Child Poverty Rates Research Articles

A Comparative Study on Determinants of Child Poverty in Turkey and European Countries

In this study, which aims to express the children who will play the most important role in the development of societies and their inequality problems; child poverty in Turkey and European countries are discussed comparatively. Child poverty; It can be defined as a multidimensional set of deprivations that make it difficult for children to participate in society as full and equal individuals later in their lives. A generally accepted definition and measurement method of child poverty, which differs from adult poverty, offers researchers as well as the opportunity to develop and monitor sound poverty reduction targets and strategies for policy makers. In this study, both before and after social transfers social transfers in Turkey, the child poverty rate in the European is seen as among the top three countries with the highest. It has also been observed that the poverty rate in children is significantly higher compared to adult poverty and general poverty levels. Problems in primary distribution regarding child poverty could not be solved as a result of secondary distribution. This situation points to the limitation of policies and an important representation problem. It has also been observed that the poverty rate in children is significantly higher compared to adult poverty and general poverty levels. According to the results from comparative charts and analyzes, similar to the studies and discussions on child poverty; It is possible to say that focusing on policies and regulations regarding the education sector and the labor market are the most important steps in combating child poverty.

Student teachers’ understandings of poverty: insights for initial teacher education

ABSTRACT This study aims to understand how student teachers think about poverty in the context of rising rates of child poverty as they begin their initial teacher education (ITE). Globally, increasing numbers of school-age children living in poverty is a pressing concern for teachers. Previous research has suggested that student teachers may hold negative stereotypical attitudes towards children and families living in poverty, which may influence their future professional practice. However, given the importance of ITE as a site for teacher preparation, there is a need for further research into student teachers’ views of poverty in the context of increasing levels of child poverty. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected using a survey questionnaire comprising closed response and open-ended questions, and analysed using descriptive statistical techniques and thematic analysis, respectively. Our findings suggest that, on entry to their ITE, the student teachers in this study largely held ‘multidimensional’ understandings of poverty. The student teachers also recognise poverty as a real issue affecting children and young people. These findings offer insights for initial teacher preparation in view of the challenges emerging from increased rates of child poverty.

The Anti-Social Effects of Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage: Fact or Fiction?

Previous research examines the effects of same-sex marriage on many child and family outcomes, but only a small subset examines the effects of laws on those outcomes. We evaluate the effects of same-sex marriage legalization in the USA on four socio-familial outcomes. We use currently available public data from the U.S. Census and CDC to analyze changes in state-level legalization of same-sex marriage on rates of child poverty, divorce, marriage, and children living in single-parent households within each state from 2011 to 2016. The estimators use traditional cross-sectional time-series methodologies, along with adjusting for high-dimensional fixed-effects (HDFE) clustering to account for both spatial and temporal dependence of state-time observations. We find no evidence to validate claims of negative ramifications from same-sex marriage legalization on these outcomes. With respect to the arguments articulated in Supreme Court amici briefs, we show that assertions of negative social effects of legalized same-sex marriage are largely unsupported. In addition to illustrating the gains from HDFE estimators, we conclude that warnings of likely negative effects from same-sex marriage, such as disallowing adoption by same-sex couples, are not credible.

Measuring Child Poverty and Its Uncertainty: A Case Study of 33 European Countries

Over the last few years, there has been increased interest in compiling poverty indicators for children, as well as in providing uncertainty measures that are associated with point estimates. In this paper, we provide point, variance, and interval confidence estimates of the at-risk-of-poverty rate indicator for 33 European countries. Using the 2018 EU-SILC survey, we analysed the spatial distribution of poverty by providing graphical representations at the national level. Our results reveal rates of child poverty that are higher than in the national estimates for most of the countries. By considering the computation of standard errors, we used the bootstrap method thanks to its convenient properties. It is worth noting that, for some countries, such as Finland, Belgium, and Ireland, the confidence intervals do not overlap. These results suggest differences among countries not only in terms of child poverty, but also in terms of social protection and the welfare state.

Maximizing the impact of the Canada Child Benefit: Implications for clinicians and researchers.

