Tackling Child Poverty - Essay Example

Macro & Micro Economics Insert Insert Child poverty refers to a situation where a child lives in adverse poverty; these are childrenfrom poor households, orphaned children and more likely children from families with disabled parent who live below acceptable standards of living and this is the work of the government to oversee situations like these. Also children who are more vulnerable to child poverty are children from households whose parents have low education level, children who live in rented apartments, children with single parents, and children from large families / populated families which many children, children from young parents, children who have parents with no employment and much more. The coalition government promised to eradicate child poverty by the year 2020 that is after they accepted to sign up the child poverty act (2010). The government committed itself to ensure that the voice is abolished and all measures to ensure full eradication are put in place. As a matter of concern, child poverty may not be eradicated but may keep on increasing for the coming years. It is because of many factors like; increased poverty rate, inequality which results from a large gap that exist between the rich and the poor in the society, the living standards that have drastically lowered in almost all households. In addition, low income, insecurity, increase in household bills, increased cost of material items and much more. When the coalition government signed the act in 2010, the country at that time was experiencing a rise in child poverty despite spending much money to reduce poverty rate in households in the country so they felt that it is important to take into consideration and look for solid ways to tackle the problem for the last time. In order for the government to address child poverty, they must ensure that the main causes to this are addressed properly for example in order to increase income level, the government must make sure the environment provided is suitable for businesses and other income generating activities in order to increase income level in households (Tackling child poverty, 2010). The government in the past has been using approaches to tackle child poverty, which deemed less functional like; tapping in cash to poor families, giving out soft loans to families but this in turn made poor families inferior since they were required to pay back the loans granted to. In addition, the past government offered allowances for childcare, food, financed housing and gave people healthcare insurance this seemed short- term measure in tackling the issue, and it did not wipe out child poverty. These past tests were not that efficient and long-term measures needed to be put in place. Since the previous government did not put relevant measures to tackle the situation, they first needed to identify leading causes and effective measures to curb the causes of the child poverty in the country. It could have a wider range reduced the poverty rate in most households and turn increase and improve the countries economy. Later on long-term measures were put in place; these were; Poverty reduction; the government ascertained the result to be because of the child poverty in the country. About that, the study revealed that most households were receiving income of less than 60% of the contemporary median. Muriel, A. (2009). The government had to put on measures to increase household income by ensuring that cost of consumable items is reduced; housing cost is lowered, and the environment is made better for small businesses to prosper. It will ensure that most household’s income level is uplifted in one way or another. In addition, those parents who feel like working should be provided with work in families will be better off when parents earn income other than waiting for government’s grants or depending on one partner to provide for the family (Tackling child poverty, 2010). The gap between the poor and the rich will drastically reduce if parents are given a chance to earn reasonable income; also, the government has tried to narrow the gap by providing state pension and subsidizing household items. Moreover, they offer lowering mortgage interest rates to ensure that most people and home own homes of their own and this will reduce income use. So in order to reduce poverty the government must provide access to quality education that must be affordable to all. They must also ensure affordable healthcare is provided. Another long-term measure that has been undertaken includes uplifting the living standards. The living standards of households can be uplifted by increasing income that is by expanding the countries economy, which can cater to the needs of its people. Over time, the income has been seen in the rise but inflation tends to pull it backward. In an endeavor to reduce the gap that exists between the wealthy, and the poor-Inequality is another cause of poverty that has to be controlled (Tackling child poverty, 2010). In recent years, the government has ensured that income is increased, and prices of commodities maintained at one level. That is the government has opted to control prices of goods. This has helped to reduce the inequality gap thus reducing child poverty. Increase employment-Recession and lack of employment have also been captured in another cause of child poverty. Due to economic depression, most people lost their jobs and this increased poverty rate. Most young people have no jobs, and they tend to live with their parents due to lack of money for their upkeep. It has forced the government to increase jobs in order for the youths to get income for their daily subsistence. Other measures include; provision of clean water and proper sanitation facilities also has reduced child poverty since this has helped reduce diseases that could have in turn increased the use of household income (Fiedler and Kuester, 2010). Reduction of hunger in the country by the government has also helped reduce child poverty since the government has provided subsidized foodstuff to the families living on low-income rates. In addition, provision of safe play areas, safe streets, and safe housing can also help reduce child poverty since the income that could have been used for health care in most occasions could be used for other importance use. Some other measures could include encouraging mothers to look for employment instead of being mare homemakers to increase their household income. The government must also ensure that in order for parents to be absorbed into employment, childcare should be readily available and at low cost. Free primary education can be another measure to tackle child poverty-By providing free primary education they must also provide an environment conducive to learning and encouraging parents to be part of their children’s education to ensure that children participate in their academic activities to the fullest (Arrighi and Maume, 2007). It is of great importance since an intelligent child can grow up to an intelligent adult thus reducing child poverty and a countries poverty rate. Healthy families sum up to a healthy economy the government must always ensure that families are offered services to ensure that parents are responsible and are mentally stable Provision of affordable health services- ill health means a sick nation so the government must ensure that families get this most valuable service by providing families with health insurance, health cards and affordable medical care thus reducing child poverty at a close range. The government must subsidize household bills like electricity bill, gas, fuel, telephone bills and insurance covers so that all households can be able to receive the services (Bridges and Disney, 2004). Lessons we can learn are; for the child poverty to be wholly eradicated, the government must ensure that all the stated measures must be put in place so that child poverty can be eradicated in the country. In the issue of poverty, it is sufficiently shown that it can only be reduced if the income rate is taken care of intensively. Concerning the living standards, all households if given the chance to improve their living standards through measures underlying, child poverty will also be outdated. For the reason of reducing the gap between the poor and the rich, we have learned that the government must subsidize some of material and healthcare cost. For child poverty to drastically reduce, inequality must be tackled well using the measures stated above. In conclusion, poverty in the household has been the principal cause of child poverty and if drastic measures like provision of quality and affordable education and health care are undertaken to tackle the problem/ the issue the country will experience reduction in child poverty. In addition, it means reduction in child poverty will lead to growth in the country’s economy because as a child grows in a healthy environment he/she will grow into a reliable workforce for the country. List of References Arrighi, B. and Maume, D. (2007). Child poverty in America today. Westport, Conn.: Praeger. Belfield, C, J. Cribb, A. Hood and R. Joyce, Living standards, poverty and inequality in the UK: 2014 Brewer, M., Browne, J., and Joyce, R. (2011) Child and Working-Age Poverty and Inequality in the UK: 2010, Institute for Fiscal Studies, Commentary C121. Dickens, R "Child Poverty in Britain: Past Lessons and Future Prospects", National Institute Economic Review, October, 2011; 218 (1) Dickens, R. Child Poverty in Britain: Did WorkWork? The Labour-Market in winter: The State of Working Britain 2010, Oxford University Press, January2011 Fiedler, A. and Kuester, I. (2010). Child development and child poverty. New York: Nova Science Publishers. Tackling child poverty. (2010). Child Care, 7(7), pp.6-6. Tackling child poverty. (2010). Child Care, 7(7), pp.6-6. Read More