Examples Of Poverty In Poor Kids By Frontline

As mentioned by Ruane and Cerulo in Second Thoughts, harsh realities of poverty affect children’s lives in profound ways. Children lack any power in improving their circumstances and depend on adults to gain access to basic necessities. Access to proper healthcare, education, and basic nutrition continues to be an obstacle for children. Poverty impedes children’s aptitude to learn and contributes to poor overall health and mental health. Perhaps most important, poverty becomes a cyclical nature that is difficult to overcome. Children who experience poverty when they are young tend to experience persistent poverty over the course of their entire lives. According to the Child Welfare League of America, the national poverty rate for children

The economic issues in American society have major effect on young on young children basic needs. Young children do not understand the economic issues their families facing in today’s society. In the short story “The Lesson” the author addresses the reader regarding social and economic inequality in America. In America lower family are suffering the most because of their monthly income and cannot afford things their children’s wants. Therefore, lower family cannot afford the expensive materials for their children because they have to think about their daily life styles. Also these lower families had difficult times affording clothing, food, house rents and other essentials. According to the article, “Children are especially vulnerable economically

In the 2012 documentary Poor Kids, children living in the Quad Cities reflect on their lives in poverty. Each story is different but similar in many ways. At the time of the film, there were sixteen million children reported who were affected by poverty. The film also stated that one in five children were living in poverty. With large quantities of children being affected by poverty, the important to understand how these children are dealing with the factors of poverty.

In today’s society, the stigma around child poverty is related to homelessness. Poverty is the lack of support, goods, and money. As a matter of fact, many kids who partake in the 21% statistic from NCCP do live with parents who go to work and have a paying job. With that being said, the jobs that some of their parents have are unstable and their income is very low making it difficult for these children’s parents to make ends meet. This issue is transparent and many do not realize just how much we are surrounded by those who suffer from child poverty.

More than 800 million people in the world are malnourished, 777 million of them are from the developing world (Raphel, S., 2014). Poverty is an issue that must be addressed to the population loud and clear or everyone will end up suffering. There are many families trying to survive and live from paycheck to paycheck. Unfortunately, there are some families that are unable to support himself or herself or any family member. One important key issue of poverty in the United States is inequality. Many Americans blame the poor people for their own fate but you should never judge a book by its cover. There can be many reasons why an individual or families end up in poverty. For example, low wage jobs, discrimination and social inequality, vulnerability to natural disasters, war and political instability. Another big issue we face today is child poverty. This is a very critical issue because these young children are our future. If we let these children live in poverty, there is a higher chance they will drop out of school, look for work in order to support their family, or give up in life.

‘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)

In the documentary “Poor Kids”, Frontline explores childhood poverty from the eyes of the children that are enduring the epidemic. Through interviews and observations, the children from these poor families tell their stories uncandid, honest and in their own words. The outcome is remarkably discerning, by taking viewers into their livelihoods and day to day experiences, and displaying their unfortunate lack of resources and hope. Every single day, huge numbers of American families get pulled out of the middle class and dumped into poverty. The amount of reliable, secure jobs continues to shrink, and families don’t have any way to pay their bills, causing them to lose electricity, water, and even their homes.

Families who live in poverty do not have a choice about where they are living, or who their neighbors are. They do not have the option to pick up and move to avoid the struggles that poverty brings. Imagine having to listen to children scream and cry from hunger pains and realizing there is no food to feed them. Imagine children sleeping in the middle of winter with no heat to keep them warm. This is life for those families living in poverty. These are just some of the small daily struggles they live with on a daily basis.

In the introduction of this essay we will be looking at ‘what is child poverty?’ Poverty is often associated with the third world and developing countries where death from starvation and disease is the outcome. This kind of poverty is rarely seen in the UK though. Child poverty is unfortunately a result of adult poverty with Child poverty having lifelong consequences. There are 3.5 million children living in poverty in the UK today, that’s 27 per cent of children or more than one in four (department for work and pensions, 2013.) Poverty in the UK is about a lack of resources, lack of capital both income and wealth. But it can also be resource poor such as; education and good health

With the United States of America having one of the highest child poverty rates, the documentary titled, Poor Kids, takes us to Stockton, Iowa where we follow the lives of three destitute families from the point of view of their children. Two of the families are on the verge of homelessness and the other one is already living in a shelter. Throughout this documentary we see what being poor in America looks like through the eyes of children.

The Frontline video “Poor Kids,” describes three families that have lived the consequences of poverty. Due to poor income, unemployment or low paying jobs, some of these families lost everything. Some of them went from living a decent life, earning thousands of dollars in a month to working in a job that didn’t nearly paid as much. This lead to the loss of properties and commodities. For instance, two out of the three families at some point had to move out of their houses because they couldn’t afford to pay for rent.

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

However, they are individuals just like any other child and they should be given the same opportunities that all children have. Poverty is a huge problem in many areas of the world. MacQueen states “poverty puts children behind from birth, and keeps them behind for life (2003).” If a child is in a household with little money, they may lack “the stable home in a safe neighbourhood, adequate nutrition, and the kind of involved parenting” that would be influential on the correct and desired development of the young child (MacQueen, 2003).

Poverty can lead to serious effects. Children who grow up in poverty are likely to have frequent health problems than the children who grow in better financial circumstances. For example, infants who are born into poverty have a low birth weight, and they grow up with mental or physical disabilities. Not only are they sick, but they are most likely to die before their first birthday. Children who are raised in poverty might miss school often because of their illnesses, and they have a much higher accident rate than the other children. Nearly a billion of the world’s population can’t read nor write. Poor families experience stress much more than a normal family does. They are more likely to be exposed to negative events such as illness, job loss, death of a family member, and depression. Homelessness is another effect of poverty. Homeless children are less likely to receive proper nutrition, protection and they experience more health problems. Around 1.4 million children die each year from lack of access to safe and clean water and proper nutrition. Homeless women experience a high rate of low birth weight infants as well as miscarriages. Families who do not have homes receive much more stress than other families. They also have disruption in school, work, friendships, and family relationships. There are other effects of poverty such as drug abuse and addiction, child and woman abuse, debts pressure, and increase in crimes.

Children in poverty is a typical social issue occurring in society today. “More than 16 million children in the United States – 22% of all children – live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level” (“National Center For Children In Poverty,” n.d.). The federal poverty level measures the amount of income a family takes in per year. It varies depending on the number of people in a family. For a nuclear family (two parents and two children) the federal poverty level is around twenty-four thousand dollars in a year (“Health Care.gov,” n.d.). The average American makes around forty-six thousand dollars a year. The parents of the children in poverty make at least twenty-two thousand dollars below the average. Their families are extremely poor. Also, not just one child is facing this hardship, sixteen million children are part of families below the federal poverty line, just in America. “About 22% of children in the U.S. lived below the poverty line in 2013, compared with 18% in 2008” (Calfas, 2015). Unfortunately, the rate of poverty affecting children has gone up through the years. More and more children will face poverty during day to day life. Children can be affected by poverty in many ways. “Poverty can impede children’s ability to learn and contribute to social, emotional, and behavioral problems. Poverty also can contribute to poor