Child Poverty In The United States
Child Poverty in the United States
Kimberly Coppola
June 23 2011
Soc/120
Mary Wyllie
The purpose of this essay is to discuss the effects of child poverty in the United States. The
government has set a certain income bracket and if a person or family falls under that bracket
they are considered in the poverty level. Poverty has two sections that it is broken down into,
which is relative and absolute. The relative poverty type is when you have some things,
whereas absolute is when you have nothing and this form is considered life threatening.
Poverty can affect people of all different ages, races, and ethnicity and also genders and
family patterns. Each group that is affected by poverty is usually carried …show more content…
by family pattern
from each generation to the next, this makes social status very difficult (Macionis, 2006).
Even though poverty can affect all different types of people, the largest groups of people
most affected by this issue are children and women. Women and children make up a big 55
percent of the poverty population.
People still place blame as to why people are poor and
why their lives cannot be changed for the better. There are a lot of people out there that
believe that being poor is an endless battle and once a person is poor that will always be poor
because its too hard to change their situation.
Children are affected by poverty in many ways, food, health education and shelter and
many if not all of these children are exposed to violence. This is connected to the poverty in
women. The beliefs of the causes of poverty according to the Encyclopedia of Women and
Gender (2001), “Individualistic beliefs focus on personality attributes. These beliefs include
irresponsibility, lack of discipline and effort, or lower ability and talent. Structuralistic beliefs
incorporate the larger socioeconomic system such as low wages for some jobs, poor schools,
prejudice, discrimination, and job availability. Fatalistic beliefs as to the reasons for a person 's
poverty status focus on such things as bad luck, chance, and fate.”
Poverty affects most women who are single mothers although these single mothers work
they cannot receive assistant from the state because the make too much money but …show more content…
they
don’t make enough money to care for their children alone. They are unable to provide
themselves and children food clothing healthcare or even a roof over their heads. The fact
that they do not have health care directly affects children’s health. If a women cannot afford
healthcare for herself while pregnant, there can be health issues that could occur during and
be passed on to the baby. When a child is born with no health care and health issues they
will ultimately continue to go untreated This creates sadness for the single mother is unable
to get health insurance for her and her family but also makes too much money for public
assistance (Encyclopedia of Women and Gender (2001). Policies to the welfare system have been changed a lot in the 1996. Assistance to families
were cut without notices by the agencies. Women who had children under the age of one
were the only people to get assistance without much trouble. Most of the states only allow
people to receive assistance for no longer than two years. There are programs to help women
get a job and get off welfare although state minimum wage is not enough money to support a
growing family. Unfortunately this means without welfare assistance the women and their
children end up back in poverty (Encyclopedia of Women and Gender (2001).
According to Duncan, G., Yeung, W., Brooks-Gunn, J., and Smith, J. (1998), “there are many
factors the most significant is the relation to the paternal social economic status and how it
effects to the child’s and adults achievements.” Most of the people that is in a poor social
status tend to be poorly educated and have children without being married this adds extra
strain to the families which results in physical harm to children. Children that are born to
families who struggle with supplying food and shelter and clothes tend to have to deal with
extreme punishment and are blamed for the family situation.
Once these children are exposed to domestic violence and violence upon themselves this
usually cycles from each generation to the next, this inability to break the cycle can be a
factor of poor education. Living in a poor cities whether they are rural or urban in a kind of
goes hand in hand with poor education. These families that are poor and have little to no
money are accepted by other families in the same situation. These families that live in these
communities seem to be stuck in their social status and cycle. These people are either afraid
to get out of their status or do not know how to. Some people do not think any different that
their status if they have always known it this status and cycle is a normal way of life to them.
According to Fantuzzo, J., Fusco, R., Mohr, W., & Perry, M. (2007), “during violence
witnessed by children the perpetrators were more likely to be arrested then times when
children were not present.” The police officers felt that is was extremely important to send a
message that violence is very wrong. Children who have dealt with domestic violence
are
more likely to have serious developmental issues. These children tend to have poor social
skills and act more withdrawn than others. There are quite a few agencies that are around
to protect children from these dangerous situations, or could be considered a danger to
others. Child protected services is one agency. The CPS assist in placing children in safe homes
to protect them from violence or from being neglected. Even though there is a lot of research
that has been done on how violence affects children in poverty it is not accurately done on he
full impact of violence and children.