Child poverty remains a persistent problem in Canada and is well known to lead to poor health outcomes. The Canada Child Benefit (CCB) is a cash transfer program in effect since 2016, which increased both the benefit amount and number of families eligible for the previous child benefit. While the CCB has decreased child poverty rates, not all eligible families have participated. Clinicians can play an important role in screening for uptake of the program and helping families navigate the application process through several free resources. While prior research on past programs has shown benefit of similar cash transfer programs to both child and parental outcomes (both health and social), the CCB has not yet been extensively studied. Research would be valuable in both assessing the cost effectiveness of the program, especially across different income groups, and improving implementation in hard-to-reach populations.

The New Patterns study: coordinated measures to combat child poverty.

BackgroundChild poverty rates are rising in Norway with potential negative consequences for children. Services for families with low income are often fragmented and poorly integrated, and few coordinated initiatives have been implemented and evaluated in Norway.Aims:The aim of the current study is to evaluate how integrated and coordinated services provided over a prolonged period by a family coordinator are related to changes across a wide range of health, wellbeing and home environment indicators for the participants.Methods:The study uses a mixed methods approach utilising survey and register data, as well as information from interviews and shadowing, to document and evaluate outcomes associated with the intervention and the process of implementation. Data are gathered at baseline and annually throughout the duration of the study. Participants are identified to facilitate longer-term follow-up using register data.Conclusions:This project will develop important knowledge about the implementation of coordinated services to families with a low income, and how this way of organizing services influences important outcomes for the family members in the short and long term.

FEDERAL AID TO SCHOOL DISTRICTS DURING THE COVID-19 RECESSION

The coronavirus has created an enormous — and expensive — challenge for elementary and secondary schools while simultaneously depleting the revenue sources on which public schools depend. During the Great Recession, the federal government filled in a significant share of lost revenue. In contrast, the federal response to date has been limited. If Congress decides to invest in future generations, it faces a range of options for how to structure an aid package. One key aspect for any stabilization package is how federal funds should be allocated to states. We consider the types of approaches used in recent proposals, during the Great Recession, and at the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, as well as in major ongoing federal education programs for compensatory and special education. We simulate the distribution of funds and show the considerable difference in how per-child allocations correlate with child poverty rates under the most likely alternative approaches.

Early years practitioners’ personal and professional narratives of poverty

ABSTRACT Early years practitioners are central to UK government policy in alleviating poverty in early childhood. The significant level and rise in child poverty rates suggest that their role is becoming increasingly important in supporting families on low incomes. Paradoxically, cuts to children’s services under austerity policies and the low pay and status associated with working in early years sector means that many practitioners are likely to be vulnerable to poverty themselves. However, government policy has failed to recognise that practitioners who are charged with supporting families in poverty may at the same time be experiencing in-work poverty. Drawing on a narrative study with 38 early years practitioners in the south-east of England this paper addresses how practitioners’ personal and professional lives shape their understandings of poverty. Findings suggest that practitioners’ personal experiences of childhood, motherhood and personal poverty play a part in shaping their understandings of poverty and to what extent they are able to recognise and empathise with others. It is recommended that how practitioners are positioned and how they position others within discourses of poverty needs to be addressed if practitioners are to effectively support families on low incomes.

Austerity policy and child health in European countries: a systematic literature review

BackgroundTo analyse the impact of austerity measures taken by European governments as a response to the 2008 economic and financial crisis on social determinants on child health (SDCH), and child health outcomes (CHO).MethodsA systematic literature review was carried out in Medline (Ovid), Embase, Web of Science, PsycInfo, and Sociological abstracts in the last 5 years from European countries. Studies aimed at analysing the Great Recession, governments’ responses to the crisis, and its impact on SDCH were included. A narrative synthesis of the results was carried out. The risk of bias was assessed using the STROBE and EPICURE tools.ResultsFourteen studies were included, most of them with a low to intermediate risk of bias (average score 72.1%). Government responses to the crisis varied, although there was general agreement that Greece, Spain, Ireland and the United Kingdom applied higher levels of austerity. High austerity periods, compared to pre-austerity periods were associated with increased material deprivation, child poverty rates, and low birth weight. Increasing child poverty subsequent to austerity measures was associated with deterioration of child health. High austerity was also related to poorer access and quality of services provided to disabled children. An annual reduction of 1% on public health expenditure was associated to 0.5% reduction on Measles-Mumps-Rubella vaccination coverage in Italy.ConclusionsCountries that applied high level of austerity showed worse trends on SDCH and CHO, demonstrating the importance that economic policy may have for equity in child health and development. European governments must act urgently and reverse these austerity policy measures that are detrimental to family benefits and child protection.

