critical issues children face in the 2000’s.docVIP

Critical Issues Children Face in the 2000’s Deborah Crockett, Ph.D., NCSP Fayette County Board of Education Fayetteville, Georgia My responsibilities for the Future of School Psychology Conference were twofold. First, I was to discuss the critical issues that children face or will face as we move into the 2000’s. The second task was to propose roles for school psychology, within the constraints of the shortage, to address these issues. Children will face many critical issues in the twenty first century. Unfortunately, most of these issues are not new and have remained the same from previous years. For some of the issues, the prevalence has increased while some decrease is being seen in others. In general, according to the Children’s Defense Fund: An American child is reported abused or neglected every 11 seconds. 581,000 children are in foster care with a waiting list of 127,000. An American child is born without health insurance every minute. Millions of children start school not ready to learn. Millions lack safe, affordable, quality child care and early childhood education while their parents work. Seven and one half million children are at home alone without supervision, frequently after school when they are at greatest risk for getting into trouble. Close to 12 million children are poor, millions are hungry and/or at risk for hunger, living in the worst housing conditions, or are homeless. Almost 80 percent of poor children live in working households. (2000 U.S. Census). (Source: Children’s Defense Fund, ). The following is a brief review of some of the problems contributing to these critical issues. Poverty. While poverty rates have been decreasing slightly since 1993, with the recent economic downturn, it is anticipated that we will again experience significant increases in child poverty. Currently: 37 percent of children in the United States (27 million) live in low income families. 40 percent of children under age 6 live in homes where the income