I have been research family incomes recently to determine who can really afford childcare and who can not. Family income appears to be more strongly
related to children’s ability and achievement than to their emotional outcomes. Children who live in extreme poverty or who live below the poverty line for multiple years appear, all other things being equal, to suffer the worst outcomes. The timing of poverty also seems to be important for certain child outcomes. Children who experience poverty during their preschool and early school years have lower rates of school completion than children and adolescents who experience poverty only in later years. Although more research is needed on the significance of the timing of poverty on
child outcomes, findings to date suggest that interventions during early childhood may be most important in reducing poverty’s impact on children.
