Effects of Poverty On Children

 Effects of Poverty On Children

The issue Poverty is general scarcity, dearth, or the state of one who lacks a certain amount of money. It is a multifaceted concept, which includes social, economic, and political elements. Poverty may be defined as either absolute or relative. Absolute poverty refers to the lack of means necessary to meet basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter. Relative poverty takes into consideration individual social and economic status compared to the rest of society.

After the industrial revolution, mass production in factories made production goods increasingly less expensive and more accessible. Another importance is the modernization of agriculture, such as fertilizers, to provide enough yield to feed the population. Responding to basic needs can be restricted by constraints on government's ability to deliver services, such as corruption, tax avoidance, debt and loan constitutionality and by the brain drain of health care and educational professionals. Strategies of increasing income to make basic
needs more affordable typically include welfare, economic freedoms and providing financial services.

Poverty reduction is a major goal and issue for many international organizations such as the United Nations and the World Bank. The World Bank forecasts that 702.1 million people were living in extreme poverty in 2015, down from 1.75 billion in 1990. Of these, about 347.1 million people lived in Sub-Saharan Africa (35.2% of the population) and 231.3 million lived in South Asia (13.5% of the population). Between 1990 and 2015, the percentage of the world's population living in extreme poverty fell from 37.1% to 9.6%, falling below 10% for the first time. Nevertheless, given the current economic model, built on GDP, it would take 100 years to bring the world's poorest up to the previous poverty line of $1.25 a day. Extreme poverty is a global challenge; it is observed in all parts of the world, including developed economies. UNICEF estimates half the world's children (or 1.1 billion) live in poverty. It has been argued by some academics that the neoliberal policies promoted by global financial institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank are actually exacerbating both inequality and poverty. 

Psychological research has demonstrated that living in poverty has a wide range of negative effects on the physical and mental health and well-being of our nation’s children. Poverty impacts children within their various contexts at home, in school, and in their neighborhoods and communities. 

Effects of Child Poverty

 

Poverty is linked with negative conditions such as substandard housing, homelessness, inadequate nutrition and food insecurity, inadequate child care, lack of access to health care, unsafe neighborhoods, and under resourced schools which adversely impact our nation’s children. 

Poorer children and teens are also at greater risk for several negative outcomes such as poor academic achievement, school dropout, abuse and neglect, behavioral and socioemotional problems, physical health problems, and developmental delays. 

These effects are compounded by the barriers children and their families encounter when trying to access physical and mental health care. 

Economists estimate that child poverty costs an estimated $500 billion a year to the U.S. economy; reduces productivity and economic output by 1.3 percent of GDP; raises crime and increases health expenditure.

Our Responsibilities May Be

To volunteer our time with charities and organizations that provide assistance to low-income and homeless children and families. 

To donate money, food, and clothing to homeless shelters and other charities in our community. 

To donate school supplies and books to under resourced schools in our area. 

To make our voice heard! Support public policy initiatives that seek to: 

To improve access to physical, mental, and behavioral health care for low-income. 

Create a “safety net” for children and families that provides real protection against the harmful effects of economic insecurity. 

Increase the minimum wage, affordable housing and job skills training for low-income and homeless people. 

Intervene in early childhood to support the health and educational development of low-income children. 

Provide support for low-income and food insecure children such as Head Start, the National School Lunch Program, and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families authorization. 

Increase resources for education and access to higher education.