A report released this morning shows that children's well-being started to decline last year and is expected to dip to its lowest point in 2010 when many economists believe the full impact of the recession will be felt.
It projects that next year 21 percent of children will be in poverty and 28 percent will not have at least one full-time working parent. The median income for all families will drop to $55,700. Single-parent households led by fathers will be the hardest hit.
The economic downturn will ripple across other domains as well, according to the report, causing breakdowns in community ties (driven by unemployment or housing crises) and family structure (due to an expected uptick in divorce rates). Fewer children at 3 and 4 will be enrolled in pre-kindergarten programs, and violent crime will likely increase. The number of children reporting good health is expected to dip (with obesity rates increasing due in part to a reliance on less healthy foods), but government health insurance policies should lessen the economy's ill effects.
Read more on the report by Lisa Guernsey
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