If poverty is a serpent, child poverty is its venom. And with an estimated 12 million American children suffering from economic hardship, even the wealthiest society on Earth cannot escape the poisonous effects of poverty. This program examines child poverty in the U.S.: its causes, its agents, and its human impact. Citing facts and findings that contradict the American ethos of upward mobility, the film lays bare the sad reality of what financial deprivation is doing to the nation’s young people: eroding family bonds, decreasing literacy, increasing health and addiction risks, raising the specter of mental illness, and putting children disturbingly close to criminal influences. Lack of school readiness (preparation for kindergarten) and poor academic achievement are also examined as factors in the perpetuation of the poverty cycle. A part of the series Poverty in America. (Original series title: The 51st State.) (86 minutes)