Since methods of social security and assistance to underprivileged families, where they exist, are rarely fully adequate and are usually fraught with bureaucratic stipulations, it is difficult to eradicate family poverty. Family poverty is especially likely to occur among minority groups which are shunned or discriminated against by the community at large.
A study in the USA indicated that, of 1,000 children born into the poorest tenth of society only 4 will eventually end up in the richest tenth.