Recession May Have Lasting Impact On Kids

Report Predicts The Recession Will Erase Years Of Improvements Made In Children's Lives

(CBS)  The current recession could be over by the year's end, but its impact on children will continue through next year and may virtually erase decades of improvements in American children's well-being, according to a new report by the Foundation for Child Development.

The recession's impacts -- especially on poor and very young children -- could be profound unless policies are changed to help strengthen families in times of hardship and to acknowledge the importance of early childhood education, child advocates said Wednesday.

"We should be doing a lot more to invest in children and youth, and it’s pretty clear we’re not doing that," Ruby Takanishi, president of the Foundation for Child Development, said Wednesday in Washington, in a presentation of the foundation's latest report.

The Foundation's Child and Youth Well-Being Index Project at Duke University recently issued its annual composite assessment of children's well-being. Along with updating the index through 2007, the assessment concludes that through 2010, virtually all the progress made in family economic well-being since 1975 will be wiped out because of the recession, taking a lasting toll on children. The projection is based on the analysis of data from past recessions and economic forecasts for the future.

The report provides a composite child well-being index based on 28 indicators, organized into seven domains, including family economic well-being, health, safety and behavioral concerns, and educational attainment. Each year's results are measured against figures from 1975, when the index started. While the index has shown ups and downs in children's quality of life over the years, predictably correlating with recessions, the index could fall back to 1975 levels by 2010 largely because of a decline in families' economic well-being.

The index "forces us to recognize children don’t just go to school, don’t just have good health or bad health, they’re not just emotional creatures -- they’re all of those things and more," said Duke Professor Ken Land, the author of the study. "There is a high probability of a reversal of decades of improvements. It's important leaders be aware of things that will occur, and that actions can be taken to ameliorate them at all levels of society."

The percentage of children in poverty is likely to peak at 21 percent in 2010, the report says, comparable to figures from past recessions. Twenty-seven percent of children -- 8 million -- will likely have at least one parent not working full time year-round in 2010. Median family income is expected to drop for all families but especially for single male-headed households.

Along with the direct impact of the decline in families' economic well-being, children will likely suffer from a range of indirect effects of the recession, the report forecasts. Obesity may rise from parents' reliance on cheap meals, behavioral problems could increase if adolescents who are not in school cannot find jobs, and state and local budget cuts could limit the availability of pre-kindergarten programs.

Early childhood educational programs should be considered more seriously by policymakers and society at large, said Barbara Bowman, the chief officer for early education for Chicago Public Schools and a consultant for the U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

No Child Left Behind "has pushed the education system into thinking life begins at nine," she said. "There is the continued reluctance to see young children as serious learners," in spite of evidence proving the significance of early learning.

"The recession is simply going to exacerbate that," she said.

Many states are putting their investments in children’s services on hold or decreasing them. In Illinois, for instance, cuts in funding for early childhood education mean as many as 10,000 children in Chicago will lose access to pre-school, Bowman said. Still, she said, she was optimistic for policy changes at the federal level.

"For the first time in a long time, we do have a president who gets it, who really understands the importance of early childhood care and education," she said.

Along with educational policy, federal lawmakers should also re-examine the "flawed and fraying" social safety nets for families, said Gregory Acs, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan think tank.

"In the 1990's, we transformed the social safety net to be a work-based system," he said. "Now we’re confronted with the question of how does a work-based social safety net work when there are no jobs."

Programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program -- which provides food stamps -- prove more useful during recessions, Acs said, but other programs like the Earned Income Tax Credit are not as helpful when parents lose their jobs.

Work-based programs are important, Acs said, but welfare programs need to be more responsive to times of higher unemployment. Nutritional and educational programs should also do more for young children in extreme poverty, he said, since enduring consistent poverty from infancy to the age of five has proven to have more lasting consequences than for older children.

"Given what we know about the timing of the recession, we have to focus on the long term," he said. "The kids who were poor before the recession will be poor after it ends."

Acs also suggested more public outreach to parents to remind them, he said, that "even though you lost your job, you’re still a parent. You still have to focus on your kids' well-being."

[Theophrastus]

RE: howiepolley 4:11am

True! If THIS continueing "recession" continues to generate more ignorant people, then the 2012 Mayan prophecy about an end of the world will come true --- people will be so benightly ignorant that they'll become and thus disappear into black holes -- flaws in the smooth flow of space & time (or, spacetime.) Even so, they'll be better people than the Wall St and bankster slugs who're responsiible for this mess.

[Theophrastus]

If kingskibo had any experience with recession, depression, or what the hell ever you want to call it, he would have realized that recession/depression-type pitfalls leave most true human beings (excluding primates, lemurs, and even the ocassional sub-humanoid conservative) in mentally/emotionally scarred conditions.

