VOLUSIA COUNTY, FLA. — Child poverty increased by millions of children in a single month, according to a study by the Columbia University Center on Poverty and Social Policy.

The study found 3.4 million kids nationwide fell below poverty line because of the suspension of monthly Child Tax Credit (CTC) payments.

Some parents and activists in Florida are still pushing for the payments to be reinstated.

What You Need To Know

  • Study finds 3.7 million children fell into poverty in a single month after monthly Child Tax Credit payments ended

  • The Columbia University study found the number dropped slightly to 3.4 million in February

  • Some parents and activists in Florida are still pushing for the CTC payments to be reinstated

While Carrie Anne Templeton doesn’t consider here family of three poverty-stricken, she’s still financially strapped from the missing payment.

The single, stay-at-home mom and college student received several hundred dollars a month for her girls, before the CTC payments expired at the first of the year.

The money paid for gymnastics classes and her 6-year-old daughter Evelynne’s spot in Girl Scouts.

A U.S. Census Bureau study found most of the monthly help was indeed spent on items like food, clothes, school supplies and after school activities.

“It’s just, it’s a lot of work,” Templeton sad. “We (parents) always need help raising kids, and children are the future. So, the Child Tax Credit needs to be expanded and become permanent."

Templeton is now pushing for CTC to return by promoting the federal tax credit on yard signs around Ormond Beach.  

“We saw that gap filled in, but the state we’re in again is a return to a policy that’s leaving behind so many children,” Sophie Collyer, with the Center on Poverty and Social Policy, said.

Those who performed the Columbia study said they believed that those pushed into poverty would rebound back above the threshold, if Congress passes a CTC extension.

However, critics of the bill that would extend the payments say they believe doing so would do more harm than good. Opponents claimed it would cost some $6 trillion over the next decade, driving higher inflation and reducing employment among low-income families.

“This bill will add billions of dollars to our national debt and drive our existing social programs towards bankruptcy even faster," said Congressman Mike Waltz.