[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/Blog\/ID\/9\/the-number-of-children-living-in-extreme-poverty#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/Blog\/ID\/9\/the-number-of-children-living-in-extreme-poverty","headline":"The Number of Children Living in Extreme Poverty","name":"The Number of Children Living in Extreme Poverty","description":"Children are one of the forgotten bastions when it comes to food stamps, as they sit silently by the sidelines with little say in the matter.","datePublished":"2018-07-06","dateModified":"2018-07-30","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/author\/admin#Person","name":"admin","url":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/author\/admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e26111862ca029071a00a76fae48c51b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e26111862ca029071a00a76fae48c51b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"FoodStamps.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/FS_Logo-2.png","url":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/FS_Logo-2.png","width":600,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/FS_Logo-2.png","url":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/FS_Logo-2.png","width":100,"height":100},"url":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/Blog\/ID\/9\/the-number-of-children-living-in-extreme-poverty","about":["News"],"wordCount":810,"keywords":["9"],"articleBody":"Children are one of the forgotten bastions when it comes to food stamps, as they sit silently by the sidelines with little say in the matter. They\u2019re too young to vote on changes that would affect the food stamps program, they\u2019re too young to bring in enough income to avoid being on food stamps, and they\u2019re too young to live healthily without consistently good nutrition. However, with new statistics released from the\u00a0New Republic, it seems as though the SNAP program has been children out greatly, so let\u2019s take a look.Thinking of the ChildrenThere\u2019s more than one way in which food stamps helps out a family when there are children involved. Parents can use food stamps to buy their groceries and funnel other money toward other essential household expenses, all of which can help them keep on top of rent and paying their bills. Studies have also shown that when children who live in poverty have parents on food stamps, their long-term health increases dramatically.What\u2019s important to clarify, though, is what extreme poverty means. In terms of SNAP, it\u2019s when a household with children lives on $2 or less each day. It\u2019s not enough by a long shot, and it really puts families at a disadvantage. Things like buying that first car, attending college, going on a senior-year vacation with friends, and picking out an outfit for prom become reduced to things children just read about, not things that actually happen to them.In that sense, the SNAP program is an extremely valuable lifeline that can offer families with children a way out. New Republic conducted research that found when households with children were on food stamps, it cut the number of them living in extreme poverty in roughly half. It means they don\u2019t have to make tough decisions, like paying the rent or putting food on the table. Having that little bit of social assistance can often times be just what a household needs to keep going, as well as being enough to take a bit of the stress and pressure off their situation.Waste Not, Want NotOne of the biggest criticisms surrounding food stamps is the perceived fraud and waste, but the numbers just don\u2019t back it up. The New Republic\u2019s research has found that \u201cabout 95 percent of all federal dollars spent on the program goes directly into benefits.\u201d That\u2019s a really impressive success rate, and one that definitely does not point to rampant waste and fraud.In terms of the numbers related to fraud, the data gets even better. The highest point of fraud in the food stamps program came in 1993, when fraud was at a whoppingly high rate of\u20263.8%. That\u2019s right \u2014 even the amount of fraud that was going on in the food stamps program was a lot less than the previous statistic we talked about, where 5% of federal dollars spent on the program do\u00a0not\u00a0go into the program.After the abysmal year of rampant fraud in 1993, the rates, thankfully, did go down. In fact, there was a six-year period from 2002 to 2008 when the fraud rate was a meager 1%. And if you want to look at more current fraud rates, the number \u201cspiked\u201d to a whole 1.3% from 2009 to 2011.It seems to us as though the food stamps program is actually doing pretty well.Consequences of Restricting Food StampsChildren would be the hardest hit demographic, as they can\u2019t take care of themselves the way adults can; they\u2019re almost completely dependent on their parents or caregivers. Imposing more restrictions on food stamps, such as introducing work requirements or tightening up the qualifications, would mean a greater presence of food insecurity (never being sure if you\u2019ll have ready access to food) and material hardship.Along with these reasons, it just makes more sense to keep households with children on food stamps until they\u2019re absolutely ready to get to the next level. By keeping children fed and nourished, we\u2019re giving them a chance to do better in life later on: they won\u2019t have to worry about going hungry every day in class, they can turn their focus and attention to bettering their long-term health, and they\u2019ll be able to experience what it\u2019s like to work for something, as opposed to just scrabbling to stay out of the hole.And if the statistics say that half of the households with children on food stamps have gotten out of extreme poverty, then that seems like a mighty good sign to us that the program is working the way it\u2019s intended: to lift the impoverished out of poverty and give them a fighting chance at improving independence."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/Blog\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"ID","item":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/Blog\/\/ID\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"9","item":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/Blog\/\/ID\/\/9\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"The Number of Children Living in Extreme Poverty","item":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/Blog\/ID\/9\/the-number-of-children-living-in-extreme-poverty#breadcrumbitem"}]}]