Effects of the Global Coronavirus Disease-2019 Pandemic on Early Childhood Development: Short- and Long-Term Risks and Mitigating Program and Policy Actions

Effects of the Global Coronavirus Disease-2019 Pandemic on Early Childhood Development: Short- and Long-Term Risks and Mitigating Program and Policy Actions

Reducing poverty among children: Evidence from state policy simulations

State approaches to reducing child poverty vary considerably. We exploit this state-level variation to estimate what could be achieved in terms of child poverty if all states adopted the most generous or inclusive states’ policies. Specifically, we simulate the child poverty reductions that would occur if every state were as generous or inclusive as the most generous or inclusive state in four key policies: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), state Earned Income Tax Credits (EITC), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and state Child Tax Credits (CTC). We find that adopting the most generous or inclusive state EITC policy would have the largest impact on child poverty, reducing it by 1.2 percentage points, followed by SNAP, TANF, and lastly state CTC. If all states were as generous or inclusive as the most generous or inclusive state in all four policies, the child poverty rate would decrease by 2.5 percentage points, and five and a half million children would be lifted out of poverty.

State laws matter when it comes to school provisions for structured PE and daily PE participation.

The physical and mental benefits children receive from physical activity have been well documented, and physical education is a key way to ensure that physical activity opportunities are available during the school day. This study evaluates whether state PE laws are associated with school-level practices of requiring structured PE classes and whether students take PE classes daily. State laws were obtained as part of the National Cancer Institute's Classification of Laws Associated with School Students (CLASS) and were compiled for all 50 states and District of Columbia using Boolean keyword searches in LexisAdvance and WestlawNext. PE time requirements and state daily PE requirements in the laws were subsequently linked to school-required structured PE classes and daily PE in the School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study (SNMCS) Principal Survey. Logistic regression analyses were conducted while controlling for grade level, district child poverty rate, district race/ethnicity, school urbanicity, and school size. The state daily PE analysis also controlled for region. Schools located in a state that required at least 90 min of PE per week at the elementary level or 150 min of PE per week at the middle or high school levels had almost seven times higher odds of requiring structured PE. Schools located in a state that required daily participation of PE had almost five times higher odds of at least some students taking PE daily. State policymakers can utilize these findings to promote laws that require time for PE every week, daily if possible.

Trends Over Time and Jurisdiction Variability in Supplemental Security Income and State Supplementary Payment Programs for Children With Disabilities.

Nearly 1.2 million children with disabilities received federally administered Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments in 2017. Based on a robust review of research and evaluation evidence and microsimulations, The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committee identified modifications to SSI (ie, increasing the federal SSI benefit maximum by one-third or two-thirds) as 1 of 10 strategies that could reduce the US child poverty rate, improving child health and well-being on a population level. Describing the availability and amount of SSI and State Supplementary Payment (SSP) program benefits to support families of children with disabilities may be a first step toward evaluating The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine-proposed modification to SSI as a potential poverty alleviation and health improvement tool for children with disabilities and their families. We used public health law research methods to characterize the laws (statutes and state agency regulations) governing the federal SSI program and SSP programs in the 50 states and District of Columbia from January 1, 1996, through November 1, 2018. The number of jurisdictions offering supplementary payments (SSP) was relatively stable between 1996 and 2018. In 2018, 23 US jurisdictions legally mandated that SSP programs were available for children. Among the states with SSP payment amounts in their codified laws, SSP monthly benefit amounts ranged from $8 to $64.35 in 1996 and $3.13 to $60.43 in 2018. Our initial exploration of SSI-related policies as a tool for improving the economic stability of children with disabilities and their families suggests that current SSPs, in combination with SSI, would not rise to the level of SSI increases proposed by The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Understanding more about how SSI and SSP reach children and work in combination with other federal and state income security programs may help identify policies and strategies that better support children with disabilities in low-income households.

