Child poverty has always been a problem in America. However, it is more widespread now than at any time in the last 50 years. There are more poor children in America than the combined residents in six of our countries largest cities – Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and San Antonio, which totals to a population of 14.6 million children living in poverty.
UNICEF, a children’s rights and emergency relief organization, released a new report which states that the United States is in a number of wealthy nations with high child poverty rates. The report also shows that the number of children living in poverty has increased by 1.7 million since 2008. On the contrary, 18 countries were actually able to reduce the rates of child poverty in the same time period.
So if other countries were able to bring down poverty rates, then what’s stopping America?
One of the many root causes of child poverty is the absence of one parent, usually the father. The CRS (Congressional Research Service) concluded that 47.2 percent of all children that lived in a single-female headed household were in poverty. In these situations, the single mother is left to support herself and her family on one or even multiple minimum wage jobs.
The absence of the father when a child is growing up has lifelong effects on children. For example, children who live with only their mother are five times more likely to live in poverty, nine times more likely to drop out of school, 37 percent more likely to abuse drugs, etc.
Another major cause to poverty is unemployment. Herman Watson, from the Borgen Project, stated, “In any economy, poor adults often find they are forced to take dead-end jobs, without advancement opportunities, while middle management and other placements are given to college graduates whose families could afford higher education.”
Because of this system, adults from a poorer background often find only part-time work or maintain an occupied position that pays too low a salary, which causes their family to suffer.
With a few of these causes in mind, it is also important to realize the effects children who live in poverty face.
In addition to hunger and illness, child poverty also affects a child’s lifelong outcomes. 90 percent of a child’s brain development occurs before the age of five. As many as 700 neural connections form per second in the first few years alone.
Research shows that children who experience trauma and ongoing deprivation in their early years, also experience an impact on brain and social growth, as well as educational success, employment opportunities, and health.
So, when children are exposed to and grow up in very poor environments, their futures are at risk.
Confucius voiced, “In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of.” When the richest country in the world has one of the world’s highest child poverty rates, it is seen as an embarrassment. Child poverty in the United States reflects the failures of the lawmakers to understand the challenges that are faced by millions of Americans each day.