How can Social Policy Eradicate Child Poverty - Assignment Example

 How can Social Policy Eradicate Child Poverty? Introduction Child poverty is a concept associated with individuals under the age of 18, with different reasons that distinguish it from adult poverty. The poverty gives the rise to different effects, either short or long resulting to permanent or temporary impacts on the children’s lives. The experience of children poverty connects with the social exclusion affecting the children, not only in their social, but also familial lives. Children brought up in poverty may show strange outcome of behavior, which in the end may affect their perception of themselves. Many people have different thoughts on who is responsible for tackling the issue of child poverty; although the entire burden of blame would be on the government, families, communities and organizations, - all who have to play the biggest role since they face and handle the problem often. Referring to the UNICEF, child poverty is expressed “as the deprivation of a range of both material and social supports and services that it considers to be essential to ensure children’s well-being” (Minujin, et al., 2006, p. 485). Helping the children escape poverty has to occur early in life when a problem is discovered, so that rectification takes place. By assisting the children, their future is secured; but also their families and the entire community’s lives benefit from the process. The power to prevent child poverty is within human reach making it possible to formulate social policies, which are action oriented through use of both economic and non economic resources, in equal redistribution as a way of improving the child welfare. How Social Policies Eradicate Child Poverty Through the government, social policies are delivered through the enactment and reforms of law. The administration comes up with programs and initiatives just like community organizations to benefit the child welfare, by improving their economic and social state. The social policies help to protect the child and uphold their fundamental rights, which may entail helping the children or the young individuals directly or providing extensive support to their families. Children are sensitive beings who do not have the power to vote, or form petition authorities to foster programs that could defend their right. Whether being born in poverty or suffering from it during the childhood, the social policies provide rescue plans if not reducing the impact it causes in their lives. Some of the social policies are government pensions, welfare to the poor, health care, food stamps, unemployment benefits, affordable housing initiatives, educational opportunity, equal employment laws, anti-discriminatory laws, and other policy initiatives designed to benefit the disadvantaged individuals in the communities. Equal Educational Opportunities for Children Education for the children is service enabled by the government in general, but also enforced by private organizations to ensure the children’s well being in future. The government facilitates the social policy as an explicit law guiding the nation while organizations and societies consider take it in a more familiar social than political issue (Browne, 2011, p. 166). All over the world, the governments take the initiative to make laws and reforms with regard to the children’s suitable age to attend school, regarding the knowledge they get according to what is offered in the system of education. However, not all the children get the opportunity of accessing the qualified education service due to social and economic barriers. The governments need to take an extra effort to follow up on how the education services are distributed within the societies to avoid bias within the system, which denies the proper right of education of some children. According to Browne, “there are huge inequalities in educational opportunities and in attainment between the rich and poorest social group, and not all children of the same ability have the same chance of succeeding in education” (2011, p.166). Even if the society is classified, the children with poor background need further assistance as well as equality in educational opportunities. Children born in poverty or those impoverished in childhood need the educational service, as much as those from the rich families. Education is referred to as a means for securing a comfortable life; hence, its lack it may be frustrating for the children’s lives and might lead to bad behavior unacceptable in the society. Education serves as a social amenity that equips the child not only with knowledge and skills, but also with values and moral behaviour. The child’s mental ability is shaped with opportunities of education from primary to secondary levels, preparing them to lead a responsible adult life. Just like in Peru, the social public policy has to give greater emphasis in improving the quality of public education services, especially in poorer areas such as a critical component of a strategy to reduce poverty among the children (Grinspun, Fagan and Haddad, 2004, p.7). Schools educational systems are also blamed to contribute to child poverty through the grading of pupils and students in their qualification. Some young individuals may be unable to perform well not because they are incapable, but the social or economic constraints within the family settings interferes with their performance. Students may end up lacking consistent education since they could not attend school, affecting the general grading performance which employers at times use as a merit for selecting people suitable for a profession. Equality in education is all about offering equal