According to Koch (2000), “The child poverty rate has declined slowly since 1993, and the
rate of black child poverty is the lowest in history. But 13.5 million American children still live
in poverty -- the highest rate of any industrialized country. Conservatives attribute the decline
to welfare reform, which forced millions of single welfare mothers to go to work. But child
advocates like the Children 's Defense Fund say that progress in reducing child poverty has
slowed markedly and that cuts in social service programs made the poorest families poorer.”
Today is seem the people who are rich get more and more money and being richer as time
goes on, and the people who are poor seem to never get out of it and end up further under
the poverty level these families suffer the most. The inner cities are where the most child
poverty seems to be. Families move to urban areas in hopes to get better opportunities for
themselves and their families but this does not improve the quality of these families lives.
These families move to urban areas in hopes to give their children a good chance to succeed
that it doesn’t seem to work. Some people believe that families suffer from being soo
dependent on welfare but in all honesty children suffer due to low wages and the housing
cost are so high so their parents cannot get ahead of the system. Without assistance from
welfare these children will not eat or get medical care. Assistance from welfare helps parents
provide food and shelter and clothes for their children when they do not have enough
financial income to provide (Koch, 2000).
United states is known as the most wealthiest country but even with all that wealth the
United States also has the highest child poverty levels. Most families that fall in the poverty
category make minimum wage and will not be able to get out of the poverty level. With these
families they are usually poorly educated which affects their earnings. Some families do not
have to try to better educate themselves due to the fact they are working two jobs just to try
to survive.
The kids in these types of family’s learn from what they see and develop their parents
habits. Working low paying jobs to supply their family with all the things they need to live,
this is a pattern that will go on from each generation, these kids will put education far down
on the list as well. (Koch, 2000).
There have been a few changes in the welfare law called Charitable Choice, this changes
has made it easier for the government to contract with religious groups to help give social
services to the poor. There are many programs that this reform has help with Big brother/Big
Sister which is a program that helps children see a different view of life by providing a positive
role model to mentor and help encourage children from poor homes to stay in school,
followed by college and to understand that they don’t have to continue their parents paths
even though they come from a poor family. This program also helps with children’s
confidence and they also cut back first time drug uses by half and violent acts by a third. Even
though faith based organizations cannot replace government programs these organizations
overlap government services b y 75 percent which also includes medical aid, housing, help
with bills for heating and water, as well as education programs to help people get a handle on
things to provide for their families (Koch, 2000)
Poverty affects everyone and just the people in the poverty. Unfortunately children are
Most affected by poverty. Children without proper care may become ill and some may die.
The children who do live also receive poor education and may end up dropping out and do
not get their high school diploma. A lot of the times these children drop out of school in order
to get a job in order to try to help their families with financial issues. Of course these jobs are
low paying jobs so the cycle doesn’t end there.
This pattern will never end if these children cannot get the education they need. With
government assistants and the faith based organizations these children get the help they
need and the encouragement they need to stay in school get a good education and have a
chance to get off government assistance. It is necessary that everyone is aware that even
though the united states is considered wealthy country that there is poverty here as well,
people should work together to break the cycle and make sure that the children are taken
care of so they can live a long healthy and happy life.
References
Duncan, G., Yeung, W., Brooks-Gunn, J., & Smith, J. (1998). How much does childhood poverty affect the life chances of children? American Sociological Review, 63(3), 406-423. Retrieved April 4, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Complete. (Document ID: 30936057).
Fantuzzo, J., Fusco, R., Mohr, W., & Perry, M. (2007). Domestic Violence and Children’s
Presence: A Population-based Study of Law Enforcement Surveillance of Domestic
Violence. Journal of Family Violence, 22(6), 331-340. doi:10.1007/s10896-007-9080-4.