Reducing the Number of Children Entering Foster Care: Effects of State Earned Income Tax Credits.

Foster care caseloads, an indicator of child maltreatment, are increasing. Children living in poverty are significantly more likely to be reported to the child welfare system and are overrepresented in foster care. Thus, it is critical to identify prevention strategies that can stem the flow of foster care entries, particularly among populations at higher risk. We used variations in the adoption and refund status of state-level Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), a socioeconomic policy intended to reduce poverty, to examine their effect on foster care entry rates. Fixed-effects models, accounting for year- and state-fixed effects, demonstrated that a refundable EITC was associated with an 11% decrease in foster care entries compared to states without a state-level EITC after controlling for child poverty rate, racial/ethnic composition, education, and unemployment. Policies that strengthen economic supports for families may prevent child maltreatment and reduce foster care entries and associated costs.

Access to Higher Education in New Mexico: Racial, Ethnic and Geographic Disparities

This chapter, written for a collected volume on Race in Rural America, assesses the intersections of race and ethnicity with rurality in relation to higher education access and attainment in the State of New Mexico. New Mexico is one of the nation’s most rural states and is home to a distinct population in terms of race and ethnicity: the greatest percentage Latinx/Hispanic population—right at half and growing fast—and the third smallest population of non-Hispanic whites among all states. Further, more than a tenth of New Mexicans identify as American Indian, the second greatest percentage among the states. The fifth most sparsely populated state in the nation, New Mexico struggles chronically with a lagging economy, high poverty and child poverty rates, and low educational attainment. Against that demographic and economic backdrop, the analysis in this chapter reveals disappointing educational attainment among Hispanic and American Indian students as measured against these groups’ proportion of the state’s broader population, but particularly in relation to New Mexico’s college-aged population. In other words, young Hispanics’ status as a majority does not appear to be a protective factor—or at least not a sufficiently protective one—when it comes to higher educational attainment. American Indian students struggle to an even greater degree, falling far behind both their non-Hispanic white and Hispanic counterparts. While rural residents’ education level consistently falls behind that of metropolitan residents, it is impossible to determine the extent to which this is due to a rural brain drain—the phenomenon of young people raised in rural areas who migrate to urban areas to obtain their college degrees and then stay, often because of better economic opportunities. Indeed, the data suggest bleak higher education outcomes for all low-income and rural residents, regardless of race or ethnicity. We attribute this in part to inadequate state funding of public higher education and to a mismatch between how that funding is currently spent, e.g., four-year institutions, merit-based student aid, and how it could be better spent to promote access and attainment for the most vulnerable students. We close the chapter with recommendations for policy makers seeking to achieve equity in education and thus also foster a brighter economic future for the entire state. We emphasize the need for the collection of more nuanced data so that the State of New Mexico can better understand trends and shift resources in ways that will make education access more equitable across race, ethnicity and geography.

The More the Poorer? Resource Sharing and Scale Economies in Large Families

The structure of a family may have important consequences for the material well-being of its members. For example, in large families, an individual must share resources with many others, but she may benefit from economies of scale in consumption. In this paper, we study individual consumption in different types of households, with a focus on family structures that are common in developing countries. Based on a collective household model, we develop a new methodology to identify the intra-household allocation of resources and the extent of consumption sharing. We apply our methodology using data from Bangladesh and Mexico, and use the model estimates to compute poverty rates for men, women, and children. Contrary to existing poverty calculations that ignore either intra-household inequality or economies of scale in consumption, ours take into account both dimensions.

Safety Net Policies, Child Poverty, and Development Across the Lifespan

The United States has developed an effective safety net of programs starting during the Great Depression, picking up steam in the War on Poverty of the 1960s, and continuing to this day. These efforts have been impactful. Child poverty rates tracked by the supplemental poverty measure have dropped by nearly 50% since the 1960s. Causal studies show that many of these programs improve child outcomes by alleviating income poverty. Some of the evidence shows that such impacts last into adulthood. Nevertheless, addressing child poverty is unfinished business for the United States. Children are still the poorest age group in our society. More robust versions of present safety net programs, as well as the possible introduction of child benefits/child allowances, which many other high-resource countries already provide to families, will need to be considered if we are going to make further progress in substantially reducing child poverty.

