This publication presents data and descriptive information on the status of poor children and families in Milwaukee (Wisconsin). The analysis of the information suggests that the children are poor because their families are poor and that only providing their families with adequate employment and family supports will lift these children out of the damaging cycle of poverty. The report groups information by age range in childhood: before birth, birth to 3 years, 3 to 5 years, 6 to 12 years, and 13 to 18 years. The following are among the report's findings: (1) Milwaukee County has seen a 21 percent increase in infants weighing less than 1,500 grams; (2) the rate of calls for baby formula to a telephone referral service has increased by 38 percent; (3) between 1980 and 1990, there has been a 225 percent increase in the number of reports of child abuse and child neglect; (4) 60 percent of children affected by lead poisoning reside in the Central City; (5) only 40 to 45 percent of 9th-grade students will finish high school; and (6) Milwaukee ranked fifth in the number of births to black teenagers. An appendix offers information on state, local, and national trends. Contains 147 references. (JB)