ABSTRACT
The United States faces a social problem of major proportions: child poverty, In 2002 approximately 12 million, or one in six children in the United States, lived in poverty (Bureau of the Census, 2003; U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2002), Compared to other industrialized nations, the United States has both a high percentage of children in poverty and a large disparity between incom es of the rich and poor. The poorest US, children are very poor indeed, and the richest are very affluent (Rainwater & Smeeding, 1996).
