Rate of Michigan kids in poverty rising fast

from The Lansing State Journal

Agencies trying to keep pace as economy declines

Nicole Geary and Susan Vela
Lansing State Journal

Angie Janes' three children weren't supposed to live in poverty.

But they ended up staying with friends and residing in hotels and shelters when their mother became homeless in 2005.

Sarah, 16; Daniel, 14; and Isaiah, 12, now are staying with their father in Grand Rapids while their mother struggles to get back on her feet, working two jobs and staying at a Lansing shelter.

Janes thinks they'll recover from the stress that comes with not knowing where their next meal will come from.

"We always had each other," she said.

Poverty is threatening the future of thousands of Michigan children.

Data from the 2007 Kids Count report, released today, show another year of dire financial conditions for the state's children, despite improvements in such areas as infant mortality and high school retention.

Michigan's child poverty rate rose three times faster than the national average between 2000 and 2005, or by 36 percent compared with 12 percent across the country.

The toll is becoming evident throughout mid-Michigan.

These days, more families need scholarships just to cover Boys & Girls Club annual memberships at $10 a child.

More than 400 kids turned to an Eaton County agency for help with shelter, school supplies or medical care last year.

And the Lansing School District served 532 homeless students during 2006-07, a leap from 180 three years ago.

The list continues as local agencies and schools see more young people living without the most basic needs, bearing the burden of Michigan's alarming childhood poverty trend.

"As the economic situation in Michigan deteriorates, so do families," said Carmen Turner, director of the Boys & Girls Club of Lansing.

She said at least three-quarters of the 1,500 young people who spend time at the southside recreational center qualify for free or reduced lunch prices during the school year. Five years ago, fewer than 70 percent did.

The majority of those children have single parents, Turner said. "They may be working, but they're so below the poverty line that they're affected tremendously."

Kids Count reports 19 percent of Michigan kids were in households earning incomes below the poverty line in 2005, the most recent data available, matching the nationwide average.

But that's compared with 14 percent in 2000. Only four other states experienced more dramatic increases in child poverty: Colorado, Maine, Nebraska and New Hampshire.

To put it in perspective, 36 percent more kids lived in families earning $19,806 or less, the federally established poverty line for two adults and two children in 2005.

That means bringing home a little more than $1,000 per month, then facing an average fair market rent of $685 before other expenses, according to Jane Zehnder-Merrell, Michigan project director for Kids Count.

'Desperate situation'

"It's a totally desperate situation," she said. "Families compensate in different ways."

Nonprofit leaders say those parents often move frequently and use public transportation.

They rely on food stamps, Medicaid and state-funded help with utility bills - Michigan's Department of Human Services now is assisting more people than it has in 27 years with dwindling resources, Deputy Director Jim Nye said.

More than anything, they get stressed.

Kids Count shows 35 percent of Michigan kids live in families in which no parent has full-time, year-round employment.

"It affects everything else for those children. You have more children who've lost hope and may turn to crime," said Barbara Roberts Mason, founder of Lansing's Black Child & Family Institute, which also offers more scholarships to keep troubled kids engaged in summer camps.

"Unless Michigan and our communities do more for families that are having problems, we're going to find more children falling through the cracks," she said.

Rural areas affected

Even in the more rural Eaton County, the SIREN/Eaton Shelter already has served about 187 children this year.

The number will quickly accelerate during the chillier fall months, officials said, when it's too cold to sleep outdoors.

And the economy isn't the only culprit.

What's disheartening for Executive Assistant Cindie Filko is the kids that she sees now are being raised by adults who also grew up without money or reliable shelter. She said the poor children that she works with today have a 30 percent chance of becoming homeless.

"Unfortunately, we haven't seen the cycle broken," Filko said. "It's still continuing from generation to generation."

Contact Nicole Geary at 377-1066 or ngeary@lsj.com. Contact Susan Vela at 702-4248 or svela@lsj.com.