Child Poverty : An Advancing Social Issue Essay

The Toronto Star published an article reporting that Toronto currently has the highest rate of children living in households that are considered low income in Canada (Monsebraaten, 2015). The article reports that in Toronto the child poverty rate is higher than the poverty rate of any other age group. This paper will discuss child poverty, how this is a challenge to public health practices and policies, and finally, discuss potential solutions for public policy that address this issue.

‘Poverty is on the agenda of the Every Child Matters framework, with one of the five outcomes stating that every child should ‘achieve wealth and economic well being.’ This means is it is important that children experiencing poverty have the same opportunities as their peers.’(CYPW, pg 186/187)

Grace Abbott once said, “Child labor and poverty are inevitably bound together and if you continue to use the labor of children as the treatment for the social disease of poverty, you will have both poverty and child labor to the end of time.” Child poverty is one of the biggest issues facing Canadian children today. Child poverty can significantly shorten a child’s life. One of the major reasons child poverty in Canada is so high is because of low wages. These children have a disadvantage to all the other children in Canada. There is major inequality among these children. There are many problems that come out of child poverty and effect the children directly. This paper will talk about the four major effects of child poverty; health issues and nutrition, emotional and behavioural issues, education, and their home environment. (Introduction: dimensions of children’s inequality, 2003).

The United States is the richest nation, yet millions of Americans live below the poverty line and millions more struggle every month. The children in society today living in poverty is increasing daily. The majority of these children are from single-parent homes where sometimes parents are not working or have become disabled and therefore cannot work. Children who are raised in foster care and leave as adults do not have strong relationship ties most of the time and are at an increased risk for experiencing poverty, early parenthood and homelessness (American School Board Journal, 2007). The reason for most of the poverty in the United States is due to low family incomes.

Within this survey we will briefly examine the history surrounding child poverty while focusing on the 1989 House of Commons resolution to end poverty by 2000. We will examine the realities for Canadian children, the causes of child poverty, the effects on Canadian children and finally attempt to find some solutions (as well as look at existing ones) for 1.3 million children struggling in Canada (Canada Without Poverty).

It is known that the children are unable to determine their life circumstances, their families, and care solely for themselves without supervision. With this being said, children have little to no jurisdiction in determining the situations that they are confronted with. Most of the time when we ponder child poverty we think of low-income families or lack of food in the household, but it extends beyond that to “an environment that is damaging to their mental, physical, emotional and spiritual development” (“Children Under Threat,” 2005). Unfortunately, the prevalence of youth poverty in the United States may seem uncommon to those who are personally unaffected by the crisis; however, statistics show that 15 million children (21% of all children) live in families with incomes below the federal poverty threshold (Child Poverty, 2017). Moreover, when considering the demographics of impoverished children the following are true: a child in the U.S. has a 1 in 5 chance of being poor and the younger they are the poorer they are likely to be, and a child of color is more than twice as likely to be poor than a White child (Child Poverty, 2017). Research proves that poverty is the single greatest threat to a child’s well-being as it decreases the likelihood of a child graduating from high school, and it increases the chances of them becoming involved with the criminal justice system (Ending Child Poverty Now, 2017).

In the last 30 years, there has been increase in child poverty in the Britain.1 We, as a community, should do as much as we can to help in removing child poverty.

Department for Work and Pensions, 2011. A New Approach to Child Poverty: Tackling the causes of Disadvantage and Transforming Familie's Lives, s.l.: Her Majesty's Stationary Office.

When analyzing children growing up in poverty a lot of factors come into play such as their physical, psychological and emotional development. To grow up in poverty can have long term effect on a child. What should be emphasized in analyzing the effects of poverty on children is how it has caused many children around the world to suffer from physical disorders, malnutrition, and even diminishes their capacities to function in society. Poverty has played a major role in the functioning of families and the level of social and emotional competency that children are able to reach. Children in poverty stricken families are exposed to greater and emotional risks and stress level factors. They are even capable of understanding and dealing with

For the purpose of this essay I am going to be discussing how social policy and legislation with regards to poverty in the UK has evolved and the effect it has had on children and their families. There are 3.5 million children living in poverty in the UK today, 27 per cent of children (Department for Work and Pensions, 2013). According to Mayer (1997), poor homes tend to have overcrowding, lack electrical outlets and less likely to have central heating. The level of cognitive stimulation is another element, which can be affected by lack of financial resources and poverty (Guo & Harris, 2000). This essay will now focus on five key acts these are; the poor law, National assistance act, the Sure Start programme, the child poverty act

This essay will discuss to what extent environment and poverty is a significant factor in children’s educational development and attainment. This will be done by evaluating the effects that family, environment and poverty have on the way a child develops. This essay aims to focus on the degree these themes influence educational development. Whilst focusing on the impact during different stages of a child’s primary education, I will look at how these themes influence the child and why they are important.

Source 1 - This source is a BBC News article about Child Poverty in the UK which was written in 2015, so the information is up to date. The strengths of this article are that it has informative statistics and information about the causes of child poverty. The weaknesses of the article are that it has more about the government than about child poverty itself. I

We as Americans are extremely lucky. We live in a big country with many resources and almost all the luxuries we ever wanted. On the flip side, in America there are also many people who do not have these privileges. The lower class is a struggling class. For many years, people have been trying to pull themselves up from the lower class and the majority does not succeed. Childhood poverty is a large problem in the U.S. It is said that the poorest people in the United States are the children of the lower class. Childhood poverty could lead to a number of problems such as hunger, violence, physical and mental disabilities, educational problems, homelessness, family stress, sickness, and too-early parenthood. The sad truth is that

New Zealand is a good place for many children to grow up in. Regrettably for a substantial minority of children this is not the case. Despite our positive ‘she’ll be right’ kiwi attitude, relative poverty for children in New Zealand is very much a real social issue. In 2012, 27% of all New Zealand children were living in income poverty, this is almost double that of 1982 (Craig,

Child poverty is a major and complex issue that New Zealand faces today. The degree is far more severe than the public's perception and it is a problem that we cannot afford to ignore. A combination of factors contributes to child poverty, from individual causes at the micro level to the macro collective government involvement. This occurs partly due to social construction and it is potentially avoidable. The consequences can impact on both individual and to a great extent affect significantly on the country as a whole. If the issue is not resolved, the inequality will continue, if not worsen and becomes an ongoing intergeneration cycle. 'The poor get poorer and poorer', children can easily fall into the poverty trap where it becomes