Human Services News

National Center for Children in Poverty:

All Americans want the next generation to succeed.

But what most Americans do not know is that some 40 percent of American children are growing up in low-income families with the odds stacked against them.

Analyses of family budgets repeatedly show that it takes at least twice the federal poverty level for a family to meet its basic needs.

These include the 13.5 million children who are growing up at or below the federally defined poverty level of a $20,000 annual income for a family of four, as well as more than 15 million children in families with annual incomes between $20,000 and $40,000.

The latter families are in situations where one disaster---an increase in rent, a divorce, an unexpected health problem, a job loss---can tip the balance.

Although the common stereotype suggests that families lack income because they don't work, 81 percent of low-income children have parents who work.

It is also said that marriage protects against poverty; although it is true that single parents are disproportionately likely to be poor, half of low-income families include married couples.

Education researchers have identified startling differences between young children in poor families and their more affluent peers.

By the time a poor child is 6, the child will have heard onethird as many words as a more affluent child.

This matters because language skills are important to early school success, which in turn predicts later school success.

In sum, there is a clear relationship between educational success and income.

The UK has systematically striven to make sure parents are working to strengthen early care and education.