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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