Over the last decade, child poverty surged in 38 states and erased many of the gains in child well-being made in the last 20 years, according to a new report released Wednesday by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

In most states, the federal government considers a family of four living on less than $22,350 a year ‘poor.’ According to the report, child poverty increased 18 percent between 2000 and 2009 and today shapes the lives of nearly 15 million children.

The findings are the latest in a series of studies that reveal the real impact of the recession on family-level finances in the country, including stagnating and declining wages during the 2000s. These sharp changes in individual financial security may ultimately influence the nation’s future.

Children — particularly very young children — who experience even a bout of poverty are less likely to graduate from high school, are more likely to become very young parents, have more difficulties learning and earn less money than their non-poor peers as adults, said Patrick McCarthy, president and CEO of the Casey Foundation.

‘Child poverty is in some ways a leading indicator of how the country is going to be doing down the road,’ said McCarthy. ‘Nearly all […]