Child Disparities In Poverty

Child Poverty in the U.S About nine months after conception, newborns come out of the wombs and come to the world. The newborns must be the most beautiful gift the mothers have ever received. It is always moved that the mothers finally see their babies after have waited for long time. The newborns start their new journey in the world. Meanwhile, the babies will embody tomorrow’s world.

in development, and are not as likely to graduate high school. A shocking number is that every year the child poverty rate persists the nation loses half a trillion dollars. Patti Hassler the Vice President of Communications and Outreach for Children’s Defense says that

According to the PBS Frontline video “Poor Kids” 2012, more than 46 million Americans are living beneath the poverty line. The United States alone has one of the highest rates of child poverty in the industrialized world. It is stated that 1 out of 5 children are living in poverty. The video documented the lives of three families who are faced with extreme hardships and are battling to survive a life of being poor. All three families have more than one child and could barely afford to pay their bills and purchase food for their household.

Poverty is classified as the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support. According to the United States Census Bureau, the official poverty rate in 2014 was 14.8 percent, there were 46.7 million people in poverty. Poverty has always been present around the world whether the country be rich or poor. There are numerous causes of poverty ranging anywhere from the lack of an individual to exploitation by people and businesses with power and influence. Over 21,000 children around the world die every day because people in poverty have a hard time affording medical care and cannot seek medical attention for their sick child.

According to research taken in a U.S. Census, many people continue to live in poverty even though the state is recovering from the recession that occurred in 2007-2008. Poverty greatly affects any children that may be living in the poverty-stricken home in a positive and a negative way. Poverty can stunt a child’s long term outcomes,

The public often stereotypes low-income youth of color as uneducated, lazy, lacking good family values, unintelligent, unmotivated, etc.. However, poverty among minorities in the United States is not the result of individuals, but rather is the result of structural, social issues that contribute to the poverty. New York City has some of the worst aspects of the American city when it comes to racial issues. In New York City, people of color have being unconsciously marginalized by using various tactics to isolate them. Studies have found that more than half of black and Hispanic youths are terrified of discrimination.

This idea was also seen by Eric Rahimian and Fesseha Gebremikael in their article “Poverty Amid Affluence in Alabama” from Journal of the Alabama Academy of Science. “High poverty rates persist in many inner cities, counties and rural areas, and particularly in areas inhabited by minorities…. In our view, the main causes of poverty are poor education, low income and lack of opportunity.” This idea may have been true during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but the higher rates of poverty now are seen between different age groups rather than the demographic groups. According to the United States Census Bureau, the poverty rate for children under the age of 18 is currently at 19.7%, where the rate for those aged 18 to 64 is 12.4% and those aged 65 and older is only at 8.8%.

In the article, “Changing the Face of Poverty” it is stated that “more than [thirty-five] million Americans – one out of every seven – are officially poor. More than one in five American children are poor and the poor are getting poorer.” (George 676) Among racial and ethnic groups, African Americans had the highest poverty rate, followed by Hispanics and whites. According to The State of Working America, 45.8 percent of young black children live in poverty, compared to 14.5 percent of white children.

African American children are three times more likely to live in poverty than Caucasian children. American Indian/Alaska Native, Hispanic, Pacific Islander, and Native Hawaiian families are more likely than Caucasian and Asian families to live in poverty (Costello, Keeler, & Angold, 2001; National Center for Education Statistics, 2007). Unemployment rates for African Americans are typically double those of Caucasian Americans. African American men working full time earn 72 percent of the average earnings of comparable Caucasian men and 85 percent of the earnings of Caucasian women (Rodgers, 2008). A criminal record reduces one 's opportunities for employment; thus, they are more likely to

Another cause of poverty and lack of income is whether or not children are American citizens. “..immigrants from Asia had a poverty rate of 12.8 percent while 21.9 percent of Latin American immigrants were poor.” It is obvious that there is a big difference in poverty between children who were born in the U.S versus children who were born outside of the U.S. This could be due to the fact that it is harder for people who were born outside of the U.S, immigrants, to time find a job. “Among the children of immigrants, poverty rates in 1999 varied from a low of 9.5 percent among non-Hispanic whites to 32.9 percent among Mexicans.”

According to Poverties.org, Ever since the 1960s, the share of children affected by poverty has only got bigger and bigger. Children are those who have the least choice and ability to change what happens to them. There isn’t much they can do to help their families, nor should they have to. Until they can stand firmly on their two legs, usually by the age of 6, then they can be enrolled willy-nilly in child labor.

“More than 20 percent of the children live in households without consistent access to food” (“15 Percent of All Children in Illinois”). This is a massive number and shows how much poverty there is in the U.S. When they suffer like this then the results don’t turn out as well. These children don’t know when their next meal would come and

These statistics are overwhelming due to the fact that child poverty affects all areas of their lives. Children exposed to poverty at such a young age are at a disadvantage in several areas; these children are at risk of low academic achievement, resulting in lasting negative effects. Our economy is not able to thrive if child poverty continues. Children living in poverty are also at risk of dropping out of school, being unemployed, and entering the juvenile justice system. Our government is responsible for ensuring that child poverty ceases to be an issue in the United States.

In Ghana, eight-year-old Fati lives in pain with the malaria she contracted roughly one year ago. Nevertheless, every day Fati navigates an electronic waste dumpsite to search for tradable metal. And she is not alone. Numerous impoverished boys and girls, teens and pre-teens, pass their days inhaling the toxic air from burning metals, while carbon soot and more toxins are absorbed into or cling onto their skin (Nazario 228 - 234). These children have one similarity: they are each penurious. Sadly, these children are not the only humans in the world suffering from being needy. Worldwide, approximately one billion, or one in two, children live in poverty (Shah). Approximately 1.2 billion humans live on less than one dollar every day (Poverty

After reading “Class Differences in Child-Rearing Are on the Rise” by Claire Cain Miller, I realized that there are many aspects that go into socio-economic status. One thing that initially stood out to me within the article is that, “Poorer parents have less time and fewer resources to invest in their children, which can leave children less prepared for school and work, which leads to lower earnings” (Miller). This stood out to me because children have no decision on what family they are born into, and the fact that if they are born into a less privileged family then they are more likely to grow up to be poorer due to the lack of preparation for school and work that they obtained during childhood. Even though there are multiple parenting approaches, most parents want the best for their children, even if they can not give their children the most financial stability.