As a counselor, I have to deal with the real fallout of this economic plague. I've even begun to encounter a few who've become, what,at best,can be called, "human haters." Those who've been econ down so long and hard that they see all others as the cause of their plight due to our so highly-vaunted system of "competition." We're safe as long as they stay on their meds. If not, we'll soon hear more about the growing number of them on the evening news.

[differnet]

Pellasux, what planet do you live on. You certainly aren't a historian. Because if you read what actually happened to many kids during the Great Depression you would not try to food anyone with that load of crap. Children ended up on the state and my god, they suffered in ways that were unimaginable to those of us today. Child abuse and prostitution was enormous as children where abandoned in the streets. Go look at Dorethea Lange's photo journalism of the Great Depression. Children starved to death or died of rampant malnutrition. I really hate it when people try to tell themselves the past was better.

[PellaSux]

During the depression people who could not take cake of their children too steps to protect their kids. They left the kids with family, friends, or turned them over to the state. No matter what happened the kids were taken care of! Now we have parents that are letting their kids go hungry. The parents hold up their kids and beg for the whole family to be taken care of. Before this recession if it was discovered that childeren were not being fed, the state would take away the kids. The parents may have even been charged with child endangerment. My question is why isn't it being done now. Parents MUST be told that they have to make certain the kids are being taken care or, if they don't, they will lose them and possibly punished. DON'T reward parents that don't have the intelligence or decency to think of their kids first. The state could take the kids only until their parents get back on their feet. This story really stunk because it looked at the issue from a twisted point of view.

[mjvwsr]

Recession May Have Lasting Impact On Kids ... Actually, the recession my have a lasting impact on EVERYBODY!!!!!
Posted by tomanyt

Please don't include me in your "everbody" unless you're talking about all the positives I've benefited from. Cheap cruises, shorter lines in nice restaurants, less people on the golf course.

[Dgunner]

The most imminent threat to our youth is the govrnments tolerance on food ingredients and the long term effects of feeding our food supply reprocessed forms of that spieces. The parents work hard to raise thier children to the best of thier ability as far as education and in most cases respnsibility .The parents are more often now than twenty years ago feeding thier children to death . It is mind boggling how a pet owner will seek out the best food available for thier pet and feed thier children the worst possible edible product that really doesn't deserve to be called food.

[freespeech101]

If Sarah Palin was running the economy we would all be living on Seal Blubber and Berries i.e. Hunting and Gathering. I mean, I'll admit the girl has some survivalist skills but seriously, hot air does not put the 10 million jobs lost because of Bush's folly back to work, Government stimulus does.

[noloyalisti]

It is because big corporations who run the government do not care about human life, only profits. It is going to be a tough thing to turn back the fascism, take money and power away from these right wing fanatics and restore power to the people. We must do it though if we care about the health and safety and the future of our kids.

[KingSkibo]

Boo hoo. boo hoo. Does anyone remember the cold war? Nuclear attack drills? How about the energy crisis of the 70's, or viet Nam. oh yeah like this recession is any worse than the depression. Bunch of pansies learning to play soccer. Bad parents will have more of an effect on these kids than any financial condition.

[tomanyt]

Recession May Have Lasting Impact On Kids ... Actually, the recession my have a lasting impact on EVERYBODY!!!!!

[mylyric]

OH PLEASE! Kids aren't like glass. They won't break. Going through terrible times where they have to suffer along, go to work, sacrifice and do without will do nothing but build their character and sense of self and independence. I had to go to work when I was 12...was it fun while all my pals were going to the mall to shop and hang out? NO, it wasn't. Did I fare better than them in the long run ? Overwhelmingly, yes. I did. As did my siblings. Sometimes, things just suck....you CANNOT be brave if you've only had wonderful things happen to you.

[anti-global2]

If a child's parents take responsibility for their child's development (teaching them at home, being involved in thier schools to know what is going on, teaching them values ect) then the kids will be ok. Those parents who do not do this are guilty of neglect and should have never had children in the first place, which is their fault not societies. People with issues that stop them from doing the right thing, wether those isses are addictions, poverty, whatever, are not victims, at one time or another they had a choice and made the wrong one. Those of us that do stay very involved in our children's lives may not be perfect but we are aware of what is working for them and what is not, which allow us to take actions and make changes necessary for thier development.
Also there were plenty of problems with our youth before the recession. Many are more concerned with becoming the next american idol, or the next LeBron James, rather then getting a good education. This is because they are not being taught priorities by their parents. Look at the stimulus plan. To me one of the most important elements, and one of the few I agree with is the 400 billion going inot public education. You don't hear many people, especially those in poor neighborhoods who would benifit the most talk about this, in many cases they just don't care. They would rather have the "free" stuff, like free healthcare, and increased welfare benifits ect. The fact that we pump money into schools won't mean anything if the kids don't take advantage of it, which means using self control, going to school, working hard, doing homework everynight. Unfortunately many of the kids and thier parents have no intention of taking advantage of this, because it would entail hard work. They would rather just get by and milk the system. I hope things do change for these families, but I don't see it happening.

