Behind from the Start: How America`s War on the Poor Is Harming Our Most Vulnerable Children, Lessing Lenette

Behind from the Start examines the link between Americas shaming, blaming, and marginalizing of poor parents, and our punitive welfare policies that jeopardize the life chances of vulnerable young children, thereby maintaining the cycle of chronic poverty. Research has shown that the experience of
poverty in the first years of life is particularly harmful, blunting physical and brain development, increasing the risk for chronic health issues and injury, and limiting a persons lifelong capacity for learning and success. In debunking the myths that help perpetuate the cycle of poverty in the
worlds richest country, Lenette Azzi-Lessing reveals how negative public and political discourse regarding poor families impacts the poorly conceived and fragmented programs intended to support them, which have in turn failed to meet their aims. She considers the cultural and political forces that
contribute to intergenerational poverty in the U.S., the consequences for the millions of young children in families stuck at the bottom of our economy, and the beneficial impacts that would be felt country-wide in fixing some of these persistent problems.