Over 200 families from lower and middle income areas of British Columbia, including a group representing the Indian communities, were studied in this effort to examine poverty as it relates to families, especially to young children. A wide variety of health, social, and economic variables were examined in the hope of developing output criteria for the evaluation of poverty programs. The subjects were children entering kindergarten for the first time. Interviews with parents gave medical histories of the children and parental attitudes toward cost of living and income. Examinations given the children included a routine physical, dental examination, vision and hearing screening, and a kindergarten readiness test. Children of poor families more frequently demonstrated dental disease; skin, tonsil, and ear infections; and poor school performance. Their families were characterized by family disruption, unemployment, frequent changes in residence, and lower level of education and occupation. The families from more affluent socioeconomic groups manifested different attitudes toward education. More than one-half the document consists of tables and graphs. (AJ)