Child Poverty Thesis

“When I was young, poverty was so common that we didn’t know it had a name” a quote by Lyndon B. Johnson.(Brainy Quotes) We all have witnessed or experienced poverty in our lives whether we identify or not are not the points of my study. I want people to see the numbers do not lie and we have to help with this huge increase of poverty. Poverty affects families, groups and individuals especially the children where the UK is concerned. The major reason for these kids and families experiencing poverty are the low wages, low benefits or having no income at all. The results of children poverty can lead to affect their social, educational and personal development.

Child poverty is becoming more of a big issue now more than ever in the U.K, with so many people unemployed and living on benefits. Children across the country are being deprived of basic living standards. The price of living is going up and it’s no wonder people are struggling to make ends meet. In my essay, I will talk about all aspects of how child poverty impacts greatly on children’s lives. I will talk about the effects poverty has on a child’s health, housing, education and social exclusion. I will also talk about how child poverty can be tackled, and the causes of child poverty with in the United Kingdom.

In the United States, child poverty has been a severe issue even when the country was established. When looking at the statistics of child poverty from the past, it is clear that there was an increasing number of families and children living in poverty. This trend dates back to the year 2000 when 11.6 million people were living in poverty. In 2007, the number of individuals suffering from poverty rose to 13.4 million, (Arrighi & Maume, 2007). This is due to the massive economic fallout, also known as the Great Recession. The United States lost over 7.5 million jobs and the unemployment rate doubled, which directly impacted parents and their children, (Grusky & etc., 2011). This crisis resulted in leaving many Americans financially insecure. Even though many of the financially stable individuals suffered a great loss, they were able to utilize their resources to navigate through the calamity and recover whereas those who were poor faced an economic issue with greater impact. They were faced with foreclosures, bankruptcies and mortgage felonies. Most importantly, the lives of the young children were negatively impacted as well. The four areas that the children were affected by from the Great Recession were: health, hunger, housing, abuse and neglect, (Wiltz 2015). In several households, there was at least one member that suffered from malnourishment because of the inadequate food supply for the family. On the other hand, numerous children were left to be homeless because of

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.

Child welfare services are a very large and important part of human services work. When looking at the world today, in the department of child services, we must look at our history. During the colonial America, children were indenture servitudes expected to work. There was a later shift in history, to the panatlantic slave trade. During this time, slave children were expected to work just like adults. Many children died during slavery and their slave masters raped many young girls who were slaves. Then, in the industrial era, child labor was used in factories; children were just seen as little adults, who were capable of doing all that adults could do. When this was abolished, there was a huge problem of orphans, which opened the doors for

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

“High rates of child poverty are a cause for concern, as low family income has been associated with a range of negative health, education, justice, labour market and social outcomes. Negative health outcomes include low birth weight, infant mortality, poorer mental health and cognitive development, and hospital admissions from a variety of causes” (Craig, Reddington, Wicken, Oben & Simpson, 2013, pg. 24).

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.

An issue that affects children in urban areas is poverty. Children who live in poverty are impacted with many negative effects physically or mentally. Some of these issues related to poverty are substandard housing, inadequate nutrition and food insecurity, inadequate child care, lack of access to health care, unsafe neighborhoods, and under resourced schools. Studies show that “poverty affects child development and they experience more social problems” (Curley).

As director of the Organization Kid First, My first responsibility is to solve the dilemma of the child poverty in Brazil. Children Poverty is one of the biggest problems in brazil. As director my responsibility to make those children live better. Child poverty refers to the reality of children living in poverty. This applies to children that come from poor families or orphans being raised with limited resources.

Mental health in childhood poverty is another area which is significantly impacted. Children of low-income families often grow up in stressful situations that they have no control over, such as parental divorce, parental job loss and parental addictions. These can all create a harmful mental health situation that can follow the child into adulthood. Parents who are trying to provide the basics for their families tend to work more hours to cover those necessities. The parents are then unable to spend quality time with their children, leading the children to acquire low self-esteem and poor relationship building skills. These situations tend to flow into the long-term effects of childhood poverty.

Poverty is the state of living without the basic necessities of life - for example, money or a reliable supply of food. People living in poverty might be lacking a steady income, the ability to feed their families, or access to education and healthcare. In 2015, there were 43.1 million people living in poverty in the USA.

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

In the article from USA Today, reports from the Annie E. Casey foundation state that there are more children living in poverty now than there were during the great recession (Calfas 2015). “About 22% of children in the U.S. lived below the poverty line in 2013, compared with 18% in 2008, the foundation’s 2015 Kids Count Data Book reported.” (Calfas 2015) Reports show that many of the children living in poverty are of Black, Latino, or Native American descent. Although there are programs in place to try and help members of the American society combat poverty, many of these programs tend to mostly benefit white families. These facts have raised concerns about the development of the American society and the children in it. The article reveals