The Juvenilization of Poverty in the 1980s

Abstract

This article analyzes the factors that caused the economic well-being of children in the United States to deteriorate during the 1980s. The poverty rate for children decreased through the late 1960s and the 1970s but rose during the 1980s. Young families and female-headed families were hit hardest by structural economic changes, contributing to the rise in child poverty. In addition, although more children became poor, social services provision did not increase and in many instances was cut back. The juvenilization of poverty requires social workers to place themselves in advocacy roles and to focus on poverty as a central practice concern.