The Vulnerable Child: The Hidden Epidemic of Neglected and Troubled Children Even Within the Middle Class

Beginning in the 1980s, Weissbourd, a family issues expert, interviewed and spent time with the disadvantaged children and their families whose stories presented here shatter monolithic concepts of poverty and an underclass. In positioning poor children as distinct individuals, often poor at only some point in their lives, Weissbourd demonstrates that poverty hurts children in a range of subtle ways that have nothing to do with neglect or abuse. He states, moreover, that ``a good deal of evidence suggests that most vulnerable children are not poor.'' His research indicates that such parenting deficits as depression, stress and community isolation often punish children, who become scapegoats or assume other negative roles. The chain of interactions that makes a child vulnerable is followed with compassion in this challenging report, which ``shows that children are not typically doomed because of poverty, or other risk factors at early ages.'' An important advisory for all in service of children. (Jan.)