Poverty Did Not Disappear When Covid-19 Did - How the Monthly Child Tax Credit Can Help Impoverished Children

 Poverty Did Not Disappear When COVID-19 Did - How the Monthly Child Tax Credit Can Help Impoverished Children

Just because Covid-19 has gone away that doesn’t mean that child poverty has too. 

Two children protesting to end child poverty, childrensdefense.org 

As we all know, the Covid-19 pandemic did not only just cause mass sickness across our country but also caused many to lose their jobs, many wages to be lowered and the price of everyday necessities to be increased. 

All of these things have caused the percentage of children and families in poverty to rise dramatically. 

What are the effects of poverty on children? 

According to Lauren Fasig Caldwell, children that grow up in poverty are more likely to get lower grades,  have problems with their behavior, and have problems developing their social and emotional skills. 

In addition, impoverished children are often more stressed than children in wealthy homes. This extra stress can lead to health problems including adverse changes in their cardiovascular and immune systems. 

Clip from the popular FOX TV show, Next Level Chef. 

I would be stressed out too if I didn’t know when I was going to eat my next meal or if I would be able to have running water this month! 

As expressed by the children’s bureau, children raised in poverty are more likely to raise their children in poverty. This creates a vicious cycle that keeps people in poverty that needs to be broken. 

What is the Child Tax Credit?  

In March 2020, the government put multiple acts in place to aid those families in financial need including the CARES Act, the American Rescue Plan, and The Child Tax Credit was increased as stated by Patricia Jones. 

The Child Tax Credit allowed parents and guardians to receive monthly checks to help with bills, groceries, and other basic needs for themselves and their children. They did not have to worry about whether or not they could afford to feed themselves or their children each month. 

This made it easier for them to give their attention to other vital issues like paying off debt or using the extra money to pay rent on time to prevent eviction. 

Wait! Why should I care about the Child Tax Credit when I don’t even have children yet? 

President Joe Biden holding up his hands, telling the press to wait. 

Even if you do not have children yet you should still be concerned about children in poverty. Impoverished children did not ask to be born into a low-income family and it is not their job to get their family out of poverty. It is up to all of us to help families in need and get children out of these poor conditions. 

These acts were temporary fixes that have since ended which sent families back into poverty. Starting in January of 2022 the Child Tax Credit stopped being distributed monthly and returned to only being distributed once a year around tax season. 

According to the Columbia University Poverty Center, there are “37 million more children in poverty in Jan 2022 without monthly Child Tax Credit.” Since it has stopped being distributed monthly, more and more families are going back into poverty. The Child Tax Credit was supposed to prevent this, however, it is now putting families back in poverty where they started. 

Isn’t it the parent’s job to support their children?

In short, yes, it is technically the parent’s responsibility to provide for their children. However, some parents, even when working multiple jobs, still have trouble fully supporting themselves and their children. 

Some claim against the monthly distribution of money from the Child Tax Credit is that it will incentivize parents not to work, as stated by Maureen Bowling. 

However, this is disproved by data collected by the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics. As seen in the graph below, the number of individuals that were unemployed decreased, and the number of individuals that were employed increased in the time that the Child Tax Credit was distributed monthly.

Employment status of the civilian population by sex and age, BLS.gov

Without the Child Tax Credit, individuals had to rely on other means of extra income to make ends meet, so they would file for unemployment to be able to support their children. In addition, due to inflation and the low federal minimum wage, individuals were not able to provide for their children with their paychecks alone. 

According to Carey Nadeau and Dr. Amy K. Glasmeier, a family cannot survive on minimum wage alone. Each working adult in the family would have to have two minimum-wage jobs and work over 77 hours each week to earn a living wage. 

In addition, they state that, "A single parent with two children needs to work the equivalent of three and one half full-time jobs (139 hours per work week), more hours than there are in five days, to earn the living wage on a minimum wage income." 

However, with the monthly checks, parents and guardians are able to return to work knowing that they will be able to supply their children with their basic necessities. So, by taking away the monthly distribution of the Child Tax Credit not only are more children and families at risk of becoming impoverished there is also an increased chance that unemployment rates will also increase. 

“10 million children will fall back into poverty when the enhanced child tax credit ends.” - Carmen Reinicke 

If the Child Tax Credit is not distributed monthly like it was during the Covid-19 pandemic more children are at risk of becoming impoverished. 

Children who grow up in poverty are often food insecure, more stressed, and have a harder time excelling in school. How are children in America supposed to succeed and become active citizens in our country if we cannot even provide them with their basic needs?

We can solve this issue by enhancing the Child Tax Credit and return to distributing it monthly instead of only once a year.