HARTFORD, Conn. -- Connecticut is the first and only state to create a task force to see what can be done legislatively to head off some of the dire predictions of the effects the recession will have on children.

Representative Diana Urban of Stonington said, “When you’re looking at and thinking individual children, and you’re going, how can this be, we’ve got to step up and try to do something.”

Judging from previous recessions, it is estimated that 35,000 children in Connecticut will fall into poverty during this recession. As adults, they will earn $19,000 less than a person who didn’t fall into poverty during a recession.

Urban said, “When you look at those numbers, you’re overwhelmed. You’re thinking how it can get that bad, that fast. Yet they will tell us that we are losing ground and that we’ve been losing ground each and every recession.”

The task force that held their first meeting at the Capitol Tuesday afternoon was made up of Legislators, Congressional staff, economic experts and advocates. Their mission was to come up with steps the legislature can take to mitigate the effects of the recession on children in the state.