Children's Defense Fund

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October 29, 2004  
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Children's Defense Fund Blasts Withholding of Report on Hunger

Washington , D.C. - The Children's Defense Fund criticized the U.S. Department of Agriculture for postponing today's scheduled release of the annual report on hunger in America, a delay that will keep crucial information under wraps until after Election Day. Social services officials said they expect the report to indicate that the number of households suffering from "food insecurity" has increased. In the previous annual report, the Agriculture Department found that one in six households with children lacked money for access to enough food to meet basic needs.

If the new hunger report were issued as expected today, it would give voters insight into the state of the economy and important food and nutrition trends. It would also deliver solid information to help local and national charities plan for how many people they must feed in the coming year. In a recent survey, more than 90 percent of city governments predicted that the number of requests for emergency food assistance by families with children would increase this year.

The postponed release of the hunger report is part of the Bush Administration's dismal practice of withholding key information from the public, said Deborah Cutler-Ortiz, director of CDF's Family Income & Jobs Division. "It's deplorable that they are withholding this, but it's not new," she said, adding that the administration has in recent years removed from federal government websites unfavorable information that already had been made publicly available. The administration has also failed to issue customary news releases on new data gathered by the executive branch.

"They've been downplaying the poverty data," Cutler-Ortiz said. "Information is collected to be shared so groups can develop programs, provide services and give people the help they need. Withholding information makes it impossible to do that. That's not the direction we should be taking in this country."

In last year's document, the Agriculture Department reported that about 35 million Americans in 2002 were food insecure, including more than 13 million children. Of these children, 567,000 experienced hunger, meaning they did without meals for lack of money. Low-income single mothers with children were especially likely to experience high levels of food insecurity and hunger. The 2002 report said the nation's hunger statistics were the worst since 1998.

 

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The mission of the Children's Defense Fund is to Leave No Child Behind and to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start, and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. CDF provides a strong, effective voice for all the children of America who cannot vote, lobby, or speak for themselves. We pay particular attention to the needs of poor and minority children and those with disabilities. CDF educates the nation about the needs of children and encourages preventive investment before they get sick, into trouble, drop out of school, or suffer family breakdown. CDF began in 1973 and is a private, nonprofit organization supported by foundation and corporate grants and individual donations. We have never taken government funds.

 
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