Unlike government programs that create a large bureaucratic structure to administer them, the child allowance that is part of President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion stimulus plan has a simple premise: It will send checks directly to families. With that, the administration hopes to put a big dent in the nation's rate of child poverty.

The program is approved for just one year, but Democratic lawmakers hope it catches on and they can extend it. The full impact will not be fully evident after 12 months, but in a city like Buffalo, N.Y. — which in 2019 had the nation's second-highest childhood poverty rate — the effects should be profound.

Under the legislation, families will receive up to $3,600 annually for each child under age 6 and as much as $3,000 for those up to 17. The payments start to phase out for individual parents earning more than $75,000 and couples making $150,000.

In addition to helping families escape the indignities of deprivation, putting spending money into households here could result in businesses such as grocers, banks and retail stores following the money and moving into previously underserved neighborhoods.

The National Academy of Sciences estimates that childhood poverty costs the United States between $800 billion and $1.1 trillion annually. Limited lifetime earnings and more health problems, homelessness and child neglect are among the factors.

Helping families survive times of need, particularly after a full year of a pandemic, will enable more parents to join the workforce. Despite fears from conservative opponents that the child allowance will discourage adults from wanting to work, there is evidence to the contrary.

Jane Waldfogel, a Columbia University professor, told the New York Times that a family benefits program started by British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1999 led to increased employment among single mothers. With his plan, Britain's childhood poverty rate was eventually cut in half.

FROM AN EDITORIAL IN THE BUFFALO (N.Y.) NEWS