Poverty And Children In The United States
...material hardship are not just problems experienced by the states in Hurricane Katrina's paththey plague Americans around the country. Just as residents began the clean-up process, the U.S. Census Bureau released numbers showing that in 2004, the poverty rate rose for the fourth straight year in a row37 million Americans live below the poverty line. In the wake of this national tragedy, poverty should once again become a topic of national concern. Now is the time to focus on how to make sure no more children are left behind.
Americans don't like to talk about poverty. We don't like to believe that the wealthiest nation in the world has families without the resources to afford basic necessities, such as decent housing and sufficient food, or basic services, such as medical and dental care and quality child care. But American poverty is a reality.
Twelve million children live in families with incomes below the federal poverty levelwhich is about $16,000 for a family of three and $19,000 for a family of four. Perhaps more stunning is that 5 million children live in families with incomes of less than half the poverty leveland the numbers are rising. Yet research clearly shows that, on average, it takes an income of at least twice poverty to cover a family's most basic expenses. (Sarah Fass and Nancy K. Cauthen Who are America's Poor Children? From the nccp.org/pub_cpt05b.html web site retrieved December 7.2006)
Child poverty is defined as children who live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level (FPL). The annual FPL is $16,090 for a family of three and $19,350 for a family of four.
Extreme child poverty is defined as children who live in families with incomes below half the FPL. Half of the annual FPL is $8,045 for a family of three and $9,675 for a family of four.
According to a recent United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) study, 21.9...
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