Koch, K. (2000, April 7). Child poverty. CQ Researcher, 10, 281-304. Retrieved April 4, 2010,
Kimberly Coppola
June 23 2011
Soc/120
Mary Wyllie
The purpose of this essay is to discuss the effects of child poverty in the United States. The
government has set a certain income bracket and if a person or family falls under that bracket
they are considered in the poverty level. Poverty has two sections that it is broken down into,
which is relative and absolute. The relative poverty type is when you have some things,
whereas absolute is when you have nothing and this form is considered life threatening.
Poverty can affect people of all different ages, races, and ethnicity and also genders and
family patterns. Each group that is affected by poverty is usually carried …show more content…
by family pattern
from each generation to the next, this makes social status very difficult (Macionis, 2006).
Even though poverty can affect all different types of people, the largest groups of people
most affected by this issue are children and women. Women and children make up a big 55
percent of the poverty population.
People still place blame as to why people are poor and
why their lives cannot be changed for the better. There are a lot of people out there that
believe that being poor is an endless battle and once a person is poor that will always be poor
because its too hard to change their situation.
Children are affected by poverty in many ways, food, health education and shelter and
many if not all of these children are exposed to violence. This is connected to the poverty in
women. The beliefs of the causes of poverty according to the Encyclopedia of Women and
Gender (2001), “Individualistic beliefs focus on personality attributes. These beliefs include
irresponsibility, lack of discipline and effort, or lower ability and talent. Structuralistic beliefs
incorporate the larger socioeconomic system such as low wages for some jobs, poor schools,
prejudice, discrimination, and job availability. Fatalistic beliefs as to the reasons for a person 's
poverty status focus on such things as bad luck, chance, and fate.”
Poverty affects most women who are single mothers although these single mothers work
they cannot receive assistant from the state because the make too much money but …show more content…
they
don’t make enough money to care for their children alone. They are unable to provide
themselves and children food clothing healthcare or even a roof over their heads. The fact
that they do not have health care directly affects children’s health. If a women cannot afford
healthcare for herself while pregnant, there can be health issues that could occur during and
be passed on to the baby. When a child is born with no health care and health issues they
will ultimately continue to go untreated This creates sadness for the single mother is unable
to get health insurance for her and her family but also makes too much money for public
assistance (Encyclopedia of Women and Gender (2001). Policies to the welfare system have been changed a lot in the 1996. Assistance to families
were cut without notices by the agencies. Women who had children under the age of one
were the only people to get assistance without much trouble. Most of the states only allow
people to receive assistance for no longer than two years. There are programs to help women
get a job and get off welfare although state minimum wage is not enough money to support a
growing family. Unfortunately this means without welfare assistance the women and their
children end up back in poverty (Encyclopedia of Women and Gender (2001).
According to Duncan, G., Yeung, W., Brooks-Gunn, J., and Smith, J. (1998), “there are many
factors the most significant is the relation to the paternal social economic status and how it
effects to the child’s and adults achievements.” Most of the people that is in a poor social
status tend to be poorly educated and have children without being married this adds extra
strain to the families which results in physical harm to children. Children that are born to
families who struggle with supplying food and shelter and clothes tend to have to deal with
extreme punishment and are blamed for the family situation.
Once these children are exposed to domestic violence and violence upon themselves this
usually cycles from each generation to the next, this inability to break the cycle can be a
factor of poor education. Living in a poor cities whether they are rural or urban in a kind of
goes hand in hand with poor education. These families that are poor and have little to no
money are accepted by other families in the same situation. These families that live in these
communities seem to be stuck in their social status and cycle. These people are either afraid
to get out of their status or do not know how to. Some people do not think any different that
their status if they have always known it this status and cycle is a normal way of life to them.
According to Fantuzzo, J., Fusco, R., Mohr, W., & Perry, M. (2007), “during violence
witnessed by children the perpetrators were more likely to be arrested then times when
children were not present.” The police officers felt that is was extremely important to send a
message that violence is very wrong. Children who have dealt with domestic violence
are
more likely to have serious developmental issues. These children tend to have poor social
skills and act more withdrawn than others. There are quite a few agencies that are around
to protect children from these dangerous situations, or could be considered a danger to
others. Child protected services is one agency. The CPS assist in placing children in safe homes
to protect them from violence or from being neglected. Even though there is a lot of research
that has been done on how violence affects children in poverty it is not accurately done on he
full impact of violence and children.
