Huge Numbers of U.S. Children Live In Poverty: Proof Capitalism Has Failed

Congress Must Act to Rescue Children Living in Poverty byMarian Wright Edelman


"It is a question of a fair balance between your present
abundance and their need." So wrote Paul to the Corinthians
when they had lost their enthusiasm for giving money to help
the poor of the Jerusalem church.
It is the very same issue we face today in the United
States: will we work for a fair balance between those who
currently have an abundance of riches and those who are indire need?
New data released from the 2000 Census document the shameful
number of poor children in desperate need all across ourcountry.
In some counties, an astounding three out of five childrenare living in poverty.
Most of us tend to picture poor children living in big
cities, but there are 38 counties with child poverty rates
higher than in the poorest big cities. Almost all of them
are rural counties: South Dakota's Buffalo County, Zieback
County and Shannon County all have child poverty rates of 61percent or more.
In nine states and the District of Columbia, at least one in
five children is poor. Shamefully in the capital of the free
world, within the shadows of the White House and Congress,
almost one in three children is poor. Twenty-seven percent
of Mississippi's children and 26.6 percent of Louisiana's
children are poor. One in four of New Mexico's children and
one in five of New York's children is poor.It's time for America to do better.
A majority of poor children live in working families trying
to play by the rules and to escape welfare. Children like
Tony, Michael and Tasha. Their mother, Tina, is on a
workfare program and homeless. She has been struggling to
get her family back on its feet since she and her husband
separated and he stopped paying child support.
They moved into her sister's low-income housing apartment.
Tina applied for public assistance and obtained Medicaid for
herself and her children and began a work program.
After Tina and her children had been living in her sister's
home for nearly three years, the housing authorities told
them that the apartment was overcrowded and that Tina and
her children had to leave right away. They moved into the
home of another relative, but the conditions there were evenmore overcrowded.
Thus, ironically, while Tina was still working and complying
with welfare laws, she and her children became homeless. In
the homeless shelter, they joined other families suffering
from the stress and chaos homelessness produces.
Tina's children now struggle to survive amid the instability
of shelter life, leaving the shelter for school while their
mother leaves for her "welfare-to-work" job. The Census data
reveal that nearly 12 million American children face the
kind of poverty that Tina's children do.
Why do we not act to end this child deprivation?
Congress has the opportunity right now to alleviate child
poverty by approving welfare reform and child care
legislation that better helps families support their
children and gives children the sound start they need to
avoid future dependency. The goal of welfare reform should
be to help families escape poverty not just escape from thewelfare rolls.
Will Congress work for a fair balance between those with
abundance and those in great need?
Rather than helping children and families in poverty and
working to achieve a just balance in the budget between the
rich and the poor, the Bush administration's budget choices
leave millions of children behind; favor powerful corporate
interests and the wealthiest taxpayers over children's
urgent needs; and widen the gap between rich and poor _
already at its largest recorded point in more than 30 years.
Congress approved a $1.3 trillion tax plan in 2001. Just the
money spent for the tax cut for the wealthiest 1 percent of
Americans with average incomes of more than $1 million could
lift millions of children in working families from poverty,
and provide quality child care, Head Start, after-school
programs, health care, nutrition and protections against
child abuse and neglect and homelessness.
It is time for us to demand that the truly needy child
living in South Dakota and the child who wants to bring a
friend home after school but can't because home is a
homeless shelter, go to the front rather than remain at the
back of the line behind the truly non-needy.
Wright Edelman is president of the Children's Defense Fund,
whose mission is to "Leave No Child Behind."