About one in five children in the United States have the misfortune of living in a family whose income is below the official poverty line (Borman and Reimers 454). Poverty has detrimental effects on children's academic achievement, overall health, development, and school readiness. The impact of poverty on a child depends on many factors, for example the characteristics of the community (crime rate in the neighborhood and characteristics of the school) and the people in the child's life such as parents, neighbors or relatives. It is clear that schools and external environmental factors contribute to a child's success or failure in academic life. A child's family, neighborhood, and type of school effects related to poverty place the child at considerable risk of neglecting school and failing in life in general; however, there are educational programs that can help give poor children a fair chance to succeed in life and in school. Poverty is the state or condition of having little or no money, possessions, or means of support; condition of poverty (Dictionary.com). Living in poverty can affect a family's well-being because it is a reliable indicator of child abuse and neglect. The effects of poverty on children are influenced by the behavior of their families. Low-income families usually have limited education, which reduces their ability to provide a motivating and encouraging environment for their children. For example, children from low-income families learn and speak the language used at home, which is often not English, and are less likely to be well-read than their more affluent peers. The situation of poverty is a repeated cycle that repeats itself because parents do not recognize the sign...... middle of paper...... 2012.Ferguson, HB , S Bovaird , and MP Mueller . “The Impact of Poverty on Children's Educational Outcomes.” Pediatrics and child health. Np, 28 October 2009. Web. 8 April 2014. Fusaro, Maria. “Actionable Knowledge: Easy as ABC: Quality Child Care Matters for Low-Income Families.” Actionable Knowledge: Easy as ABC: Quality child care is important for low-income families. Actionable Knowledge, 2009. Web. 08 April 2014.Perkins, Jessica. “An underrated path out of poverty: saving money.” Global Envision Latest Stories. Np, 24 April 2013. Web. 09 April 2014."Poverty." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 08 April 2014.Wodtke, Geoffrey T., Felix Elwert, and David J. Harding. Poor families, poor neighborhoods: How family poverty intensifies the impact of concentrated disadvantage on high school graduation. Rep. n. 12-776. Center for Population Studies, September 2012. Web. 8 April. 2014.