Children of Incarcerated Parents

of 1996, instituted work requirement (or "workfare") and limited short term and lifetime
benefits. The result was many more parents, primarily single mothers, pushed into lowwage
work. In addition to the fundamental changes instituted to the distribution of cash
assistance welfare, there has also been a sow but steady decline in their actual worth,
as welfare assistance packages are not pegged to inflation or cost of living indexes.
Finally, of great concern in the juvenilization of poverty is the state (or in many cases,
failure) of private transfers, mainly through child support. In her seminal 1978 work on
the feminization of poverty Diane Pearce suggests that one of the primary causes of the
feminization of poverty (and, by extension, juvenilization of poverty) is the failure of
formal and informal mechanisms to insure reliable private transfers of support to
mothers and children. Absent fathers earn less, on average, than present fathers and
contribute far less to the support of dependent children.
Changes in Labor Markets
Of particular concern to those who study the juvenilization of poverty has been the rapid
Of particular concern to those who study the juvenilization of poverty has been the rapid
of poverty in two-parent homes. Two main issues – employment and wages – seem to
be driving poverty for two-parent families, even in cases where both parents are
employed.
Changes in the labor market have eliminated whole industries of labor, manufacturing,
production jobs, often the type previously held by working-class parents. Low- or semiskilled
workers were hit hardest by the labor market restructuring of the 1970s and
1980s. Declining rates of unionization, lowered benefits, and fewer workplace
compensations have had real effects in creating poor families.
Because of both the insufficient quantity of low-wage jobs and the failure of real wages
to keep pace with inflation and rising living costs, many of these parents are among the
ranks of the working poor. The risk of juvenile poverty is especially high for children of
lower-educated, lower-skilled parents. There is additional evidence to suggest that this
situation is steadily worsening especially for young families and those in the bottom
economic quintile.
The scholarly and political emphasis on single motherhood often obscures discussion of
the poverty that exists in two-parent families. While poverty is quite high in singlemother
families, and seemingly quite persistent, poverty in two-parent homes is both
prevalent and especially reactive to cycles and trends in the larger economy. Bane and
Ellwood focus on this particular issue, writing that there is "a much lower, but highly
variable, poverty rate among children in two-parent homes". They write that industry
changes and stagnant (low) real wages, rather than unemployment, lead to poverty in
two-parent households. They raise the additional concern that financial stress may lead
to the breakup of marriages and thus the deepening of child poverty.
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