Reassessing Effectiveness of Federal Programs in Addressing Poverty

Further, three step to the fore of volt of these children have working p arents (Douglas, 1995, p. 16). In 1966, almost 18 part of children under the age of 18 lived in poor families; that name had increased to almost 21 part by 1990 (Cook and Barrett, 1992, p. 21). An estimated 12 million children in the United States are poor (Ford, 1989, p. 10).

An increase number of poor households are headed by single women. Children in these female-headed households are much likely to live in distress than children who live in two-parent households. Women track down to earn lower earnings and to have lower participation rates in the wear out force than their male counterparts. Because of richly rates of teen maternity and divorce, an estimated half of all children under age eighteen testament live in female-headed households (Ford, 1989, p. 6).

The increasing number of children born out of wedlock has reached epidemic proportions in the United States, partly because thither is more social acceptance of unwed mothers. Almost 500,000 teenagers appoint birth to children in the United States each year (Ford, 1989, p. 43). puerile mothers are half as likely to graduate from steep develop than other unsalted women. Unmarried young mothers tend to have decreased economic prospects throughout their lifespans: "There is deduction that, compared with those who have their

children later, early childbearers are much more likely to experience economic harm and family disruption in later life, to drop out of shoal, and to pretermit to find stable and remunerative employment" (Ford, 1989, p. 43). The incidence of teenaged pregnancy for young African American girls between the ages of 15 and 19 is almost 50 percent higher than for innocence or Hispanic girls (Ford, 1989, pp. 30-31).

On the federal level, Republicans tend to piece the current " benefit crisis" on President Johnson's Great party programs of the 1960s. Critics of welfare contend that the cost of public assistance programs has run low a drain on the American economy and is a major contributor to the federal deficit. Granted, public spending on social welfare is not small.

It constituted almost 11 percent of GNP (gross national product) and almost 50 percent of all federal spending in 1988 (Cook and Barrett, 1992, p. 18). However, social restitution programs, i.e., disability insurance, unemployment insurance, and Medicare accounted for 72 percent of all federal, state, and local expenditures compared to save 8 percent for programs like AFDC (Aid for Dependent Children) and Food Stamps (Cook and Barrett, 1992, p. 19). virtually 75 percent of the increase in social welfare spending between 1960 and 1974 benefitted the non-poor (Douglas, 1995, p. 16).

The sobering statistics on high school dropouts indicate the difficulty of eradicating poverty in the United States, because it appears that a permanent underclass is being perpetuated. Nearly one-fourth of young adults do not finish high school (Ford, 1989, p. 1). Because high school dropouts are inadequately prepared for the world of work, numerous experience difficulty in adjusting to society: "High school dropouts are 2 1/2 times more likely than graduates to be without a job, 3 1/2 times more likely to be arrested for a crime, and 7 1/2 times more likely to be dependent on public assistance" (Ford, 1989, p. 30).

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