According to Koch (2000), “The child poverty rate has declined slowly since 1993, and the
rate of black child poverty is the lowest in history. But 13.5 million American children still live
in poverty -- the highest rate of any industrialized country. Conservatives attribute the decline
to welfare reform, which forced millions of single welfare mothers to go to work. But child
advocates like the Children 's Defense Fund say that progress in reducing child poverty has
slowed markedly and that cuts in social service programs made the poorest families poorer.”
Today is seem the people who are rich get more and more money and being richer as time
goes on, and the people who are poor seem to never get out of it and end up further under
the poverty level these families suffer the most. The inner cities are where the most child
poverty seems to be. Families move to urban areas in hopes to get better opportunities for
themselves and their families but this does not improve the quality of these families lives.
These families move to urban areas in hopes to give their children a good chance to succeed
that it doesn’t seem to work. Some people believe that families suffer from being soo
dependent on welfare but in all honesty children suffer due to low wages and the housing
cost are so high so their parents cannot get ahead of the system. Without assistance from
welfare these children will not eat or get medical care. Assistance from welfare helps parents
provide food and shelter and clothes for their children when they do not have enough
financial income to provide (Koch, 2000).
United states is known as the most wealthiest country but even with all that wealth the
United States also has the highest child poverty levels. Most families that fall in the poverty
category make minimum wage and will not be able to get out of the poverty level. With these
families they are usually poorly educated which affects their earnings. Some families do not
have to try to better educate themselves due to the fact they are working two jobs just to try
to survive.
The kids in these types of family’s learn from what they see and develop their parents
habits. Working low paying jobs to supply their family with all the things they need to live,
this is a pattern that will go on from each generation, these kids will put education far down
on the list as well. (Koch, 2000).
There have been a few changes in the welfare law called Charitable Choice, this changes
has made it easier for the government to contract with religious groups to help give social
services to the poor. There are many programs that this reform has help with Big brother/Big
Sister which is a program that helps children see a different view of life by providing a positive
role model to mentor and help encourage children from poor homes to stay in school,
followed by college and to understand that they don’t have to continue their parents paths
even though they come from a poor family. This program also helps with children’s
confidence and they also cut back first time drug uses by half and violent acts by a third. Even
though faith based organizations cannot replace government programs these organizations
overlap government services b y 75 percent which also includes medical aid, housing, help
with bills for heating and water, as well as education programs to help people get a handle on
things to provide for their families (Koch, 2000)
Poverty affects everyone and just the people in the poverty. Unfortunately children are
Most affected by poverty. Children without proper care may become ill and some may die.
The children who do live also receive poor education and may end up dropping out and do
not get their high school diploma. A lot of the times these children drop out of school in order
to get a job in order to try to help their families with financial issues. Of course these jobs are
low paying jobs so the cycle doesn’t end there.
This pattern will never end if these children cannot get the education they need. With
government assistants and the faith based organizations these children get the help they
need and the encouragement they need to stay in school get a good education and have a
chance to get off government assistance. It is necessary that everyone is aware that even
though the united states is considered wealthy country that there is poverty here as well,
people should work together to break the cycle and make sure that the children are taken
care of so they can live a long healthy and happy life.
References
Duncan, G., Yeung, W., Brooks-Gunn, J., & Smith, J. (1998). How much does childhood poverty affect the life chances of children? American Sociological Review, 63(3), 406-423. Retrieved April 4, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Complete. (Document ID: 30936057).
Fantuzzo, J., Fusco, R., Mohr, W., & Perry, M. (2007). Domestic Violence and Children’s
Presence: A Population-based Study of Law Enforcement Surveillance of Domestic
Violence. Journal of Family Violence, 22(6), 331-340. doi:10.1007/s10896-007-9080-4.
Koch, K. (2000, April 7). Child poverty. CQ Researcher, 10, 281-304. Retrieved April 4, 2010,