[antoniof123]

If I had a time machine I'd go back and when Bill Clinton said the words "Free Trade" or "NAFTA", I'd slap him silly. We were richer back when the US dollar had value and we made less. Far richer. Less taxes, less government, free'er, fire works were legal, more jobs....ahhhh the good old days.

This socialism crap sucks.
Posted by beach671 at 5:44 AM : Jun 4, 2009

And if I had a time machine I would go back in time and slap Regan silly for giving us trickle down and that is facism so it sucks worst because that is why we are poorer today. Durning the Clinton era we as a country were the riches and best in our history. Stop throwing stones if you live in a glass house. There is plent of blame to go around not the presidents but us.

Of course the more you try to blame Clinton after the witch hunts we had to endure by Newt and Party the more we like him and the more we dislike the ones who did it.

[aChangeOfIdeas]

Just a few short years ago, folks were happy with a 3 bed/1 bath home with an astonishing 1600 square feet of living space. They cooled their homes with a fan in the window, and if there was a garage, it was a one-car because that's all the cars you had. What are we comparing to now? Folks have to work harder because they *want* more. Bigger house, bathroom for every kid, three car garages with the fourth car sitting in the driveway, the central vac, central AC, cable, cell phones, internet service, lawn service once a week ? I know not everyone lives like that but let's face it, what's considered "average" has definitley changed.
Yes, kids will be affected by the recession. Some of it bad, but mostly good. I also fail to see how the recession will increase obesity. Being poor doesn't make you fat. Being too lazy to cook or shop properly makes you fat. I can prepare a very healthy meal for far less than eating out at Burger King.

[beach671]

Just a few short years ago you could work for minimum wage in America and 400 hours of labor would get you an acre of land.

4,000 hours of labor at minimum wage would get you a home.

Now....even at $20 an hour kids will have to work 25,000 hours of labor to pay off their homes and the interest on the mortgage.

Sure we have some cheap junk from China now making it look like our money gets us something....but it doesn't.

We were richer just a couple decades ago making far less money. We're getting broker, and broker, and broker....wow....we're to the point where we have to accept a little poison in the goods from China. A little poison in the belly is good for us according to the FDA.

If I had a time machine I'd go back and when Bill Clinton said the words "Free Trade" or "NAFTA", I'd slap him silly. We were richer back when the US dollar had value and we made less. Far richer. Less taxes, less government, free'er, fire works were legal, more jobs....ahhhh the good old days.

This socialism crap sucks.

[payasyougo]

"Recession May Have Lasting Impact On Kids"
-----
Not the recession. It's the bailouts from the "endless taxpayer piggybank" that will have the lasting impact on kids.

[howiepolley]

By reading some of these reply's it seems a lot of these preople where victims of a recession that destroyed their chances of getting a proper education. You can actually see how important education is by reading some of these reply's. If a recession creates more ignorant people we are in deep trouble. The world cannot afford skimping our education system, period.

[tincup356]

May the youths of today learn that party politics are the root of ALL the problems America faces,,,,,may they learn to identify the fact that NEITHER party will EVER represent them,,,,,and that BOTH parties are nothing less than crooks and liars.

[toldyouso29]

Yeah. So what? The Depression had an impact on kids, WWI and WWII and the Korean WAr and the Vietnam war had an Impact on kids--the recessions of 1972, 1976, 1982, 1989, 1991, etc had an impact on kids also. REcessions have an impact on kids because their entire family's financial health can be affected. As families face lay offs, depression, break up, lose houses, more fights break out etc, it does affect kids--as does the drinking, violence, anger, helplessness, suicides, moving to more depressed neighborhoods, etc that follows job loss.

so this is a stupid article, right up there with the stupid article about the people applying for unemployment being less in any given month--who cares? Those who apply do not reflect the amount out of work, nor does it reflect the fact that the rolls are purged every 90 days and we just stop counting everyone.

[ubrew12]

randomlybanned said: "Maybe the lasting impact on the youth will be that they never vote Democrat!!!"

If the last Great Depression is any guide, that's unlikely.