
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, January 30, 1995                   TAG: 9502010025
SECTION: NATL/INTL                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                 LENGTH: Short

STUDY: 6 MILLION SMALL CHILDREN LIVE IN POVERTY

The number of American children under 6 living in poverty has reached a record high of 6 million, or 26 percent of that age group, a study found.

The number increased by 1 million between 1987 and 1992, the year on which the findings were based, according to a report to be issued today by the privately funded National Center for Children in Poverty.

Fifty-eight percent of the children had parents who worked at least part time, and fewer than a third of the families relied entirely on public assistance, the study said.

The number of children living in families below the poverty line was 3.4 million in 1972, it said.

J. Lawrence Aber, the group's director, said the findings, based on the U.S. Census Bureau's 1993 supplement to the 1990 census, reflected a 20-year trend that is having ``devastating consequences'' on youth.

``The significance of these figures for our society's social landscape cannot be overstated, because we will pay the costs of these poverty rates for the next two decades,'' Aber said.

Poverty causes many types of deprivation, including ill effects on physical and mental health during children's growing years, Aber said. These effects, however, often go unnoticed until they show up in poor schoolwork, he said.

The official poverty line in 1992 was $9,137 for a family of two, $11,186 for a family of three and $14,335 for a family of four.

A parent working 40 hours a week for the federal minimum wage of $4.25 in 1992 would have earned $8,840, 21 percent below the line for a family of three and 38 percent below for a family of four.

by CNB