Childhood Poverty Essay -- Poverty Essays

We as Americans are extremely lucky. We live in a big country with many resources and almost all the luxuries we ever wanted. On the flip side, in America there are also many people who do not have these privileges. The lower class is a struggling class. For many years, people have been trying to pull themselves up from the lower class and the majority does not succeed. Childhood poverty is a large problem in the U.S. It is said that the poorest people in the United States are the children of the lower class. Childhood poverty could lead to a number of problems such as hunger, violence, physical and mental disabilities, educational problems, homelessness, family stress, sickness, and too-early parenthood. The sad truth is that living in poverty lowers a child’s chance to grow into a healthy, well-adjusted adult who will contribute to society. The number of people who are classified as the working class poor has increased. It has also been proven that work by itself will not keep a family out of poverty. As for government assistance for families in poverty, it has been decreasing. The government argued that families were not using all the services, which were available to them. In today’s society, the amounts of single-parent households are increasing and this is another reason for the existence of childhood poverty. Statistics show that children living in single-parent homes are five times more likely to be poor. More people are getting divorced and are also having children outside of wedlock. It has also been said that women rather than men head about 90% of single-parent families. One of the reasons why these particular families are so poor is because out of all divorced fathers, only 50% help support the... ...iggest and toughest job of you life†¦parenthood. Along with parenthood comes the largest amount of responsibility anyone has even been faced with. Their job is to raise their children, and show them the world. Everything is brand new to them, and as a parent, they are the ones who will be introducing their children to everything. The last thing any parent would want for their child is to have tem grow up in poverty. Every year we spend so much money to report to the public that there are children living in poverty. Why spend millions of dollars campaigning an issue which his already known worldwide? That money should be taken and used to help people lift their children and themselves out of poverty. Progress will not be made of we are just going to sit their and cry about it. Childhood poverty is a large issue, which has been and still needs to be dealt with.