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Helping Impoverished Children Starts With Parents

Bridge Meadows

Helping children in poverty needs to start with their parents. That's according to a new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. There are approximately 126 thousand Oregon children under age 8 living below the poverty line. Most of their parents don't have a higher education degree and many don't have year round work. Children First for Oregon Spokeswoman Tonia Hunt says the State needs to work on ways to improve the family budget.

Hunt: "The Earned Income Tax Credit, the childcare tax credit, and other ways that support family income is a direct benefit to kids. Those are some great policy solutions to reduce that family stress and increase income for those families."

Hunt says the State should focus on making child care more affordable so parents can focus on education or job searches. She says in past generations young parents struggled but most eventually were able to pull out of poverty. The new economic landscape makes that difficult and takes longer.

copyright, 2014