More a quarter of American children are being raised in single-parent households, most of them poor.

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Since 1979, the proportion of the poor who live in households containing children and no working adults, especially one-parent families, has climbed.

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The poverty rate for blacks fell to its lowest rate ever in 1998, though one in four black households (and nearly 40% of black children) are still poor.

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While it does appear to be true that most households receiving benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP is the new name for food stamps) are out of the work force, a significant fraction do have earnings and most of the rest are poor elderly or disabled households or single parents with children.

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