It's Time To End Childhood Poverty Essay

Poverty affects over 767 million people in the entire world. In the United States alone, poverty affects more than 42 million people. According to feedingamerica.org, of that 42 million affected, 13 million children and over 5 million seniors live in poverty. Poverty is grouped into two different categories; absolute and relative. Wikipedia.org defines absolute poverty as the absence of enough resources to secure basic life necessities. This includes not having safe drinking water, not having clean bathroom facilities, not being able to get proper healthcare, not having access to education and not having proper shelter. Absolute poverty is also referred to as living in extreme poverty. Relative poverty, according to wikipedia.org, is the condition in which people lack the minimum amount of income needed in order to maintain the average standard of living in the society in which they live. The meaning of poverty varies from country to country and person to person. For example, while some people in the United States would be considered as living below the poverty line, a person from another country may consider that person rich. However, poverty is simply when an individual is unable to meet their basic needs. This includes not being able to clothed, house or feed oneself or one’s family. Poverty is a problem that will not be easily solved. There have been many attempts to try and end poverty, but yet it continues to grow. In a country such as the United States that’s

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.

The current poverty rate in America is 13.5 percent (US Census Bureau). That measures out to roughly 43.1 million Americans. What exactly is poverty? Poverty means not having enough money to meet basic needs including food, clothing and shelter. However, poverty is so much more than just not having enough money. Poverty is not having access to a doctor or medications you may need, poverty is not having access to a good education. Poverty can be the people who are barely able to pay for food and shelter and simply can’t afford other expenses such as car repairs, field trips with their children and any other extracurricular activity.

Poverty is where one person or a group of people don’t have enough money and recourses to meet needs that are considered acceptable in the general public. Although there has been effort to prevent poverty, it is still rampant around the world. 3 billion people live on less than $2.50 a day while 1.3 billion of those people live on less than $1.50 a day. Poverty also affects children. Every 4 seconds a child dies of poverty. 1 billion children live in poverty. Two examples of world powers with large populations but still have child poverty are the United States and Brazil. The poverty line in the United States for a family of four is $23,550. [Federal Poverty Level 2013-2014]. The poverty line

Poverty is an authentic life issue people all over the world continue to struggle with. There are many countries that try to help those in poverty, but a complete solution has not been found. Although there are countless definitions of poverty, according to Schwartz, he states in his article the United States Government says; “Poverty is a state of deprivation, or a lack of the usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions”. The government calculates poverty based on the total income a person may receive and it does not include non-cash supplements (Schwartz).

What is poverty? A question most Americans will not have to think twice before answering. Poverty is, of course, simply a lack of money. The views of a specific person will defer when politics or morals are introduced, however, the idea stays the same. Those in poverty are there because they have less money than what has been decided to be livable. Poverty has changed significantly over the last two hundred years in the United States, and yet, the definition has hardly changed. As the United States of America has because a better-established country and therefore a more prosperous country, the type of people that are considered poor has changed quite a bit. Before industrialization and immigration became a bigger

Poverty is the condition of being without the provisions for living day-to-day, and it is frequently related with necessity, adversity and privation of funds through a widespread array of situations (Poverty. n.d.). Ideally, young kids should be able to collect memories of their childhood of when they played free in a safety environment that provides nurture, learning, and happiness in order to achieve their greatest potential. On the contrary, young ones live a life far from that. Poverty has extensive shattering effects and they distress children directly. One of the biggest impact of Childhood poverty is related to Learning. Youngsters living in poverty face learning difficulties due to factors

Additionally, poverty has no proper contextual definition. The reasoning is to ask oneself whether the way poverty is defined in America is the same way in which poverty is defined in other countries. The answer would be in the negative. It has been noted in a research that the families which are classified as poor in America some of them own things such as a house, a truck, a flat screen Television, do not suffer from malnutrition etc.

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

Poverty is the state of being extremely poor, and having a deficiency in essential needs. According to recent estimates, in 2013, 10.7 percent of the world’s population lived on less than US$1.90 a day, compared to 12.4 percent in 2012. That’s down from 35 percent in 1990. When you think about those numbers, that is a very positive improvement for only one year. Nearly 1.1 billion people have moved out of extreme poverty since 1990. In 2013, 767 million people lived on less than $1.90 a day, down from 1.85 billion in 1990. In contrast to the shorter change in poverty from 2012 to 2013, the 23 year period of the world attempting to bring people out of poverty has been wildly successful.

Children are faced with many consequences due to growing up in poverty. Most children who live in poverty go to poor unsuitable schools, live in unexceptable housing, and grow up around more violence and crime than any other parent would wish for their child. As soon as the child is born into poverty, they begin to feel the effects of it. They tend to have low birth weight and contain a higher risk of dying during infancy. We watched a video in class that showed that poverty could take a toll on the child’s learning capabilities, and health status. There were stories of children with hyperactivity problems, chronic ear infections which caused hearing loss, and even children who were not receiving the proper amount of nutrients to be able to grow and function correctly. The first years of a child’s life are the most crucial because most of the development of the brain occurs then.

Jason Barnett, an elementary student from Belen, New Mexico, awaits Friday afternoons in the same way as other students, but for an additional reason. He looks forward to the book bag that he receives on Friday afternoon from his elementary school. Not every student receives this special bag. The special bookbag contains food that will serve as his meals for him for the next two days. The bag is provided to him because his parents are unable to provide meals for him and both of his brothers. Child poverty has seen a spike in the past two decades. In today’s society, poverty is leaving many negative effects on children, their health is at risk, as well as their education and success rates.

There are several definitions of the word poverty, depending on the situation it is in and the views of the person defining the word. Income poverty is when a family’s income does not meet a threshold that was federally established (differs across countries). Fundamental poverty is the lack of having choices and opportunities of human dignity. It means not having the basic opportunity to participate effectively in society. It means not having enough clothe and feed a family, not having access to credit, not having a clinic or school to go to, or not being able to earn a living.

Poverty is defined as the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions (Duignan, 2011). People bound by the chains of poverty live on less than $2.50 a day which is drastically low from the average American. In 2013, there were 45.3 million people in poverty. This is up from 37.3 million in 2007. The number of poor people is near the largest number in the 52 years for which poverty statistics have been published (DeNavas-Walt 2014, p.20). For the amount of people in poverty to shoot up to 45.3 million which is extremely close to 46.5 million, the amount of people in poverty in 2012 which is the largest number in all the years of published poverty statistics, is saddening and ridiculous. But, in 2014, the population surpasses the largest number with 46.7 million people in poverty. Why do these numbers continue to increase?

When it comes to poverty experience during an educational journey, children from employed parents did not experience education limitation, their parents ensured an improved education for their children contrary to poor parents “Personally, I had all school needs, my parents were working. I work hard for my children too. I know the value of education, so I’m working to ensure that my children acquire the education they deserve. I am employed.” One participant noted. Although she had a “pleasant experience” as (Van Manen, 2014) put it in her educational journey, she explained her “unpleasant experience” (Kindle Location 2479), regarding poor children’s education. The participants noted that “[b]ut there are poor children. I can see little children asking to clean dishes for payment instead of attending school, a child who is supposed to be in primary school asking for a house work, skipping school […].” In addition she noted that although the law forbid child labor, still