Page A5
June 16, 1999
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Cost Of Raising A
Child Continue To Rise
The cost o f raising a child contin
ues to rise and is highest for families
living in cities in the w estern United
States, according to the U.S. D epart
m ent o f A griculture
In its annual report, “ Expenditures
on Children by Fam ilies,” the USDA
estimates a middle income ($35,900
to $60,400 a year before taxes), two-
parent family in the urban W est w ill
spend $169,440 to raise a child bom
in 1998 to age 18.
Child raising costs in the urban West
are higher than the rest o f the country
primarily because housing is more ex
pensive, according to Alice Mills Mor
row, Oregon State University Exten
sion family resources specialist.
Housing is the largest expense across
all income groups and accounts for 36
to 3 8 percent o f child-rearing expenses.
Food is the second largest average ex
pense, accounting for 15 to 20 percent.
The cost o f food for a child rises
steadily as the child grows older, al
most doubling by the teenage years,
according to the report. A middle in
come family in the urban west spends
and estimated $ 1,090 per year on food
for a child from birth to age two. The
food budget will reach an estimated
$2,110 per year for the same child
* hen she or he is between ages 15-17.
Families with an income below
$35,900 will spend a higher percent
age o f their income for food expenses,
19.5 percent, com pared to families
'vith an income above $60,400, whose
food costs will account for 15 percent.
U nlike food expenses, the cost o f
child care is highest during the first
five years o f life. C hild care is the
only expense that goes dow n as a
child grow s older.
B ecause sin g le -p a re n t h o u se
holds account for an increasing per
cen tag e o f fam ilies w ith children,
the U SD A prep ared sep arate e sti
m ates for these households.
The estimates show that a single
parent family with an income less than
$36,000 before taxes w ill spend
$ 109,350 to raise a child bom in 1998
to age 18. The western two-parent
counterpart will spend $127,680. Al
though the actual expenditure is less
for single-parent families, itrepresents
a larger percentage o f income.
“ S in g le -p a re n t fam ilies h av e
low er average incom es and spend a
larger percentage o f their income on
children,” M orrow said.
Because the USDA estim ates are
based on averages, they are not use
ful in predicting w hat a particular
fam ily will spend. H ow ever .they do
illustrate useful trends. For instance,
the overall cost o f raising a child
increases as a child gets older, a
signal for parents to continually find
w ays to add to their income.
“T hat’s probably not good news
forparents ofpre-school children who
think financial pressures will be less
when day care is no longer required,"
Morrow said. “Unfortunately, the sav
ings in child care as youngsters grow
older is m ore than offset by increases
in other expense categories.”
The USDA estim ates only apply
to costs from birth through age 18.
They do not include the cost o f sav
ing for college. W hile saving for
college is encouraged, M orrow says
people need to take care o f im m edi
ate concerns first and get their cur
rent situation under control.
The USDA estimates are put to a
variety o f uses. Divorce attorneys and
mediators employ them to provide a
reality check forparents who think child
support guidelines are unrealistic.
The estimates are also useful in
estate planning to evaluate financial
needs in case o f a parent’s death. And
teachers use the estimates to help stu
dents understand the financial changes
that accom pany parenthood. In addi
tion, the estimates are useful in devel
oping state child support guidelines
and foster care payments.
To receive a copy o f the 1998
Das Phat Has Two New Members
The new members are Michelle Washington and Brent Archie. The ministry has initiated Project PHAT '99. Project PHAT 9 9 ’ is a
campaign to raise money for PHAT Community/Training Center. This includes the building, staff, and operational costs. The project
also consists of establishing a resource base for volunteers who are interested in working with inner-city youth by donating their
time and/or services.
• Past engagements include; 88 Keys, The Scream '98 w/IDOL Kings. Generation Unleashed 00, university of Oregon State
University’s Black History Month Program, Monroe Program, Job Corps, Destiny Conference '99 (Spokane, WA), and many more.
• Das PHAT will be bringing National Recording Artists GRITS (as seen on Teen Summit and BET'S Rap City) to Portland. They will
be in concert on August 28,h; GRITS -along with Das PHAT and C.A.V.E. (Seattle. WA) -will be in concert here in Portland. Please
keep watch for further notice of this event.
estim ates o f raising a child, send a
stamped, self-addressed envelope to
Cost o f Raising a Child, OSU Exten
sion, 161 M ilam Hall, Corvallis, OR
97331-5106. The USDA report is
also available on the W orld W ide
W eb at w w w .usda.gov cnpp.