chances for knowledge acquisition early in a child’s life to eliminate child poverty. Often, providing this service contributes to social control and upward social mobility in the child’s family and future generation, against another occurrence of child poverty. Equal Opportunity Employment Laws The families play the biggest role in taking care of their children; when the chances of getting employed are limited, the children would be viewed as a burden in the families and the barrier to success, as they come with expenses. As the income flows in a family, the expenses are either met or not, depending on how much money the guardians can earn. Sometimes the children are raised by single parents in situations where the gender bias affects the type of employment the guardian gets. In Oregon state, “If the employer's decision is based upon race, colour, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age (18 or over under state law, 40 or older under federal law), marital status, family status, veteran's status or mental or physical disability, a claim for discrimination may exist” (Oregon State Bar, 2012) . Certain guardians in the society are challenged by these factors and are expected to meet the children’s needs. Their mental state is excellent and qualified, but the employers deny their opportunity, and this puts their children at a risk of poverty since the support they need in economical terms may not be fulfilled. Through the government and international laws protecting the labour market, child poverty can be eradicated through employment non-discrimination acts, equal pay acts, racial, age and disability cats among others to secure their employment opportunity. Sex and pregnancy discrimination acts have increased the chances of women get hired, and since most of them are single mothers, their children well-being is elevated from poverty as the flow of income increases. There is a correlation between women increase in employment and reduction in child poverty, especially in the developed nations. The equal employment government laws assist the single parents whose children are at a higher probability of sliding into poverty than those with two parents (OECD, 2012, p.1). The Nordic countries have their reputation in formulating good social public policies encouraging the population to work; hence, their nations’ and families’ economic structure has always been accommodative. In a research carried out by Forssen, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Sweden place emphasis on assisting people to get paid jobs, which is complimented by their social policies that facilitate redistribution of income. This makes the Nordic countries have low percentages of child poverty compared with the rest of the world as illustrated in figure 1 (UNICEF, 2000, p.10). The developed nations have played a role in encouraging gender equality in employment, and as a result, the child poverty is been controlled and eliminated. Figure 1: Relationship of OECD female increase in employment and child poverty rate (UNICEF, 2000) Children health care The modern life is characterized by presence numerous diseases, inherent, transmittable, acute and chronic illnesses. Therefore, children at an early stage deserve intense health care to be prevented from these diseases. Some are born and left orphaned at a tender age with nobody to cater for their needs; the government, private and societies’ organizations have formulated social programs and initiates applied to these less fortunate group. Through them, children homes have been set up, equipped with medical facilities to enable enough healthcare to the young individuals whether disabled or with emotional problems. The health care intertwines with nutrition to prevent and cure children with infections early in life and avoid a future expense for their families. They need vaccines, vitamins and immunization against any forming defects in their bodies. According to Bellamy, 2 million kids under age of 5 die yearly due to lack of early immunization in developing nations since respiratory infections, diarrhoea, malaria, measles and malnutrition are common death-causing illnesses and deficiencies among children (2004, p. 17). The government and private hospitals’ policies should ensure affordable prices in accessing childhood healthcare if not free. By supporting the families, it is possible to meet their costs of health care services. Healthcare is considered as a psychological necessity besides the basic necessities for a child’s survival. The US have made a step in renovating their health care act which has extensively assisted the low income earners access family health care through affordable insurance premiums and tax reductions in heath services. According to Bomar, there is great need to extend health care from an institution to communities for easier and comfortable access (2004, p. 150). The collective participation of different bodies has enabled mobile health care and services to children in numerous communities, educating them on the need for good health and sanitation safety. Communities have also developed social programs to cleanliness in their environments by building of latrines for the people, garbage collection and sewage blockage through organizations and governments’ funds. At an international level, the pocket book of hospital care for children is one of the initiatives developed in health sector, working towards providing clinical guidance for the health officers responsible for children care (Campbell et al., 2008, p. 3). Social workers and heath practitioners have been distributed and specialized to work in community based levels and providing care at homes. Some companies