Authored by Brookings Institution scholar Julia Isaacs, this report provides a comprehensive look at the impact of the mortgage foreclosure crisis on America’s children. It finds that one-in-ten children has been or is at risk to be affected by foreclosures, that the rate approaches one-in-five in some states, and that the upheaval resulting from foreclosure can have harmful and lasting consequences on a child’s development.
A companion paper released by the First Focus Campaign for Children recommends specific actions Congress and the Administration can take to help families avoid foreclosure, find quality, affordable homes quickly when foreclosures happen, and deliver the help children need to blunt the harms resulting from foreclosure.