Oregon WIC Turns 25 and Launches A New Image
his M ay, O regon’s W om en, In
fants and C h ild ren ’s Nutrition
Program (W IC) celebrates its
25th birthday and launches a
new look.
A new WIC logo
was unveiled as part
o f the birthday ob
s e rv a n c e at the
Portland State Office
Building on May 27. An
important aspect o fW IC ’s
new look is a strong emphasis
on the public health aspect o f the
program. "W IC is an enormously suc
cessful public health program," says
Elinor Hall, Administrator ofthe Health
Division. “ It is an important contribu-
T
tor to good health for pregnant women
and their children. Yet we have a con
cern that because WIC is sometimes
seen as a welfare program, eligible
families do not participate. Mean
while, the research is very clear
that every dollar spent on WIC
services forprenatal women
saves at least three
dollars in hos
pital costs for
newborns.”
“W IC helps
ensure that kids
'healthy kids, strong parents* get a healthy
start,” says Dr.
Mike Gilbert, Vice President o f the
Oregon Pediatric Society. “Children
Oregon
wic
program
who benefit from this program not
only eat healthier diets, they have
higher immunization rates. WIC im
proves cognitive development, which
m ean s k id s en ter sc h o o l b etter
equipped to learn."
The W IC program in O regon
serves 94,000 pregnant w om en and
young children every month. “One o f
the m ost important things WIC does,
in addition to making sure clients get
healthy food, is to provide nutrition
and health education which can last a
lifetime," said Hall.
For more information about WIC
services or to get in touch with a local
contact person, call Kristin Sasseen at
the Health Division. 503-731-3351.
New Project Targets Teen
Drug Use
A four-year project aimed at learn
ing m ore about the causes and devel
opm ent o f teen-age substance use and
related habits was launched recently
by the M ultnomah County Health De-
partment/Oregon Health Division and
Oregon Research Institute.
T he A dolescents, Fam ilies, &
Neighborhoods Project, financed by
the N ational Insti tute on Alcohol Abuse
and Alcoholism, will involve360 fami
lies in 60 Portland neighborhoods.
The project is designed to under
stand the circumstances in which ado
lescents develop substance use hab
its and related behavior problems.
U sing surveys, neighborhood data,
school and court records, and census
inform ation, project scientists hope
to learn how families, peers, schools,
and neighborhoods influence pre
adolescent and adolescent substance
use and behavior problem s
“M ost people recognize that chil
dren and adolescents are affected by
their surroundings, but scientists still
d o n ’t have a clear picture ofhow all o f
these influences fit together to protect
against or increase risk o f substance
use or abuse," says project Principal
Investigator Susan Duncan, an O r
egon Research Institute scientist.
D uncan believes that as pre-ado
lescents grow into adolescents, fam
ily influences m ay dim inish and
friends becom e more important. A s a
result, one way to help youths avoid
drugs and other problem s may be to
focus on family support and supervi
sion in the early years and on culti
vating good friendships and construc
tive activities later on.
It is u n c le a r, h o w e v e r, h o w
b roader social contexts, such as
neighborhoods, influence families,
teenagers, and peers.
“Right now, w e can only specu
late on how multiple influences work
to encourage or discourage substance
use in adolescence.” D uncan says.
“This project, with its focus on data
collection from many sources, in
cluding neighborhoods, will give us
a much better idea o f w h at’s going
on. O ur goal is to use this know ledge
to create drug use prevention and
treatm ent program s that truly help
kids and their families.”
The project is one o f a few o f its
kind to focus on African- American as
well as Caucasian youth. Since most
substance use study has been done
primarily with Caucasian youth, it's
unclear whether drug prevention and
treatment programs based on this re
search is relevant tor African-Amen-
can teens. The current project aims to
study sim ilarities and differences
among African-Amencans and Cau
casians. and to generate ideas for effec
tive programs for both ethnic groups.
F amilies, chosen at random from the
selected neighborhoods, will be con
tacted by telephone, rhose meeting eli
gibility requirements arc asked to par
ticipate by completing surveys in their
homes once a year tor the next four
years. The project is primanly directed
at 9- 11-, and 13-year-olds, and their
parents and brothers and sisters.
Fam ilies interested in finding out
m ore about the project m ay contact
the p ro ject office at (503) 731-
3273. P articip atin g fam ilies are
paid for th e ir tim e.
In addition to the youth and parent
questionnaires, short Neighborhood
Representative Surveys are being sent
annually to nearly 3,000 Portland
businesses and organizations.
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