children is how it has caused many children around the world to suffer from physical disorders, malnutrition, and even diminishes their capacities to function in society. Poverty has played a major role in the functioning of families and the level of social and emotional competency that children are able to reach. Children in poverty stricken families are exposed to greater and emotional risks and stress level factors. They are even capable of understanding and dealing with

children in poverty may experience lower self esteem for many different reasons. Children in poverty often eat whatever their parents can afford which most of the time is not healthy causeing the child to become obesse which can lead to bullying from other children. Also children in poverty may not have the nicest close they might even have used close which could make them feel exclueded from the rest of the class. Also some children in poverty may have a broken shower and the parents cant afford to fix it causeing that child to become the smelly kid in class. Some things we could do as teachers would be to encourage ecersize by encoaugeing playing outside or jumping up and done just as long as the child is active. set up preventon bullying

The article Children in Poverty: Providing and Promoting a Quality Education is a study that was conducted to show awareness that as a united front between the Lower Mississippi Delta area and the other 219 counties, there can be an establish support that can supplying the tools and knowledge in helping the main issue, which is child poverty. The article is a study that provides the fact of what poverty is and how it is affecting many young children and families. Many children are forced to deal with the issue without knowing what poverty is. Delta states, establish consciousness that there is an issue that needs to be solved due to an overall of 20% or more of their school age population is in poverty (Boals, B. M., & And, O ,1990).

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

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

In the United States and in countries all over the world, poverty has extreme impacts on a