POVERTY IMPACT ON CHILDREN

The causes of child poverty are complex, but they are directly related to adult poverty and is a cycle that must be broken. Child poverty can have a profound and lasting impact on a person’s life. Growing up in poverty can lead to poorer health outcomes, lower educational attainment, and increased difficulty finding employment as an adult. Children who experience poverty are also more likely to experience food insecurity, poor housing, and limited access to healthcare. All of these factors can contribute to a cycle of poverty that is difficult to break.

The effects of child poverty are not limited to the individual level. Poor children are also more likely to grow up to be poor adults, which can have a negative impact on the economy as a whole. In addition, child poverty can lead to increased crime rates and social problems. Therefore, it is important to address the issue of child poverty in order to improve the lives of individual children and the health of society as a whole.

Child poverty rates by state: Among the highest were in Mississippi (26.4%), West Virginia (25.0%) and Louisiana (24.6%). (These estimates are not significantly different from one another.)

HOW DOES POVERTY IMPACT CHILDREN?

Children who grow up in poverty often face a number of challenges that can negatively impact their growth and development. For example, hunger and illness can lead to delayed physical development, while things like housing insecurity and instability can cause cognitive delays. 

In addition, poverty has been linked with academic underachievement, behavior problems, and social and emotional issues. As a result, it is important to provide support to children who are growing up in poverty-stricken environments. This may include access to healthcare, nutritious food, safe housing, and quality educational opportunities. By helping to address the needs of these children, we can help to break the cycle of poverty and give them a chance to reach their full potential.

2024 Report: Louisiana is in the 50th spot for the second year in a row in the Best States Rankings by U.S. News & World Report. The list considered performances in categories such as health care, education, economy, internet, roads and public safety. “More weight was accorded to some categories than others, based on a survey of what matters most to people. Health care and education were weighted most heavily,” the U.S. News & World Report said. Louisiana ranked No. 50 in the 2024 best states rankings. The Pelican State placed 50th in crime and corrections. It was 47th in education, 46th in health care and 49th in the natural environment. It was also 49th in the economy, 41st in fiscal stability, 49th in infrastructure and 44th in opportunity.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING STATS FOCUSING ON CHILDREN

Multiple organizations estimate that 500,000 predators are online every day, leaving minors vulnerable each time they access a social media account. 

  • 1 in 3 children are first exposed to social media at age 5 or younger. 
  • 1 in 3 children are expected to have an unwelcome sexual experience online before they turn 18. 
  • Younger social media exposure correlates with more sexual harm online and peaks for kids who start using social media at 11-12 – the age around which most American children get their first smartphone. 
  • 43% of kids exposed to inappropriate sexual content online were under 13. 
  • Kids with disabilities, special needs, or who identify as LGBTQ+ are 2-4x more likely to send explicit images of themselves than their peers. 

The most chilling fact about these statistics is that they only reflect the reported numbers. Human trafficking lives in the shadows, meaning it is impossible to ever know how many cases are happening without being reported. 

“We have a major issue here in the United States” Geoff Rogers, co-founder of the United States Institute Against Human Trafficking (USIAHT), said in an interview with Fox News. “The United States is the No. 1 consumer of sex worldwide. So we are driving the demand as a society.”

“We’re also driving the demand with our own people, with our own kids,” Rogers said. “So there are tremendous numbers of kids, a multitude of kids that are being sold as sex slaves today in America. These are American kids, American-born, 50 percent to 60 percent of them coming out of the foster care industry.”

This assertion is confirmed by the State Department’s report, which found that children in foster care, homeless youth, undocumented immigrant children and those with substance abuse problems were especially at risk to fall into the human trafficking trap.

Rogers says that because the demand is so great in the U.S., traffickers are filling that demand with an increased supply of forced sex workers.

“So the demand here in the United States is a global one,” he said. “We do have men traveling the globe to go to places like Thailand and other places in East Asia to purchase sex with kids. But, in fact, the demand is so great that the supply has needed to be filled here in the United States.”

“Because of the demand, then these traffickers are filling that demand with supply. And the demand is so great here in the United States that they’re filling the supply with our very own kids,” Rogers continued.

According to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report, over 300,000 of America’s young population is considered at risk for sexual exploitation. It’s also estimated that 199,000 incidents occur within the U.S. each year.