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Running head: UNDERSTANDING POVERTY 1

Understanding Poverty: A Legal Analysis of Impoverished Children

Alison M. Bostelman

Legal Studies Academy

First Colonial High School


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Abstract

In this paper, the author summarizes and discusses research regarding child poverty, including

information on the history of poverty, the educational, economical, and health aspects of child

poverty, federal, state, and international laws dealing with child poverty, and different resources

for those in poverty. The paper highlights the effects that coronavirus has had on impoverished

children and compares the issue in different countries, including first-world and developing

countries. Lastly, the author discusses what more the world can do to reduce poverty rates and

the effects it has on children.


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Understanding Poverty: A Legal Analysis of Impoverished Children

One in three children worldwide live in poverty, and 11.9 million children are living in

poverty within the United States. There are more children than adults living in poverty

(Children’s Defense Fund, 2020). When poverty first comes to mind, it is common to think of

the rural areas in Africa and various other poor countries. What many people don’t know is that

America has one of the highest child poverty rates in the world. In the United States, poverty

threatens the mental and physical well-being of children resulting in a lifelong struggle.

History of Children in Poverty

Child poverty can be defined in many different ways. Unicef describes child poverty as

“children being deprived of the material, spiritual and emotional resources needed to survive,

develop and thrive.” It is a growing concept that poverty is multidimensional and relative (Main,

2019). Instead of mainly focusing on the lack of money, these types of poverty takes into account

the other factors as well that children are experiencing a lack of. According to Habitat for

Humanity (2019), relative poverty within first world countries include a lack of Internet access to

jobs or public services, proper clothes, education funds, and decent housing. Most Americans in

poverty are considered to be living in relative poverty. In 1935, the Social Security Act was

passed which benefited many people, including dependent mothers and children, as outlined in

Title IV and V. Within this law is the grant program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children

(AFDC), which provides financial assistance to children who are deprived of parental support

and care because of their parent(s) are absent from the home, incapacitated, deceased, or

unemployed.

Causes of Poverty
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Most of the time, children living in poverty can’t do anything to combat it, which in turn

affects them for the rest of their lives. Many of these children are being raised by poor and

unemployed single parents who are trying to support themselves as well. Factors, including poor

health, lack of education, living in dangerous conditions, and a threat of violence, are commonly

associated with impoverished children, although there is a long list that varies by location and

situation (Canadian Feed The Children, n.d.).

Aspects of Children in Poverty

Children tend to be affected in all aspects of their lives when living in poverty. They

experience issues within their education, health, legal, economic, and social parts of their lives.

Since children are still developing as people, those in poverty tend to lack the ability to maintain

as good of a mental and physical standing as opposed to others.

Education

Jonah Edelman, Ph.D. stated, “Young children growing up in poverty face challenges

with cognitive and literary ability and often begin school both academically and

socioeconomically behind their peers from higher-income backgrounds” (Taylor, 2017). Some of

these children who desire to have a post-high school education tend to face more challenges by

doing so. There is a correlation between adult achievement and the length of time that a person

lives in poverty (Ratcliffe, 2015). According to Child Fund (2013), 30 percent of children in

poverty do not finish high school; this equates to around 360 thousand children each year. The

government has focused strongly on improving the education system for poor children. The

Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 was approved to provide grants for

low-income students and created scholarships for low-income college students (Brenchley,
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2015). A report done by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) in 2016 stated that

allocating more money to schools in low-income communities led to “significant improvements

in student outcomes in reading and math, as well as to higher levels of education and income for

those individuals” (Taylor, 2017). Multiple studies show that neighborhoods and surrounding

areas affect the educational outcomes of children; they found that children living in “affluent

neighborhoods were associated with more positive cognitive development” (Morrissey &

Vinopal, 2018). A Forbes article titled, “How Lack Of Access To Transportation Segregates

Schools,” written by Gail Cornwall in 2018, highlights the effects that transportation may pose

on a student’s education. There is a phenomenon known as the “geographic opportunity gap”

which states that low-income students have to travel farther with less capacity to do so in order

to receive equal opportunities. According to a University of Washington report conducted in

2009, a survey stated that “transportation is a barrier to choice.” Many of the parents that took

this same survey stated that their children would be going to better schools if greater

transportation options would have been available. Most of these parents were those living in

low-income communities and the “good” schools were primarily located in higher-income areas

(Cornwall, 2018). Families in poverty tend to move around a lot and therefore, the children

switch schools which puts their high school credits in jeopardy. The Washington Rev. Code

§28A.320.192 states that “school districts must waive courses required for graduation if similar

coursework has been satisfactorily completed in another school district, or provide an alternative

means for the student to graduate on time” (SchoolHouse Connection, 2019).

