ShareThisAccording to a new report posted on the Urban Institute almost half of all children born into poverty remain in poverty throughout their lives. In their report on Childhood Poverty Persistence the authors point out that “49 percent of American babies born into poor families will be poor for at least half their childhoods…Among children who are not poor at birth, only 4 percent will be “persistently” poor as children.”
As our economy struggles to recover from the Great Recession, which know has meant rising levels of children living in poverty, reports like this are discouraging. In California alone, nearly a quarter of the state’s children could be living beneath the federal poverty line due to the recent recession.
Almost of half of all children born into poverty remain in poverty as adults
The report suggests that helping provide families with multiple supports such as income assistance, child care subsidies, and opportunities for education can help mitigate the chance of passing poverty on to the next generation. This is very much in keeping with our strategies for poverty reduction through programs like our SparkPoint Centers which combine multiple programs over time, to help families.
Some of the report’s other findings include:
- 13 percent of all children (40 percent of black children and 8 percent of white children) are born poor.
- 37 percent of children live in poverty for at least a year before reaching age 18.
- 10 percent of children spend at least half their childhood years (9 years or longer) in poverty.
- Black children are 9 times more likely than white children to be poor for at least three-quarters of their childhoods — 18 percent versus 2 percent.
- 69 percent of black children and 31 percent of white children who are poor at birth stay poor for least half their childhoods.
Caroline Ratcliffe and Signe-Mary McKernan, the authors of “Childhood Poverty Persistence: Facts and Consequences, go on to say that “Because poverty status at birth is linked to worse adult outcomes, targeting resources to children born into poverty and their families would help particularly vulnerable people. “
