Each Child. Every Community.

America’s middle-class children have been steadily falling further behind their more privileged peers for the past quarter century – but the worst of the fallout has been held in check by essential policies and programs that could be unraveled, depending on key budget decisions, according to a new study released by the Foundation for Child Development.

Declining Fortunes of Children in Middle-Class Families tracks over a 24-year period the relationship between family income levels and positive and negative outcomes for children across key indicators of their health, education, and social relationships. The report is based on national statistics used in FCD’s annual Child Well-Being Index (CWI), a comprehensive measure of how well America’s children are faring.

Key findings  include:

• Children in middle-class families were losing economic ground long before the Great Recession.
• The income gap between families is widening.
• Public education and health programs have stepped in to provide essential services for middle-class children that their parents cannot afford or take for granted.
• The precarious situation of the middle-class is also reflected in the rising numbers of children in middle-class families living with one parent or in families without a securely employed parent.

Read the report.