(Series Part-1, Part-2, Part-4, Part-5, Part-6)
Excerpt from transcript
JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour): It's been widely reported that poverty levels rose during the recession. But a new report documents the magnitude of that rise among families, and finds that poverty rates among children rose substantially throughout the last decade.
The Kids Count study from the Annie E. Casey Foundation discovered that the official child poverty rate rose by nearly 20 percent from 2000 to 2009. And, in 2010, 11 percent of children lived with at least one unemployed parent.
Patrick McCarthy is the president of the foundation. And he's here to tell us more about those numbers and their effect on children.
More excerpts
PATRICK MCCARTHY, Annie E. Casey Foundation: We have tracked the well-being of children for 22 years. And this year, we decided to look at how the children have been faring as the recession has played out. We found some very disturbing statistics. As you said, the child poverty rate has gone up. It's now at 20 percent of all kids living in poverty.
Even more troubling in some ways is that the children who are on the edge of living in poverty, those children who live with families that are at 200 percent of the federal poverty level, we now have 42 percent of all children, 31 million children in the U.S., living at that level.
We like to think of it as two or three paychecks away from economic catastrophe.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Something like 31 million children, I saw, living below -- at or below $43,500 a year. It's a stunning figure.
PATRICK MCCARTHY: It is a stunning figure, especially when you consider what the research tells us what happens when children grow up in poverty or when they slip into poverty as a result of recession.
We know that kids who grow up poor are much more likely to end up being poor themselves. They're more likely to have children too early with teen pregnancy. They're more likely to become involved with the criminal justice system as they grow up. They're less likely to be employed. And they're less likely to fully use the talents that they're given.
What we have found most recently, though, is that even with children who slip into poverty for a period of time due to a recession are also facing long-term impact as adults on all of those variables.
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JUDY WOODRUFF: Now, your organization, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, did this research, and then you have recommended some strategies for tackling some of this.
What are some of the more important strategies you're recommending?
PATRICK MCCARTHY: Well, we recommend a two-generation strategy.
We basically look at the research and say that children who grow up in poverty have a much tougher time. And now that we have so many children facing economic insecurity, we think it's very important to invest now in their families, so that they don't slip into poverty.
Specifically, unemployment insurance is a key protector of kids and families when unemployment is as high as it is. The earned income tax credit, the child tax credit, these kinds of things help to supplement wages and keep kids out of poverty.
The two-generation strategy means focusing on the parents, but also then investing early in children. We know from research that high-quality prenatal care, high-quality child care and pre-K, and especially education in the early years is critical to put children on a path towards opportunity.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Now, all of these things, however worthy, cost the government one way or another. And we're now in an environment where so much of the energy and the noise is around cutting spending. So how do you advance those ideas in this political environment?
PATRICK MCCARTHY: Well, that's -- that's actually a very important feature of what we have to look at.
When there's this kind of deficits that states have to deal with and the national debt, et cetera, it really is a time to focus. And we believe that what you need to focus on is what's most important, so every dollar is used in the best way, what's most cost-effective, and what can you do now, in 2011, that's going to shape what this country looks like in 2031, in 2041, and in 2051.
In fact, the crisis that we face right now is an opportunity to focus as sharply as we can on investing in the future.
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