Recession uproots families, takes toll on children

Like the Great Depression, this economic downturn is wrenching lives out of shape.

But unlike 90 years ago, hunger isn't the main problem, and neither is the kind of homelessness that sent thousands of middle-class Americans into tent cities during the Depression. This time the toll is far less obvious: children are grappling with more stress at home, and low-income families, already highly mobile, are being forced to pull up stakes and move more often.

"It's huge," said Ana Leon, the school counselor at Wilton Manors Elementary in Ft. Lauderdale, who said mobility had increased significantly this year at her 600-student, mostly low-income school.

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