Paper Example on Child Poverty in the United States

America is ranked among the richest countries in the world, but for a wealthy country especially concerning child poverty, it is ranked among the bottom nations. According to UNICEF up to one-third of children in America lived under sixty percent of the 2008 national median income which was equal to thirty-one thousand dollars in that year (Ratcliffe and Signe-Mary). In a world super power and the richest nation in the world, at least one in every three children lives in poverty. The percentage of children living in poverty by 2008 was more than thirteen million children, and with the increase in economic hardships since then it only means that that number has increased significantly (Ratcliffe and Signe-Mary). Therefore, for the past forty years, the rates of child poverty in America have ranged between fifteen percent and twenty-three percent. It may not be clear how long American children will stay in poverty because many families will cycle in and out of being poor while there are those who will remain poor for a long time. Therefore, the paper analyses the issue of child poverty in the united states, its prevalence and its consequences on the affected children and America as a whole.

Identification of poverty among children is of particular interest because it limits their options and leads to many other adverse consequences among the children. According to Ratcliffe and Signe-Mary Most children (63 percent) enter adulthood without experiencing poverty. However, over a third (37 percent) live in poverty at some point during their childhood (3). Seventeen percent of these children will live in poverty for one to three years; ten percent will be poor for four to eight years while another ten percent will live in poverty for nine to eighteen years which means that they experience persistent poverty. Research indicates that in America black children a prone to poverty than white children. For example, up to seventy percent of white children never experience poverty in their lives while only twenty-three percent of black children will not experience poverty during their lifetime. On the other hand, while only five percent of white children experience persistent poverty, up to thirty-seven percent of black children live in persistent poverty. It means that black children are two and a half time more likely to be poor than white children and seven times more likely to live in poverty (Ratcliffe and Signe-Mary).

The disadvantage of minority children in poverty in America remains evident with up to forty percent of black children being born into poverty while only ten percent of white children are born poor. As Nichols states Child poverty jumped from 20.7 percent to 22.0 percent in 2010, with an increase among black children from 35.7 percent to 39.1 percent, erasing much of the gains made during the 1990s (2). Other than their poverty status at birth, the parents educational achievements when a child is born also influences the presence and persistence of poverty in a childs life. Family employment at the childs birth also has a significant impact on the child living in poverty. Children who remain poor for at least half their childhood are more likely to reach their twenties without completing school than those who never experience poverty. There are also at the risk of getting a teen premarital birth. Evidence also indicates that those children who experience poverty early on especially between birth and two years are less likely to finish high school than those who are exposed to poverty later on during their childhood. It is evident that millions of children in America are born into poverty and up to half of those born poor continue into persistent poverty. Ultimately those born to parents with low education and poor are at the risk of persistent poverty.

Child poverty will have adverse effects on children in the United States. One is that these children will experience serious health issues that affect their overall growth and development. Many of those born in poverty will have stunting growth, low birth weight or lead poisoning. It is because many of them are born to mothers who lack the appropriate diet to have a healthy baby, many engage in the abuse of drugs while others live and work in harsh conditions like working in or living close to lead factories. It means that right from birth the child is exposed to consequences that result from their parents environment and their physical and emotional distress.

Malnutrition and starvation remain rare in America children, but they often encounter deficits in their diet. These deficits will result in stunted growth among these children due to lack of specific foods in their diet or the children only eating one type of food. Lead poisoning is also another adverse effect on poor children, and it mainly occurs through the kind of paint used in the houses the children live in. Lead has harmful and adverse effects which various sources document. These effects may often be evident in areas that present low exposure to the substance. The effect it has on the child will be consistent with how long the child gets exposed to lead. It is also dependent on the amounts of the substance in the childs environment and the developmental stage at which the child is. However, risks of lead effects on the child will begin in stages even before birth. The paint is often lead-based, and children will spend their entire children and later years in these houses. The paint will gradually get into their systems and cause stunted growh, toxic effects on the childs kidneys, impairment in their blood production and hearing loss. Evidence also indicates that the slightest increase in blood lead levels will result in a reduced IQ. It is, therefore, one of the consequences these children are bound to encounter.