and organizations offer internal policies that support their workers in meeting their families’ health and social needs. Food stamps and affordable housing initiatives Many children around the globe lack proper health due to lack of food and access to clean water. Well wishes have tried to provide food to the poor families and less disadvantaged children, but their wells always run dry at a point. The increasing need of poor families and children in poverty outweigh the available resources offered by the well wishes. The food stamps programs ensure children get proper nutrition for their health and body functions. Federal governments, red cross society and private organizations have to come in to offer more food and material support for the kids. It is not a fault for a child to be born in poor families, but similarly families should have a strategy to support the children they get especially through the basic needs. According to Jolliffe et al., Food stamp programs is the leading US food assistance plan, covering for almost 17.2 million individuals by the year 2000 and serves to alleviate poverty in incidences of society poverty (2008). With these poor or low income families can apply to be able to purchase ready made food in supermarkets and food shops supporting their children from suffering in hunger and poverty. In developing nations such programs are the scarce end since they have to rely on direct food aid through governments, internal and external organizations. Housing facilities are facilitated through welfare programs for the poor and low income earners. Shelter for the children is very critical because misconduct and carelessness within the house lead to another problem for the children. It is important that children live in a clean and spacious shelter to avoid getting cold or infected by diseases arising from sanitation and away from adults who may abuse them. Not only in developing nations families and children spend their lives in the cold; in rich nations, the number of families also cannot afford houses and live homelessly in the streets. According to Brux, acquiring affordable rental housing has proved difficult for poor families as they spend substantial amount of their incomes in the present housing, food and clothing among others (2008, p. 191). The economies keep growing, life expenses increases and demand for affordable housing from the public also increases. In Kenya, the government and the UN-HABITAT are already in contract and developing affordable housing for the people in Kibera slums (housing.go.ke, 2011). Through such initiatives, children are housed and grow in good environment and sanitation while their activity in crime involvement may be eliminated. In other areas, the poor and low income earners are encouraged to house ownership through “tax deductibility of mortgage interest, subsidized loans or grants for low income household and subsidized savings-for-purchase schemes” (Hallett, 1993, p. 247). Conclusion Other examples of social policies include government pensions and allowance to families and child abuse policies to protect young individuals from poverty. Social policies are wide range of laws, rules, programs and initiatives and involve different people and groups in supporting the children to access food, shelter, health care, clothing and other social amenities. Other policies focus on assisting the families through financing, cutting cost through allowances and future pensions. References Bottom of Form Bellamy, C. 2004. The State of the Worlds ́s Children 2005: Childhood under Threat.New York, NY: UNICEF  Bomar, P. J. 2004. Promoting Health in Families: Applying Family Research and Theory to Nursing Practice. Philadelphia: Elsevier Inc. Browne, K., 2011. An Introduction to Sociology. Cambridge: Polity Press. Top of Form Brux, J. M. 2008. Economic Issues & Policy. Mason, OH: Thompson South – Western Cengage Learning. Campbell, H., Duke, T., Weber, M., English, M., Carai, S. and Tamburlini, G. 2008. Global Initiatives for Improving Hospital Care for Children: State of the Art and Future Prospects. Pediatrics, [e- journal] 121, pp. 984-993. Available through: American Academy of Paediatric www. [ Accessed 20 December, 2012]. Discrimination in Employment Opportunities. 2012. [online] Available at: [Accessed 20 December, 2012]. Grinspun, A., Fagan, C. and Haddad, S.G. 2004. Children and Poverty. UNDP International Poverty Centre in Focus, [e-journal], pp. 1-16. Available through: IPC and UNDP < http://www.ipc-undp.org/pub/IPCPovertyInFocus2.pdf> [Accessed 20 December, 2012].  Hallett, G. 1993. The New Housing Shortage: International Comparisons. London: Routledge. Jolliffe, D., Gundersen, C., Tiehen, L. and Winicki, J. 2008. Food Stamps Benefits and Child Poverty. [online] Available at: [ Accessed 20 December, 2012]. Kenya Slums Upgrading Program. (2011). [online] Available at: [Accessed 20 December 2012]. Minujin, A., Delamonica, E., Davidziuk, A. and Gonzalez, E. D. 2006. The definition of child poverty: a discussion of concepts and measurements. Environment and Urbanization, [e-journal] 18 (2), 481-500. Available through: EAU sage publication [Accessed 19 December, 2012]. OECD. 2012. CO2.2: Child Poverty. OECD - Social Policy Division - Directorate of Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, [e-journal], pp. 1-5. Available through: OECD Family databases < http://www.oecd.org/els/familiesandchildren/41929552.pdf> [ Accessed 20 December, 2012]. UNICEF. 2000. A League Table of Child Poverty in Rich Nations. Innocenti Report Card, [e-journal] (1), pp. 1-32. Available through: UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre web-site [ Accessed 20 December, 2012]. Read More