Childhood Poverty In The United States

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The United States is the wealthiest nation in the world, but yet poverty still exists here. Childhood poverty affects every aspect of their life. Poverty is not having income for basic needs, food, housing, clothing. Poverty is a crisis that deserves attention from everyone. Poverty has many faces, but it’s an invisible problem and their voice is seldom heard.

Who are the Poor? The poor are people who lack money and resources for needs. Poor families have a diverse background and circumstance in life that can result in poverty. Statistics show that forty-seven percent of children live in large cities and fifty-four percent live in rural settings Minority children have a slightly higher risk of growing up in poverty. Children born to immigrant
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“Growing up in poverty places a child at a profound disadvantage and greatly lowers the chances that the child will mature into a well-adjusted, productive, and contributing member of society” (Crosson-Tower 2103 p 61). Poverty puts children at higher risk for life stressors that place heavy burdens on them through childhood. The longer a child lives in poverty, the more impact it is likely to have on the child’s development. Living in poverty places lots of stress on families that lead to isolation, tension, anger and hopeless. Families worry about basic necessities such as how are they going to feed their families, buy clothes, medical care and housing. Poverty restricts a family choices of neighborhoods and they are forced to live in inadequate housing as well as crowded housing. The school that many of the children attend are not passing school and lack the resources to teach the children with. The community that the children and families live in have a lot of crime and violence. The families still struggle enough if they receive public assistance. Not having proper healthcare at the begging of life places the children at disadvantage being born into