Poverty causes the corrosion of families and parental relationships, making it extremely difficult for parents to engage in parenting and provide for basic needs of childhood. Parental stress affects a child's developmental process, and extreme stress can alter the neural pathways in the child's brain, which is underdeveloped (Kail, 2006). As a result, ongoing learning, physical and mental health and learning problems emerge in the child's life. Studies claim that the prevalence of poverty is high in households with non-English speaking residents, single parents, and large families with high levels of illiteracy. All of these factors contribute to poverty and stress. This implies that children from these families are at risk of childhood developmental problems, but it should not guarantee that children raised in English families do not experience childhood development.