adult prisons (Fritz and Krikorian 1998). Newspaper accounts of trials of eleven- and thirteen-year-old killers make it clear that rehabilitation is no longer the prevailing intent; rather, courts are focused on protecting society from youthful offenders (Bradsher 1999; Simon 1999).
Libraries are also affected by the heightened public awareness of danger to children. Some libraries in high crime areas report that children are not allowed to visit unattended because of concerns about potential danger on the street. There is even concern that violence may move from the streets into the library. Many libraries are paying for highly visible security officers to help both staff and patrons feel safe.
Although the number and percent of families in poverty have declined, the poverty rate for people under eighteen years of age was 19.9 percent in 1997, much higher than the rate for adults (10.9 percent) and for people older than sixty-five (10.5 percent). Children represent 40 percent of the poor in this country, even though they are only 25 percent of the total population. Children under six who live with a single mother have a poverty rate of 59.1 percent—
more than five times higher than that of children living in two-parent families (Dalaker and Naifeh 1998, vi). The Annie E. Casey Foundation (1999) esti- mates that 20 percent of all children live in poverty and that 9 percent live in extreme poverty, in families where the income is below 50 percent of the offi- cial poverty level. Demographers note a disturbing growth in the income dis- parity between children from wealthy families and those from poor families (Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics 1999, iv).
The most vulnerable children of all are the homeless, and their numbers are rising. A recent study conducted by Ellen Bassuk (O’Connor 1999), a Harvard professor of psychiatry for the Better Homes Fund reported that more than 1 million children in America are homeless, a greater number than at any time in our nation’s history except the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Women and children are the fastest-growing homeless groups. Life on the streets is so unsettling and traumatizing that Bassuk estimates that a third of all homeless children exhibit emotional and mental disorders by the time they are 8. Their rate of sexual abuse is three times higher than that of other chil- dren, and a quarter of them have witnessed family violence. Their intermit- tent school attendance at as many as three or four different schools in a sin- gle year hinders their academic performance and leads to social isolation.
They are twice as likely as other children to be required to repeat a grade.
The most obvious consequence for children living in families where both parents work is child care or, in many cases, the lack of child care. Recent federal legislation requiring most adult welfare recipients to work has put an additional strain on an already inadequate child care system. The Children’s Defense Fund (1999a) estimates that 65 percent of women with children younger than six and 78 percent of women with children between the ages of six and 17 work. Three out of five preschoolers—more than 13 million children—are in some kind of child care arrangement. Many school-age chil- dren have no day care arrangements at all; more than five million children are home alone after school every day.
The cost of child care is very high. According to the Children’s Defense Fund, full-day child care typically costs from $4,000 to $10,000 a year, well
beyond the reach of the one out of three families with young children whose income is less than $25,000 a year (1999b, 8). As a result, many parents patch together makeshift child care arrangements or settle for care that is less than desirable. A 1995 national study found that six out of seven child care centers offered care that was mediocre to poor, and one in eight were actually dangerous (Children Now 1998).
Quality child care for preschool children offers many of the benefits of good early childhood education programs. In addition to offering a safe, nur- turing environment, children in good child care centers receive many early learning experiences that help them get ready to read and do well in school.
In its 1999 overview report, the Children’s Defense Fund summarizes a num- ber of national studies that show, not surprisingly, that the benefits of quality day care are particularly significant for low-income children from diverse backgrounds. Children who received high-quality child care during their pre- school years scored higher in their ability to use and understand language and in their mathematical ability than children who were in poor-quality child care arrangements. They also showed greater thinking and attention skills and had fewer behavior problems in their early elementary years. They were even more likely to attend a four-year college and to delay parenthood (p. 5).
Many policy experts calculate that an investment in good child care for pre- school children actually saves money that would otherwise be spent on spe- cial education, welfare, and criminal justice programs.
School-age children also benefit from quality after-school programs.
Studies have shown that they got along better with their peers, were more emotionally stable, did better in school, and spent less time watching televi- sion than children who were unsupervised after school (Children’s Defense Fund 1999b, 5). One three-year study of children living in high-crime neigh- borhoods found that those who attended after-school programs developed better work habits and conflict management skills than those who did not.
Unfortunately, fewer than 33 percent of the schools in low-income commu- nities offer after-school programs, compared with 40 percent of schools in more-affluent neighborhoods (Children’s Defense Fund 2000).
The lack of adequate, affordable child care for working parents has had a major impact on public libraries. Many have become de facto after-school child care centers. Los Angeles County Public Library has been tracking the number of latchkey children in its libraries after school since 1985, basing its statistics on a count during one typical week during the year. In June 1985, libraries reported a total of 1,456 latchkey children using their facilities, of
which 292 appeared to be “full time”; that is, visiting the library unattended four or five times a week. By June 1999, the number of latchkey kids had increased to 5,081, with more than half of them full time. The youth services coordinator for the library noted that in most cases staff coped well with the situation by instituting strict standards of behavior, seeking community sup- port, and developing more after-school programs. Homework centers have been established in twenty branches. Still, 27 percent of the staff found the latchkey children to be a problem (Markey 1999).
Some public libraries have been so burdened by latchkey kids that they adopted “unattended children” policies. The libraries in San Marino, South Pasadena, and Long Beach, California, all deny access to children under ten or eleven who are unaccompanied by adults. These are libraries in large met- ropolitan areas where you might expect administrators to be particularly wary of potential dangers to children on their own. But even small-town libraries, like the one in Indiana’s Bloomfield-Eastern Green County, serving 2,500 people, have found it necessary to restrict access by unattended minors (Winton 1999).
In addition to the changes in family structure noted by the U.S. Census Bureau, other social trends are affecting children’s lives. Increasing numbers of lesbian and gay parents are raising children—adopted children, offspring from earlier heterosexual marriages, or the products of birth technologies such as artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization. Surrogate mothers who serve as the birth mother for another woman’s child have given new hope to couples who have been unable to bring a pregnancy to term and have ignited some heartbreaking legal battles as well. The Census Bureau also reports that the number of grandparents who are rearing their children’s chil- dren is on the rise. In fact, one in every twenty children in the United States lives in a home headed by his or her grandparents. Sociologists attribute the increase in what they call “skipped generation” arrangements to a range of factors, from drug use and divorce to incarceration and AIDS-related deaths (Fuzesi 1999).
The last issue affecting the lives of children in America today is complex and contentious. It is the matter of children’s rights.