Neighborhood Poverty and Pediatric Intensive Care Use.

Disparities in health service use have been described across a range of sociodemographic factors. Patterns of PICU use have not been thoroughly assessed. This was a population-level, retrospective analysis of admissions to the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center PICU between 2011 and 2016. Residential addresses of patients were geocoded and spatially joined to census tracts. Pediatric patients were eligible for inclusion if they resided within Hamilton County, Ohio. PICU admission and bed-day rates were calculated by using numerators of admissions and bed days, respectively, over a denominator of tract child population. Relationships between tract-level PICU use and child poverty were assessed by using Spearman's ρ and analysis of variance. Analyses were event based; children admitted multiple times were counted as discrete admissions. There were 4071 included admissions involving 3129 unique children contributing a total of 12 297 PICU bed days. Child poverty was positively associated with PICU admission rates (r = 0.59; P < .001) and bed-day rates (r = 0.47; P < .001). When tracts were grouped into quintiles based on child poverty rates, the PICU bed-day rate ranged from 23.4 days per 1000 children in the lowest poverty quintile to 81.9 days in the highest poverty quintile (P < .001). The association between poverty and poor health outcomes includes pediatric intensive care use. This association exists for children who grow up in poverty and around poverty. Future efforts should characterize the interplay between patient- and neighborhood-level risk factors and explore neighborhood-level interventions to improve child health.

Deep and Extreme Child Poverty in Rich and Poor Nations: Lessons from Atkinson for the Fight Against Child Poverty

The paper documents child poverty levels and trends using both relative (‘deep’) and absolute (‘extreme’) measures in two clusters: Anglo-Saxon high-income countries and upper middle-income countries. We also investigate the influence of different components of household income and other resources on child deep-poverty rates to examine the role of the market and the redistributive effects that materialize through private transfers, public benefits, and tax systems on generating poverty reduction. Overall, middle-income nations have witnessed continuous reductions in their extreme child poverty rates, while mild decreases or fluctuations have been observed in the five high-income nations, with the US highlighted by its relatively high rates of deep and extreme poverty regardless of absolute or relative measures and type of equivalence scale used. Private institutions play a larger role in poverty reduction in middle-income nations compared to its impact on developed nations. The degree of dependence on universal or assistance benefits varies among high-income nation. In the US, universal programs tend to be meager, while Australian social insurance and universal benefit are robust in their fight against deep poverty. Brazil stands out by its overwhelmingly large proportion of social insurance programs that contribute to improvements of its deep child poverty situation, and South Africa’s assistance benefit system performs better in lifting children out of deep poverty.

Explaining local variation in referrals from health services to children's social care in England 2013-16: a study using 'children in need' administrative data.

BackgroundReferral rates from Health service to Children’s Social Care (CSC) services vary across England. In 2019, the National Audit Office (re)iterated the urgent need to understand the drivers of such variation.MethodsUsing administrative data (Children in Need Census, 2013–16), we calculated annual referral rates from Health to CSC services (Health referral rate) by Local Authority (LA) areas. We used multilevel linear regression to investigate the relationship between age-adjusted Health referral rates and local need (demand factors) and local practice/systems (supply factors). We present a tool to compare unadjusted and adjusted LA rates.ResultsThere was high LA variation in Health referral rates, particularly for infants (mean = 29.0/1000 children < 1 y; range = 6.5–101.8; sd = 12.4). LA variation persisted after age-adjustment. Child poverty (local need) and overall referral rate (local practice/systems) explained 60% of variation in age-adjusted Health referral rates. Overall referral rate was the strongest predictor. Adjusted referral rates were substantially different from unadjusted rates. After adjustment, 57.7% of LAs had higher/lower Health referral rates than expected.ConclusionsWhile higher levels of local need are associated with higher Health referrals, some areas have high Health referrals irrespective of local need. Our tool demonstrates the benefits of using adjusted rates to compare LAs.