Child Poverty: What are we celebrating?

With increasing frustration we have read many articles about an historic reduction in child poverty rates. While some have expressed skepticism about the findings, most have lauded the outcome and the federal government's role in it.

Statistically, there has been a drop in rates of child poverty. Although analysts will continue to debate how much of that drop is real versus an artifact of how we measure poverty, let’s assume the rate has declined. There are still more than eight million children living in poverty – that is eight million too many children. And it is a number that seriously undercounts the number of children who are economically vulnerable.

The poverty measure reported in these articles deems a family as “poor” if it had less than $29,000 in economic resources, including wages, other income and the value of non-cash government transfers, such as meals and vouchers for food, housing, and energy.

Would $30,000 be enough for a family of four to get by in your neighborhood? What if nearly one-third of that income came at the end of the year in the form of a tax refund? Would $22,000 be enough for a family of four to exist for 12 months in your neighborhood? Families that receive the EITC often report using the tax refunds to pay overdue utility bills. Imagine the stress of incurring debt, hoping your utilities will not be turned off or, worse, you won’t be evicted while you wait for a tax refund that is not guaranteed and a long way off.

Behind the statistics are real people. In Phoenix, residents are struggling to meet their basic needs and local agencies are facing unprecedented levels of need. Similar themes are reported throughout the country, including in Minnesota, Pennsylvania and on Long Island. Our conversations with grass-roots providers and community members have highlighted the same increased demand for services and increased economic stress.

While reporters and analysts celebrate a reduction in child poverty rates, their colleagues report large increases in the prices of food, fuel, and housing. The juxtaposition of these articles is striking. Furthermore, the past few years have witnessed marked increases in violent crimes, a resurgence in property crimes, and declining test scores for our children. Each of these trends has a negative and disproportionate impact on low-income families. Behind the numbers are real children and parents who go to bed hungry and cold, who walk to school in unsafe neighborhoods, who attend schools with inadequate resources, whose very survival is challenged each day in ways we can hardly imagine.

Yes, an outdated, insufficient measure of child poverty rates has declined, but we should not celebrate. Rather we should wonder why more than 8 million children are poor in the United States, and, according to our estimates, nearly 75 million people do not have adequate income to get by in their neighborhoods. Yes, we should continue to encourage the federal government to invest in policies that work, but we should recognize the political limitations associated with federal social safety net programs that are under constant scrutiny.

Now is not the time to pat ourselves on the back for a job well done for America’s children. It is time to ask what do under-resourced children and families need? And how can I provide for these needs? Visit nationalpovertyplan.org for answers to these questions.