Over the past ten years, there have been two sharply different trends in child poverty in the United States: a major reduction from 1993 to 2000 and an increase from 2000 to 2004. Both trends have been even more marked for black children. This period of ten years with two sharp changes in child poverty offers an unusual opportunity to tease out the reasons for trends in child poverty. Exploring these reasons in turn is of potentially great importance to policy, as well as to the well-being of children. Among the very different reasons that have been suggested for these changes are changes in federal and state policy, changes in federal and state macroeconomic conditions, and changes in family characteristics and behavior, such as family structure and education.