Child Poverty and the United States
Child Poverty and The United States
Melissa Sandusky
University of Phoenix
Child poverty can be found in every corner of the world. In any country there are children living within the devastating effects of poverty. Child poverty has become a worldwide epidemic, and the impacts it has on children are countless. This paper will discuss child poverty in the United States and how it has impacted our poor children in this country. In the research I found four major ways that poverty affects these United States children. They are physical health, mental well-being, education, and environment which I will describe in further detail. People often view the United Sates as the land of opportunity and plenty. We see television ads asking for monetary donations for children in other countries who are living in poverty. We have countless organizations that work to help combat poverty throughout the world. This country may be looked upon as a land of plenty by other countries, but the United States also has problems of its own. One of those problems is child poverty. As of 2006, there were 39.7 million United States citizens living in poverty, and single mothers and women had the poorest households in that same year (Hildebrant and Stevens, 2009). In 2006 a single parent of a household of three with a yearly income of approximately $16,000 was considered living at the poverty line (Lee, 2009). One third of all the homeless people in the United States are entire families with children, and the numbers are continuing to grow (Macionis, 2006). The statistics of child poverty in the United States are heartbreaking. There are five million poor children under the age of six years old in this country (Korbin, 1992). It has been estimated that over 17 percent of children, adolescents, and teenagers in the United States are poor. Studies have also shown that 36 percent of the impoverished people in the United States are children (Macionis, 2006).
Melissa Sandusky
University of Phoenix
Child poverty can be found in every corner of the world. In any country there are children living within the devastating effects of poverty. Child poverty has become a worldwide epidemic, and the impacts it has on children are countless. This paper will discuss child poverty in the United States and how it has impacted our poor children in this country. In the research I found four major ways that poverty affects these United States children. They are physical health, mental well-being, education, and environment which I will describe in further detail. People often view the United Sates as the land of opportunity and plenty. We see television ads asking for monetary donations for children in other countries who are living in poverty. We have countless organizations that work to help combat poverty throughout the world. This country may be looked upon as a land of plenty by other countries, but the United States also has problems of its own. One of those problems is child poverty. As of 2006, there were 39.7 million United States citizens living in poverty, and single mothers and women had the poorest households in that same year (Hildebrant and Stevens, 2009). In 2006 a single parent of a household of three with a yearly income of approximately $16,000 was considered living at the poverty line (Lee, 2009). One third of all the homeless people in the United States are entire families with children, and the numbers are continuing to grow (Macionis, 2006). The statistics of child poverty in the United States are heartbreaking. There are five million poor children under the age of six years old in this country (Korbin, 1992). It has been estimated that over 17 percent of children, adolescents, and teenagers in the United States are poor. Studies have also shown that 36 percent of the impoverished people in the United States are children (Macionis, 2006).
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