American children in poverty on the rise-More facing threat of hunger with parents unemployed

American children in poverty on the rise
More facing threat of hunger with parents unemployed
Saturday, July 11, 2009
By Annie Gowen, The Washington Post


WASHINGTON -- A growing number of American children are living in poverty and with unemployed parents, and are facing the threat of hunger, according to a new federal report released yesterday.

According to "America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being," 18 percent of all children 17 and under were living in poverty in 2007 -- up from 17 percent in 2006. The percentage of children who had at least one parent working full time was 77 percent in 2007 -- down from 78 percent in 2006. And those living in households with extremely low "food security" -- where parents described children as being hungry or having skipped a meal or gone without eating for an entire day -- increased from 0.6 percent in 2006 to 0.9 percent in 2007, the report said.

Federal officials said the statistics released this week pre-date the current economic downturn and forecast darker times for the country's 74 million children 17 and under, when data on children's lives during the recession become available.

"It foreshadows greater changes we'll see when we look at these figures next year," said Dr. Duane Alexander, director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Heath, one of the government agencies that participated in the study.

The report is an annual compilation of statistics on child welfare from several government agencies, including the U.S. Census. It tracks trends in family life, health care, safety and education.

more...

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09192/983275-84.stm

to your local food bank or a group called Feeding America.

It breaks my heart to think of children going hungry.