Health
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Health issues are more prevalent among children in poverty. The impoverished tend to

live in poor conditions with possible contaminants and hazardous chemicals they may be

breathing in. In the article, “Poverty Threatens not Only Children’s Health, but also Their

Education,” the author, Shelley Callahan, discusses the negative correlation between children’s

health and their education. The author points out examples that are common among these

children, such as not eating over the weekend leads to less concentration in school, or sleep

deprivation leads to sleeping in class. Impoverished children also have a threat to their mental

and physical health. Many of them experience malnutrition and insufficient healthcare, which

can lead to bad health and decreased school attendance affecting their overall well-being

(Callahan, 2018). One of the first laws to be passed with assistance to children in poverty was the

Food Stamp Act of 1964, intending to end hunger and improve the social conditions of those

impoverished. Good health and nutrition is something that many poor children lack, which was

why this act was put in place (Cornell Legal Information Institute, n.d.). The second-largest food

and nutrition assistance program is the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), which provides

free or discounted school meals to children at certain levels of poverty (Economic Research

Service, n.d.). Without these meals, additional costs are thrown at families in poverty who can’t

even afford the bare necessities. Routine medical care is important for every child, however,

children cannot legally consent to their own medical and dental care until they are 18.

Over 29 states have already conducted measures on this issue to ensure that every child can

receive basic medical care. The American Academy of Pediatrics endorses legislation to support

this (SchoolHouse Connection, 2019).

Legal
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In 2016, ​Citizens for Strong Schools, Inc. v. State Board of Education​ went to trial. The

plaintiff declared that Florida’s public education system was unconstitutional. This court case

served to prove how Florida wasn’t providing for a “uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and

high-quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high-quality

education” (Art. IX, § 1(a), Fla. Const​). Although Citizens for Strong Schools failed to prove

their claim, it opened the eyes to the inequality that occurs within schools regarding

opportunities for children in poverty. ​The 1987 McKinney-Vento Act is a federal law that

ensures that children receive an equal education even if they are homeless or don’t have a

permanent address. This law could have been used as a precedent for the 2016 case if the

argument met the criteria for Florida’s public education system to be declared unconstitutional.

Recently, the Child Poverty Reduction Act of 2020 was introduced into the House of

Representatives. Its purpose is to not only reduce the number of children living in poverty in the

United States by half in 10 years, but it will serve to reduce child poverty among racial or ethnic

groups with disparate poverty rates. 70 percent of homeless youth experience some form of

violence. HI Rev Stat § 346-17.6 (2012) allows children to independently consent to an

emergency shelter and receive other services if they understand and adhere to the provider’s

rules and cooperate. This law helps homeless children without a good home, or if they are living

on the streets, to stay safe and out of trouble. Under Wyoming Stat. §14-1-101, a child can

consent to health care “to the same extent as if he were an adult when the minor is living apart

from his parents or guardian and is managing his own affairs regardless of his source of income”

(SchoolHouse Connection, 2019).

Economic
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Child poverty affects the economy more than one may think. When these children grow

up, they are more likely to not receive postsecondary education, leading them to earn low wages,

which reflects lower workforce productivity. They are also more likely to engage in a life of

crime and have poorer health. The United States economy has to supply goods and services to fix

these problems, which in turn, reduces the GDP. Each year, child poverty reduces the

productivity and economic output of the GDP by 1.3 percent, raises the costs of crime of the

GDP by 1.3 percent, and raises health costs and reduces the value of health of the GDP by 1.2

percent (Holzer et al., 2007).

Coronavirus

Beginning in March 2020, schools across the world began to close in order to reduce the

spread of the coronavirus. In the article, “COVID-19, school closures, and child poverty: a social

crisis in the making,”​ t​ he authors, Lackner and Parolin, discuss how these prolonged school

closures have detrimental social and health consequences and are worsening existing inequalities

for students living in poverty. They highlight that these school closures have caused a widening

learning gap between children from lower-income and higher-income families. The conditions

that many children from low-income families live in make it difficult for them to receive the

appropriate quality of education that they need. Not only are they receiving a deficiency in their

education, but many are losing one of their main food sources. Many impoverished families

relied on schools to provide their children with breakfast and lunch, which has now led there to

be an increase in malnutrition across the country (Lackner & Parolin, 2020). According to a

Columbia University study, the number of Americans living in poverty increased by eight

million following the spread of COVID-19 (Sykes, 2020).


