As America prepares to celebrate Thanksgiving, one in five of the nation’s children is living below the poverty level. One in 45 is homeless.

What are their lives really like?

In Poor Kids, filmmaker Jezza Neumann lets America’s poor children speak for themselves, creating an unforgettable portrait of the recession’s human impact.

Why does America have one of the highest child poverty rates in the developed world? Is the problem getting worse? What happened to the social safety net? And what should be done to help America’s poor kids?

For today’s chat, we’ve invited some of the country’s leading journalists and experts to answer these questions, and take yours.

We’ll be joined by Neumann, award-winning journalist and author Alex Kotlowitz — who co-produced the recent FRONTLINE, The Interrupters — and poverty policy expert Ron Haskins from the Brookings Institution.

You can leave a question in the chat window below, and come by on Wednesday at noon ET to join the live discussion.