Poverty and Inequality among Children

Paper Summary:

This paper cites numerous studies detailing the social and economic consequences of child poverty in America. The paper looks at the long-term effects of child poverty, its primary causes, the failure of government policies to address the problem, and some measures the government can implement to reduce the child poverty rate. The paper also looks at how high immigration rates tend to increase the child poverty rate and immigration policies put into effect in an effort to stem the rising tide of immigrants.

From the Paper:

"Studies show that child poverty has been increasing at an alarming rate in the last decade. In 1994, 15.3 million children, or 21.8% of all Americans, were poor (Lichter 1997) and that, although children constituted only 26.7% of the population, 40.1% of all poor persons in the US were children (US Bureau of Census 1996 as qtd in Lichter). These rising poverty rates are used by government agencies in determining the criteria for eligibility in social insurance programs and public assistance interventions developed by these government agencies. And, according to these criteria, the economic well-being of American children is on a downtrend, which indicates that tomorrow's adults will be less economically adjusted than adults today and that the future of today's children is materially and psycho-emotionally less promising (Lichter)."

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