The Issue Of Poverty And How Children And Families Are Mostly Affected By This.

Nelson Mandela, a revolutionary, advocated diligently for human rights and emphasized, “Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings” (Guy-Allen). He believed that poverty can be ended with humanity’s help. Poverty has been an issue for a long time, and people are going farther below the poverty line daily. There are many recent articles and conferences that discuss the causes and solutions to poverty overall. Some feel as if society is not doing enough for people in this position. Others view it as a situation that someone can get themselves out of with no extra help. But, there is a group that poverty strikes the hardest. The effects that poverty has on children is the worst. They cannot help themselves because they lack the power to do so. Therefore, it is the government’s job to make sure they are not being left behind. If they are not brought out of this, generational poverty will continue and increase the poverty rate. There should be more money put towards programs that directly aid to children in poverty because their position is holding them back from being successful.

Poverty is often associated with Third World countries, where the outcome of such poverty is often death from disease or starvation. However this is the extremes of poverty, and is rarely experienced within the UK. Despite this poverty still takes place within the UK just at a lesser extent, however this does not take away from the devastating effects that poverty can have. This poverty can be attributed to having less money and lower living standards than others of the same society (European Anti-Poverty Network, 2009). Child poverty is a direct result of adult poverty (Poverties.org, 2011-2012) however unlike and adult, the experience of poverty for a child can effect later life drastically. In April 2011, there were 13 million people in the UK living below the poverty line, this included 3.6 million children (Department for Work and Pensions, 2011), and these numbers are expected to rise further (Child Poverty action Group, 2000-2012). This type of poverty does not discriminate, it is a direct result of inadequate resources.

In the UK, particularly in England and Wales, children’s life chances are determined by the economic status of the families into which they are a part of. Children from poor households are more likely to suffer the consequences of their families’ condition. They will have to endure the stigma of poverty in a profoundly lopsided society where the socioeconomic standing of individuals is determined by their capacity to buy. These poor children also have less access to quality educational opportunities (Welbourne, 2012). Furthermore, children living in poverty at present are likely to remain poor for the rest of their lives because of intergenerational cycles of poverty

As we can see though income is a major contributor to poverty, when children are born the parents have a hard decision to make whether to return to work or stay at home. Either one of these decisions though has a negative consequence on the family’s budget, be it higher expenses or less income. A lot of people think that claiming benefits will help them make up the short fall in wages but this isn’t the case. In reality, benefits are set at levels that leave recipient’s living below the poverty line. In 2009/10 it was estimated that a family with one child claiming jobseekers allowance received only 65 per cent of the amount they required to live above the poverty line. (DWP, 2011.) This then has a knock on affect in other aspects of life. Parents have to decide whether feeding their children is more important than heating there home. It is estimated that 1.6 million children are growing up in homes which are too cold. (Barnardos, 2014.) Children growing up in poverty have it very hard not only do they grow up being cold and hungry they also miss out on activities at school and with friends.

How can there be so many people in poverty? It is all around us even though Canada has made the G20 Richest Nations; they still have one of the highest poverty rates for in the industrialized world. Through reading many articles such as Ann Duffy and Nancy Mandell’s “Poverty in Canada”, others that I have found online, and my own personal experience I have learned the numerous reasons why so many people in a well industrialized nation such as Canada are struggling with poverty.

We all know what it means to be poor, it means to be short of money, unable to afford many of services that other people of the society can. Child poverty means to be living in a family where they are having hard time making ends meet. As one of the richest country, 3.9 million children in the UK living in poverty is apalling.2 What is even worse is London, the capital city, having ‘the highest rate of child poverty of any English region.’3

Poverty is a disease often associated with Third World and developing countries, where the outcome is often death from starvation or disease. Although this extreme form of poverty is rarely seen in the UK, there is a more discreet form of poverty which is taking hold at home in the UK; one which can be attributed to having less money and lower living standards than others in the same society (European Anti-Poverty Network, 2009). Child poverty is a direct result of adult poverty (Poverties.org, 2011-2012) however unlike an adult, experiencing poverty as a child can have lifelong consequences. In April 2011, there were 13 million people in the UK living below the poverty line, including

Absolutely, poverty is a problem that seems to get little attention from our government. There is over 3 billion people living in poverty globally (Shah, 2014).

Poverty in Scotland is at a higher level than any other part of the UK, although falling it is clear that as one in five children still live in poverty today that it is a serious problem. Children are most at risk of living under the poverty line when they live in a single parent household – 43% of all lone parent families lived under the poverty line in 2014. The risk of living in poverty also increasing as the number of children

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

Poverty has been a huge problem in the United States and all around the world. According to the United States Bureau of the Census, in 2012, over 46 million people were living in poverty in the United States. Poverty rate has remained at high level throughout the years. As high as 15% of the people living in the United States is living in poverty. Poverty mostly targeted racial and ethnic minorities, women, children and single parent families.

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

When the average person, who lives in the UK, thinks about child poverty, the first picture, which comes to their mind is some extremely poor country in the middle of Africa, where families live to survive on a daily basis. Meanwhile, here, in the UK, nearly four million children, which makes 30 per cent of the whole child population, are living in poverty (End Child Poverty, 2014).

On this assignment I 'm going to be referring to poverty, since it leads down different roads. Poverty can lead to health issues, lack housing, of income, employment, malnutrition, lack of education and many more that will be explained on this paper.

“The causes of poverty include changing trends in a country 's economy, lack of education, high divorce rate which causes feminization of poverty, having a culture of poverty, overpopulation, epidemic diseases such as AIDS and malaria, and environmental problems such as lack of rainfall”. (White, Killick & Kayizzi, 2001) Almost half of the world over 3 billion people live on less than $2.50 a day. It is said that “a country is poor because it is poor.” Low level of sparing diminishes the degree for investment; low level of investment yields low salary and subsequently the circle of poverty goes on uncertainly. There are five main causes of poverty in the world.