Rate of child poverty rising faster in Indiana

from The Indianapolis Star

Immigrant and single-parent families, joblessness contribute
By Tim Evans

The number of children living in poverty grew nearly twice as fast in Indiana as in the rest of the nation during the first half of this decade, according to a new report on the status of America's children.

From 2000 to 2005, the number of Hoosier children in poverty increased 21 percent, compared with just less than 12 percent nationally, according to the 2007 Kids Count report, released today by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Indiana's increase was the 10th-largest jump among all states.
The report found that more than 272,000 Indiana children, or 17 percent of those younger than 18, lived in poverty. The national rate was 19 percent.

"We are moving in the wrong direction, and we need to find a way to turn that around," said Bill Stanczykiewicz, president and chief executive of the nonprofit Indiana Youth Institute, which worked on the report with the Casey foundation.

"Poverty crushes hope. Poverty crushes aspirations. And kids stop trying because they don't see the adults around them with good jobs, educations and opportunities."
Reasons for the increase cited in the report included:
• Nearly one-third of Hoosiers younger than 19 lived in families where no parent has full-time, year-round employment, up 19 percent from 2000.

• Thirty percent of Indiana children lived in single-parent families, up 3 percent from 2000.

• The number of children in immigrant families increased 28 percent, and the poverty rate for those children was 21 percent.

Stanczykiewicz said those family factors are major contributors to the increasing number of children in poverty -- and help fuel a generational cycle that can be hard to escape.

"I'm not saying children in single-parent families are doomed, but there is a statistical correlation to the likelihood of them continuing to live in poverty as adults," he said.

Another factor in the state's growing child poverty rate, according to the Indiana Youth Institute, was the state's unemployment rate, which nearly doubled from 2000 to 2005.

The unemployment rate for Hoosiers with a college degree is about 2 percent, while the rate is nearly 10 percent for those with just a high school diploma.
"As we move into the 21st-century economy," Stanczykiewicz said, "people really need more and better education."

Community groups such as Hawthorne Community Center on the Westside and the Indiana Latino Institute are trying to help address the problem with programs that promote education, job training and financial literacy.

Since 2005, state officials have taken other steps to help low-income families, including beefing up efforts to collect child support and expanding state health insurance coverage for poor children.
Advocates, however, say more needs to be done.

"I think we are chipping away at the mountain, but we still have a long way to go," said state Rep. Vanessa Summers, D-Indianapolis, who chairs the Family, Children and Human Affairs Committee.

"There is no simple solution. We need more job training, more jobs and better pay, especially for women," Summers said. "We also need to expand the availability of affordable child care so that single parents can go to work knowing their children are safe."

In 2005, according to the Indiana Youth Institute, there were 311,655 children younger than 6 in Indiana whose parents had jobs.

However, institute data show, there were only 138,269 slots available for children in licensed child care -- meaning just one slot for every 2.25 children who needed care.
That has been a problem for Tracey Carter, 21, a single mother from Indianapolis who recently lost her housekeeping job because she couldn't find dependable child care.
"I feel like I'm kind of trapped in my situation," Carter said. "If I could get help, I could do better. But right now, I'm just living day to day and I'm struggling."
Carter said she plans to get into an employment program at the Martin Luther King Center but still faces a day-care obstacle.

"Most of the places I checked out had waiting lists, and it was really expensive, especially for a baby," she said. "To put my son in one of those, it would take up almost everything that I made."

Instead, Carter turned to neighbors and friends to watch the boy while she worked. But repeated problems caused her to miss work and, ultimately, to lose her job.
"I want to work. I want to be in a better position for myself and my son," she said. "But right now it's all I can do just to get by."