Poverty and Children

1. Poverty and Children Julia Garten Consultation for Counselors

2. “Two students begin their educational future on the same day, in the same town, and at the same school. Their futures look bright with each appearing to have the same opportunity at being successful in progressing through school until graduation. The school provides the same teachers, books, meals, socialization, activities, and opportunities to each child. Yet one child will have a risk 6 times greater than me other of dropping out of school before reaching high school graduation because that child is from a low-income family,” (Johnson, 2009).

3. What is Poverty? “Income poverty is the condition of not having enough income to meet basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter. Because children are dependent on others, they enter or avoid poverty by virtue of their family’s economic circumstances. Children cannot alter family conditions by themselves, at least until they approach adulthood,” (Gunn & Duncan, 1997 ).

4. In recent years, about one in five American children—some 12 to 14 million have lived in families in which cash income failed to exceed official poverty thresholds. Another one-fifth lived in families whose incomes were no more than twice the poverty threshold. For a small minority of children—4.8% of all children and 15% of children who ever became poor—childhood poverty lasted 10 years or more Among children ages 6 through 11 in middle childhood, 42 percent live in low-income families and 20 percent live in poor families. The percentage of children in middle childhood living in low-income families (both poor and near poor) has been on the rise – increasing from 39 percent in 2000 to 42 percent in 2009. Children living below the poverty threshold are 1.3 times as likely as non-poor children to experience learning disabilities and developmental delays

5. Children living in poverty are more likely to: • Physically: Experience learning disabilities and developmental delays Often have no health insurance so they lack preventative medical and dental care. Low birth weight, elevated blood lead levels, malnourished, lower caloric intake, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, obesity, higher risk for asthma, greater risk of injuries resulting from accidents or physical abuse/neglect • Academically: score lower on standardized tests, absenteeism, reduced IQ, learning disabilities, grade retention, school dropout • Emotionally: anxiety, depression, lower levels of sociability and initiative, problematic peer relations, experience peer rejection • Behaviorally: aggression, fighting, and acting out, disruptive classroom behaviors • Environmentally: frequent moves, job loss or low wage jobs, unsafe neighborhoods, experience violent crime, exposure to crime and or drugs, lack of professional role models, single-parent families, and fewer opportunities outside their community

6. What can counselors do within the school environment? Understanding how low income affects child outcomes is important for the current generation as well as future generations. “School counselors have the opportunity to profoundly challenge and change the interactions between families in poverty and the educational system. Many parents in poverty have experienced previous challenges with school that have triggered them to become defensive when communicating with school personnel about their child. Because of the training school counselors receive on working with at-risk and low-socioeconomic populations, they have the opportunity to train other educators in ways that will reach children and families in poverty without further alienating them,” (Johnson, 2009).

7. What can counselors do within the school environment cont… Counselors can serve as a cultural bridge between families and teachers by: 1. sharing information that counters teachers' deficit views of poor families and blocking blaming of families 2. modeling how to reach out to families and build on their strengths 3. mediating between the conflicting cultural expectations of the home and the school. (Johnson, 2009)

8. What can counselors do within the school environment cont… Targeting students who display at-risk characteristics or at-risk factors through early interventions and prevention programs is the best way to reduce the chance that an at-risk student will drop out. General areas of concern for counselors specific to meeting the needs of at-risk students identified in the research studies were: -providing opportunities for career exploration -providing small-group counseling for developing academic and behavior skills -promoting parental involvement -promoting school connectedness

9. What can counselors do within the school environment cont… • One key resource for success in school and at work is an understanding of the hidden rules. • “Hidden rules are the unspoken cueing system that individuals use to indicate membership in a group,” (Payne, Example: 1. Middle class rule: work and achievement tend to be the driving forces on decision making VS. generational poverty rule: survival entertainment and relationships tend to be the driving forces on decision making • The recommended approach is simply teach the student that he/she needs a set of rules that brings success in school and at work and a different set that brings success outside of school,” (Payne, Ex: Children growing up in generational poverty are likely to laugh when disciplined (to save face) SO explain that if an employee laughs at a boss when being disciplined, he would probably get fired.

10. What can counselors do within the school environment cont… • The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP) are federally sponsored nutrition programs operating daily in the nation’s schools. • All public and private nonprofit elementary and secondary schools are eligible to participate- almost all public schools participate • Children receive free, reduced-price, or “full-price” meals, depending on their family’s size and income • The NSLP is available to 92% of all students in the country, and on a typical school day, 56% of those students to whom school lunches are available participate. (Devaney, Ellwood & Love, 1997)

11. “NSLP lunches are planned to provide approximately one-fourth of the RDA, and each breakfast must include a serving of fluid milk, a serving of either fruit or vegtable or a full-strength fruit or vegetable juice, and two servings of either bread or meat or their alternates. In addition, recent legislation mandated that schools participating in the NSLP and SBP meet the goals in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans for lower fat content in school meals by the 1996–97 school year,” (Devaney, Ellwood & Love, 1997).

12. References Devaney, B.L, Ellwood, M.R., & Love, J.M. (1997). Programs that mitigate the effects of poverty on children. The Future of Children, 7(2), Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/ Gunn, J.B., & Duncan, G.J. (1997). The effects of poverty on children. The Future of Children, 7(2), Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/ Johnson, A.F. (2009). What we know about at-risk students: important considerations for principal and counselor leadership. NASSP Bulleti, 93(2), Retrieved from www.eric.ed.gov Payne, R. (1995). Poverty: A framework for understanding and working with students and adults from poverty. Baytown, TX: RFT Publishing