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Countries In Comparison

“Poverty is a universal problem that affects every nation on earth—both rich and poor”

(Wilson & Schieder, 2018). The data from a graph made by the Economic Policy Institute (2018)

shows that the child poverty rate tends to be lower in countries that invest more of their income

in programs that alleviate poverty. In comparison with other countries, first-world and

developing, the United States is surprisingly very high up in the rankings for highest poverty

rates in the world; specifically, they are ranked fourth on the list (OECD, 2019). Although the

United States is known for being the largest economy in the world, there is a significant wealth

inequality gap. As for child poverty, studies done by the OECD have shown that European

countries tend to show the lowest rates of child poverty, specifically Demark, whereas the

highest rates can be found amongst Israel, Turkey, and Mexico. On the other side of the world is

China, which has one of the lowest child poverty rates in the world because of their efforts made

to eradicate poverty as a whole. (Omoruyi, 2019)

First-World Countries

The United States has three times the amount of children in poverty than in Norway or

the Netherlands. It even has a higher percentage of poor children than Russia. Before new

adaptations, the United States used to be the only developed country that would import millions

of impoverished families from some of the poorest and underdeveloped places in the world. The

issue with what the United States is doing is that we are allowing immigrants to come into work

for low-skilled jobs, but by doing that it becomes more difficult to reduce the poverty rates in our

country. For our country to maintain a low poverty rate, the 1924 Immigration Act sharply

reduced the number of immigrants from poor countries. The 1965 Immigration and
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Naturalization Act overturned the 1924 Immigration Act, which prioritized family preference. In

the 1970s, most immigrants were more likely to not be in poverty; however, by 1980, that role

switched. This caused large-scale illegal immigration and many more impoverished immigrants

to come into the United States, ultimately raising the poverty rate in the United States

(Hymowitz, 2017). In 2017, the United Kingdom implemented the “two-child limit,” which

limits universal credit and tax credits to only the first two children born in a family. This law

unfairly affects families at high-risk for poverty and it will increase the severity of child poverty

(Sellgren, 2019).

Developing Countries

Among the top four countries with the highest poverty rates is Turkey (OECD, n.d.).

According to the OECD, over 25 percent of children in Turkey live in poverty. The main reason

for this resonates from their political system, administration, and economic institutions. In

Turkey, child poverty is at an all-time high that “deprives them of any kind of opportunity to

change their lives, such as qualified education, health, work, and the environment” (Nas, 2017).

Although China is considered a developing country, it is the “global champion of poverty

reduction” (Omoruyi, 2019). Since 1990, an impressive 730 million (and counting) citizens have

lifted themselves out of poverty. How are they doing this? Well, according to a 2016 World

Bank report, China implemented quality education and healthcare programs, raised the salaries

of those in poverty, assisted with early childhood development, provided cash assistance to the

poor, and constructed housing and the rebuilding of homes.


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Resources for the Impoverished

Many sources can help children and their families in poverty. Not only does the

government help financially, but there are organizations locally and nationally across the United

States. Many of these organizations don’t only donate money, but they offer programs, activities,

and other resources. They play as important a role in the assistance of the impoverished as does

the government.

Government Involvement

The Economic Policy Institute emphasized that without government programs, such as

Social Security, food stamps, school lunches, and refundable tax credits, around 11.52 million

more children would be in poverty (Schieder & Wolfe, 2018). The government plays a large role

in reversing the increasing levels of poverty in the United States. An article by the Economic

Policy Institute showed a graph that highlighted how the United States ​poverty rate was reduced

by only 4.7 percent and it had “by far the highest child poverty rate of all 16 developed countries,

even after government assistance” (Allegretto, 2006).

Nationwide and Local Organizations

There are numerous local organizations in Virginia Beach that direct their efforts towards

combating poverty. AIDNOW is an organization that “exists to bring education, health,

sanitation, and physical resources together to assist individuals in South Eastern Virginia,

Nationally, and Globally,” as stated in their mission. Specifically this past year, AIDNOW

started the Families4Families initiative; it involves delivering groceries, clothing, and other

necessities to the impoverished families within the Virginia Beach area. On top of this effort,

they have spread awareness and opened the eyes of many to how persistent this issue stands
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within our community. WEAREVB is also a dedicated organization that is committed to

“improving the quality of life and outcomes for homeless and at-risk high school students in

Virginia Beach.” These two forces acting together already have changed the lives of so many

families and students, as they are working together towards one common goal. Nationally

speaking, End Child Poverty U.S., led by the U.S. Child Poverty Action Group, is one of the

biggest anti-poverty organizations. Their goal is to eradicate child poverty within the next 20

years using their platform to gather support to work together to fight this issue. The largest

anti-poverty organization is Brac; this international organization focuses on helping everyone,

including those in poverty. Over two million families escaped extreme poverty and 13 million

children graduated from Brac schools with their help (Brac U.S.A., n.d.).

What Now?

This accumulation of research highlights the issue that is child poverty. It threatens not

only the mental and physical well-being of the children affected, but it affects their future and the

United States as a whole. Although there is a long way to go, the United States could nearly

abolish child poverty, specifically, the rate of child poverty would fall to less than one percent, if

“each child living in poverty the average Social Security benefit received by a Social Security

recipient age 65 and over” (Kearney, 2020). By spreading awareness and gaining voluntary

involvement, the world can fight child poverty as one collective effort.
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