|
|
| Arkansas' 1996 child-poverty rate ranked in top 10 nationally | |
| ANDREW A. GREEN ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE A quarter of Arkansas' children were in poverty in 1996, giving the state one of the 10 highest rates in the nation, according to new Census Bureau estimates. The state's rate stayed essentially the same in the '90s while the national average increased significantly, from 18.3 percent to 20.5 percent. Arkansas didn't get worse, but it didn't get better either. Although Louisiana and Mississippi still have higher child-poverty rates than Arkansas, both states showed significant decreases in the '90s, and Mississippi had the largest poverty decreases in the nation in nearly every age group for which the bureau made estimates. Poverty statistics are problematic. The dollar threshold for poor families is set nationally by the Office of Management and Budget and doesn't take into account local cost of living variations and other factors, so some children who are counted as poor in Arkansas are probably better off than some poor children in other states, Census officials said. The immediate effect of the new child-poverty numbers is that they are the basis for the distribution of about $20 billion nationally in annual funds through programs such as Head Start and Title I education assistance. The fact that Arkansas' child-poverty rates have remained high in a decade of unparalleled economic prosperity in the state and the nation disturbs child advocates and demographers alike. In Arkansas, the poverty rate for children under five is 31.2 percent, almost twice the general poverty rate. And, advocates say, being poor is worse for young children because they tend to miss out on opportunities later, locking them into a cycle of poverty. "If a child grows up poor, that often translates into failing to finish school, becoming pregnant as a teen, not finding a job," said Sabine Henning, a demographer at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's Census State Data Center. "This kind of disadvantage follows these children throughout their lifetimes." To say there is a cycle of poverty is an understatement, said Richard Huddleston, research director for Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families. He said he has a stack of statistics on his desk showing ways in which poor children are at a disadvantage in their health, education and nutrition. And regardless of the cost of living in Arkansas relative to other states, the federal poverty line is still far too low, Huddleston said. The current level of $16,655 for a family of four isn't nearly enough to pay for the family's basic needs, he said. "I think what these numbers show," Huddleston said, "given that we have had a great economy, is that we still have a long way to go both in terms of economic development and in issues of education and training, enabling people to land better jobs with better skills." For the state, high child-poverty rates translate into a large dependence on state services, said Ruth Whitney, director of county operations for the Arkansas Department of Human Services. About 600,000 Arkansans, about 25 percent of the population, receives some kind of assistance from the state. "That demonstrates that there is obviously a continuing need for families that are working and trying to make ends meet to support their living via these programs," Whitney said. It's through more efficient use of social-service programs that Mississippi has managed to decrease its overall and child-poverty rates, said Donald Taylor, executive director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services. The nineties have been good to Mississippi economically, he said, and well-engineered welfare reform has meant that prosperity has benefited the poor as well as the upper and middle classes. "The whole goal is not to make poverty comfortable but rather to make prosperity available," Taylor said. Another major factor in Mississippi has been tough child support enforcement, which has doubled collections from $78 million in 1988 to $145 million in 1998, he said. Several things need to be done in Arkansas to reduce child-poverty levels, Huddleston said. ARKids First, a program that provides health insurance to children, has been extremely successful, but ultimately, children will remain poor until their parents' economic situations improve, he said. Nationally, the child-poverty rate is significantly higher than the adult rate. The reason probably has to do with the number of single-parent families, said Paul Siegel, a Census Bureau statistician. Not only do those families tend to have less income, but they also have a higher ratio of children to adults. That trend is mirrored in benefits handed out by the state. For example, the 7,321 adults in Arkansas who received Transitional Employment Assistance benefits last month had 22,917 children. In order to make sure parents' economic well-being is strong enough to keep children out of poverty, the state needs to provide better training for adults so they can get better jobs and to help them in areas such as child care and health care, Huddleston said. "It doesn't mean we want to create a cycle of dependency, but we have to be realistic that until they can get out of poverty, some support for the working parents is needed so they can meet their children's basic needs," he said. Because poverty numbers determine how federal funding is distributed -- and because Arkansas has a large need for such assistance -- the state needs to make sure all children are counted in the 2000 Census, Henning said. Census Bureau estimates show that the 1990 Census missed about 25,000 children in Arkansas. "We're missing these children, and if we're talking about no significant improvement in the poverty level among children, we should be concerned about missing these poor children again," Henning said. "If we miss them, less money will be allocated to them, and that will put them at an additional disadvantage." This article was published on Wednesday, November 3, 1999 |
|
| If you are interested in
additional information, or would like to set up a
Families Worldwide Chapter in your community,
please feel free to contact us via
e-mail. Families Worldwide Send comments and mail to Webmaster |
