Belk1

Brantley Belk
Ms. Caruso
UWRT 1103
12 April 2016
{Title}
Children in America are the future of the country, however they are the most
susceptible to poverty. Currently there are 14 million children living in poverty, and 6.2
million children live in extreme poverty (Wright 4). When comparing black, Hispanic
and Caucasian children it is proven that black and Hispanic children are
disproportionately poor (Wright 6). In my opinion poverty impacts children harder and
this is because of food insecurity, homes are often crowded and children suffer from
many emotional problems. On top of this, children usually lack adequate health
insurance, which causes the children to acquire health complications that could
potentially kill them because of their young age (Wood 12). The government assists
impoverished families with food assistance programs, but independent organizations like
Childrens Defense Fund help to fill in the gaps where the government cannot help
(Wogan 2). With the government and independent organizations working together more
effectively I feel like child poverty would diminish more.
The effects of child poverty are shown by countless studies, book, and reports.
There is strong correlation between child poverty and a childs health, achievement and
behavior (Duncan 5). Duncan states in the scholarly article Family Poverty, Welfare
Reform, and Child Development that,

Belk2
In terms of physical health, the risk for poor relative to non poor children is
1.7 times as high for a low birth-weight birth, 3.5 times as high for lead
poisoning, 1.7 times as high for child mortality, and 2.0 times as high for a short
stay hospital episode.
This shows that impoverished children are at a huge disadvantage with things that most
Americans with health insurance and stable homes take for granted. One extremely
important pathway is the quality of a childs home environment. Interactions between
mother and child, the condition of a home and opportunities for learning are all simple
things that are required for a child to flourish and be comfortable (Duncan 13). However,
children that are in poverty suffer from the seemingly basic necessities. Children are put
in this predicament because they are dependent upon others, which puts them at a
disadvantage because they cannot alter family situations by themselves (Brooks-Gunn 2).
Impoverished children are a topic that is talked about frequently and many people
think that the government does not a lot to fix the issue. The government actually has in
place what is called a progressive income tax that helps to fund programs to assist
impoverished families and individuals (Infoplease 3). Public assistance programs have
also been put into place such as Food Stamps, which help all poor people to be able to
purchase food and to make ends meet. Most recently, the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act was put into action to fight hunger, help maintain ailing neighborhoods
and give tax breaks to working families. These changes will help to provide a larger
credit for families with three or more children (Poverty 6).
While the government is helping to diminish poverty it is not possible for it to be
done with just the government alone. Independent non-profit organization such as the

Belk3
Childrens Defense Fund helps to end child poverty. The Childrens Defense fund has
just come out with a groundbreaking report called Ending Child Poverty Now, which
states that it will be able to shrink overall child poverty by 60 percent. This program will
invest more in programs such as: food stamps, housing subsidies, subsidized jobs, the
Child Tax Credit, and others (End Child Poverty 2). In the Ending Poverty Now initiative
it states,
By investing 2 percent of the federal budget into existing programs and policies
that increase employment, make work pay, and ensure childrens basic needs are
met, the nation could reduce child poverty by 60 percent and lift 6.6 million
children out of poverty.
Using this initiative and the government assistance programs to help those in poverty will
boost all the children that are currently impoverish and improve their overall living
situations.