We have been in a recession here in Michigan for many years and families, especially our poorest children are the ones who - through no fault of their own, end up paying the price in a severe and substantial way

Nationally because of the recession, child poverty is on the rise.  A recent study about the foundation of child development, released in June, found that the poverty rate among children is now 21%, up from 17% prior to the recession in 2006.  This is a disturbing increase in just over 3 years for child poverty which translates to 15.6 million children living in poverty.  Around 50% of these children live in ‘‘extreme poverty,’’ which is defined as below 50 percent of the federal poverty level.

As a mother, what I am most concerned about is the fact that the recession we’re currently experiencing in America, is not just a remote set of numbers for millions of families about child poverty or unemployment or any of the other numbers we use to measure or describe the recession.  Professor Mariana Chilton who is a leader on child hunger and an advocate for children has a better way of discussing this issue:

“With regard to the children, the recession is in their bodies and in their brains.  This means that a bad economy has an impact on poor children that is physical in nature. It is not just some condition that is remote; it physically injures a poor child more than a child who is not poor. That is what the recession means to a child. Unfortunately, that is not the end of it. Even while the recession is injuring children physically, it is also limiting their potential, their brain development, which, of course, stays with them for the rest of their lives. So it is indeed a recession that injures them physically, their bodies, but also has an adverse impact on their brains, which stays with them forever.”

Unfortunately, the Washington Independent reported yesterday that the Senate in Washington is preparing to rob Peter to pay Paul. They will decide soon whether to take from one program helping the neediest of Americans in order to give to another.  One of the proposals being considered is to take $6.7 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, the benefits formerly known as food stamps, which is not generous as it pays only $4.50 per day in order to give funding to help the Medicaid program as well as to keep teachers on the job.  If the Senate agrees with this proposal it will be unprecedented for the food stamps program and really unfortunate for our poorest children and their families.