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The Effect Poverty Has On Children's development

Jaraiyah Walker

Sport and Medical Sciences Academy

Senior Seminar 1

Mrs. Bout

October 11, 2022

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The Effect Poverty Has On Children's development

Poverty has always been a problem in our community. Anyone can be affected by it

and you won't even notice. Especially when poverty is around kids. Sometimes we don't see

it because of their smiles and joy. It can also be hidden through the care that their parents

give to them. Most parents put their children before themselves. They will do anything to

make their kid feel good about themselves. Most young kids don't even know what's going

on because their parents do such a good job providing for their needs. It's sad to see that 20%

of children in the United States are classified as living in poverty (The University of

Tennessee at Martin, n.d.). So basically that can mean that in 5 of your friends at least 1 of

them and their family can be classified as living in poverty. That can be in any age group.

Poverty can affect the development of the child including their ability to thrive academically,

physically and emotionally.

Poverty can be a huge contributor to a child's lack of education. According to the U.S

Census Bureau (2021) 15.3% of children in the U.S are classified to be in Poverty. The

impact of those numbers create terrible strain in the public education system. It's harder for

the instructor to keep the class at pace because of some students being stuck behind. The

student can't control the fact that he or she doesn't have enough resources to be up to

standards with the curriculum, especially school becoming more revolved around technology
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and things like chromebooks, tablets etc. I know that some districts give out some supplies

but some people can't afford the other aspects to make it complete for the student to be a part

of the class. This can be because of the lack of Internet access, space, privacy, safety, and etc.

Transportation is another important factor in a child's lack of education. The Mckinney-Vento

Act Homeless Assistance Act states the right for students in homelessness and poverty to

receive transportation to and from the school of origin (National Center for Homeless

Education, 2017). This act revolves around the problem in homelessness and how it affects

students. The act gives the right immediate school enrollment even when records are not

present , the right to remain in the school of origin, if in the student’s best interest, the right

to receive transportation to and from the school of origin, and lastly the right to receive

support for academic success (National Center for Homeless Education, 2017). Every child

deserves to be able to have a full on education experience even if their situation isnt the best.

Poverty can affect the mental, emotional, and the physical health in a child.

About 15 million children in the United States live in low-income families stated by

(Childrens Bureau, 2019). The effect poverty has on children starts early. You can usually see

a negative effect on their brains and bodies. Poverty has a negative impact on children's brain

development and other body systems. This can lead to poor health problems. These can be

stroke, hypertension, heart disease, certain cancers, obesity, and even a shorter life

expectancy (Childrens Bureau, 2019). Their mental health is negatively affected also. Mental

illness, and Mental health issues can be formed within the Low-income parents and children
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living in the U.S (Childrens Bureau, 2019). These problems can impair overall academic

achievement and the ability of children to succeed in school (Childrens Bureau, 2019).

Poverty is not just a problem money wise, it can effect way more in different ways.

Covid and the pandemic had a big impact on poverty. Because of rising

unemployment some families can't support their household. The rates in child poverty have

increased during the pandemic. Due to Covid child poverty “increased by an average of 1.8

percent from 15.7 percent in 2019 to 17.5 percent in 2020—based on families’ reports in

2020 and 2021”. “This translates to roughly 12.5 million children living in poverty in 2020,

or 1.2 million more than in 2019.” (Chen & Thomson, 2021). Child poverty rates just kept

increasing over the year 2020. There was an increase of almost 700,000 more Latino children

and 268,000 more African American children living in poverty in the year 2020 ( Chen &

Thomson, 2021). The numbers are going to decrease but that doesnt mean that it should be

forgotten.

In conclusion, children in poverty is a topic that needs to be looked upon by everyone.

Even though it's not always bad and the children in the situation arent to deep into poverty.

No child deserves to have troubles involved with their health, education, and etc. Children's

health is important and should be focused on. Poverty in general is increasing so that means

it's in our children too. That can be due to covid. Our future could be in trouble if we don't

work on this now.

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References

- National Center for Homeless Education (n.d.). The Mckinney-Vento Homeless

Assistance Act.

National Center of Homeless Education.

https://nche.ed.gov/legislation/mckinney-vento/

- Hamad, R. , Rehkopf, D. (2016 May 1). Poverty and Child Development: A

Longitudinal Study

of the Impact of the Earned Income Tax Credit.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4851995/

- Children's Bureau. (2019 January 28). Children in Poverty – Poverty and its Effects on

Children. https://www.all4kids.org/news/blog/poverty-and-its-effects-on-children/

- Magnuson, K. , Votruba-Drzal, E. (n.d). Enduring influences of childhood poverty.

https://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/focus/pdfs/foc262f.pdf

- The University of Tennessee at Martin. (n.d.). The Effects of Poverty on Childhood

Development.
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https://www.utm.edu/departments/ncate/documents/rubricexample--coun716researchpape

ronpoverty.pdf

- Chen, Y. , Thomson, D. (2021 June 3). Child Poverty Increased Nationally During

COVID, Especially Among Latino and Black Children.

https://www.childtrends.org/publications/child-poverty-increased-nationally-during-covid

-especially-among-latino-and-black-children
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