By Tim Martin
Associated Press
LANSING (AP) — Michigan’s decade-long economic slump has pushed more children into poverty and put more stress on social safety net programs that could help them and their families stay afloat, according to a Kids Count in Michigan report released Tuesday.
The poverty rate for children under 18 in the state climbed from 14 percent in 2000 to 23 percent in 2009, according to the new report from the Michigan League for Human Services and Michigan’s Children.
The percentage of children who depend on food assistance programs or food stamps rose from 10 percent in 2000 to 28 percent in 2009.
The report’s authors hope those numbers and others catch the attention of Republican Gov. Rick Snyder and lawmakers as the budget is being drawn up for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.
Snyder, who took office Jan. 1, has said reducing the number of Michigan children living in poverty is a goal on which he plans to grade himself in every State of the State address.
But the state is facing a budget shortfall of up to $1.8 billion, and the new governor also wants to reduce business taxes and cut state spending.
Children’s advocates are watching closely to see if Snyder cuts programs for low-income families to balance the budget or follows policies that can help them, such as keeping the state Earned Income Tax Credit in place.
Advocates say the tax credit that goes to working families and other programs that help low-income children — such as welfare, child care subsidies and protective services — must be safeguarded and enhanced.
The support systems are overloaded and aren’t keeping up with the needs of children, said Jane Zehnder-Merrell, director of the state Kids Count project at the Michigan League for Human Services.
“We know that kids are suffering when they live below the poverty level,” Zehnder-Merrell said. “We’ve had a huge increase in child poverty. We have also cut programs dramatically over the past several years.”
House Republicans have suggested eliminating the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit, but Rep. Jud Gilbert, the Republican from Algonac who heads the House Tax Policy Committee, told the MIRS Capitol newsletter Friday that he opposes getting rid of the credit.
His comments were welcomed Monday by House and Senate Democrats.
“Jud Gilbert is an experienced lawmaker who understands the struggles working families face and I commend him for speaking out against this misguided tax increase on the people who can least afford it,” Rep. Vicki Barnett, a Farmington Hills Democrat who sits on the House Tax Policy Committee, said in a release.
The Michigan League estimates the state credit keeps about 14,000 children in working families out of poverty, and will ease the poverty experienced by 700,000 people.
That can help reduce dropout rates and enable children to grow up to be more successful, it said.
Child poverty rates have increased in recent years in most areas of the state as Michigan’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate spiked to 14.5 percent in December 2009 before dropping to 11.7 percent by the end of 2010.
A family of four had to make at least $21,800 in 2009 to be defined as living above the poverty level.
Nearly 46 percent of Michigan’s schoolchildren were eligible for free or reduced-price lunches in 2009, up from 36 percent in 2006, according to the report.
Michigan also saw an increase in confirmed cases of child abuse and neglect between 2000 and 2009. Studies have suggested neglect cases often are influenced by poverty.
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Associated Press writer Kathy Barks Hoffman contributed to this report.
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