Unintended Consequences: How Direct Cash Payments to Families Experiencing Poverty Lowered Child Poverty Rates in the United States

Child poverty has adverse effects for the children who experience it and it has long term social and economic consequences into adulthood. This policy analysis looks at the policy choices America has made in addressing child poverty and what effects, if any, those policies have had. After reviewing traditional in-kind policy options for addressing child poverty, this article focuses on the decreases in the child poverty rate that occurred with the passage of pandemic era legislation that provided direct cash assistance to all Americans. Because the assistance programs only happened in two consecutive years and were terminated at the end of the pandemic, the effects were measurable and impactful in addressing the child poverty rate. There will also be a qualitative survey of families with children who experienced poverty and how the direct cash payments affected the outcomes for their children.