Evidence indicates that stunted growth is more evident among children who live in poverty than the non-poor. Statistics on the height of children indicate major differences between those who are born and grow up in fairly well-off families than their counterparts who are born and grow up in poverty. The issues in stunted growth are associated with the diet and nutrition the children are exposed to. Those from low-income families will lack various essential nutrients in their meals which will affect how they develop regarding age and regarding their age. Stunted growth is an indication of another consequence children will suffer because of poverty.

Poverty will also affect a childs cognitive development. As Duncan and Katherine state in their study children living below the poverty threshold are 1.3 times as likely as nonpoor children to experience learning disabilities and developmental delays (61). Such children will lack exposure to different aspect in their environment or even as they develop which will limit how the develop cognitively. The environment during conception and development in pregnancy may be the cause of learning disabilities in children. Most poor children especially those from the black community will have a single parent specifically a mother who in some cases will be unemployed and will engage and drug use and abuse. The use of substances like alcohol will affect the childs development during pregnancy thus resulting in various developmental issues including learning disabilities.

Starting life in an economically unfavorable environment has its lasting impacts on the childs behavioral, psychological and intellectual development. Poverty in the early years of a childs life is linked to lower IQ scores from as early as the age of five. As Ratcliffe and Signe-Mary state Poverty early in life has been linked to behavioral problems and lower IQ scores as early

as age 5 (1). Evidence also indicates that children who experience poverty from birth and during early childhood are at a higher risk of lower academic achievement than children who encounter poverty in their late childhood or during adolescence than those from nonpoor families. It is precise that children who are born into poverty are likely to experience worse outcomes during their adolescent and adulthood than children who are born in families that are not poor.

Poverty will affect the working memory of any child. A child who grows up in a poor environment is likely to encounter chronic stress, and chronic stress is a contributing factor towards the development of decreased levels of working memory (Dreyer et al.). Numerous studies have been carried out on the significance of a childs environment from conception and during early development and how chronic stress will negatively affect such a childs brain development. A recent report released by the American Academy of Pediatrics indicated that toxic stress towards a child during early stages of development will lead to alterations in the structure of the brain and how it functions (Pac et al.). These changes within the brain will result in the development of a weak basis for various aspects of the childs life including health, behavior, and learning. Apart from poverty during early stages of development, persistent poverty will also lead to overall worse outcomes for the child during adolescence and adulthood (Rockey and Michael).

Conclusion

The statistics that indicate the number of children living in poverty is alarming. Over the past forty years, one in every six newborn children in America was born poor. Up to half of this number went on to live in poverty for at least half of their childhood. Various factors will determine the childs environment during birth including the parents education and employment level and other factors. The racial difference also plays a significant role in determining the poverty level of children with many black children being exposed to poverty than their white counterparts. The effects of child poverty are adverse including interference in the childs cognitive, physical and psychological development, environmental hazards like exposure to lead, interference in the childs education where many will drop out of school and an overall negative effect on the childs health. It is, therefore, necessary that stakeholders in child welfare issues including parents to identify the best way to mitigate child poverty in America and the effects it has on children.

Works cited

Dreyer, Benard, et al. "Child Poverty in the United States Today: Introduction and Executive Summary." Academic pediatrics 16.3 Suppl (2016): S1.

Duncan, Greg J., and Katherine Magnuson. "The long reach of early childhood poverty." Economic stress, human capital, and families in Asia. Springer Netherlands, 2013. 57-70.

Nichols, Austin. "Poverty in the United States September 17, 2013." (2010).

Pac, Jessica, et al. "Young child poverty in the United States: Analyzing trends in poverty and the role of anti-poverty programs using the Supplemental Poverty Measure." Children and Youth Services Review 74 (2017): 35-49.

Ratcliffe, Caroline, and Signe-Mary McKernan. Childhood Poverty Persistence: Facts and Consequences. Washington, DC: Urban Institute, 2010.

Ratcliffe, Caroline E., and Signe-Mary McKernan. "Child poverty and its lasting consequence." (2012). (1-30)

Ratcliffe, Caroline, and Signe-Mary McKernan. "Child Poverty and Its Lasting Consequence. Low-Income Working Families. Paper 21." Urban Institute (2012).

Rockey, Tyler, and Michael Wiseman. "Child Poverty in the United States and the United Kingdom: What Counts? Whats Happened? Whats Next?." (2015).