What Is Child Poverty, Its Causes and Impacts

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What is child poverty, its key causes and impacts? Background research into child poverty suggests there are many interlinking factors which cause poverty, including; worklessness, family relationships and lone parenting, disability, environmental and communal issues. With the increasing local industrial society, the number of jobs are swiftly decreasing, and with parents out of work with no solid income, children will suffer as a result. According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation every day 1 in 4 children is born into poverty. The UK is said to have the worst rates of child poverty in the industrialised world. A study conducted by End Child Poverty suggests that 4 million children were living in poverty in the UK (after housing costs). This can lead to a number of consequences for these children, which will unfortunately follow them throughout their lives, in a vicious circle. Almost 3 million children live in lone-parent families and they are particularly at risk of experiencing poverty during their childhood. (Rowlingson and McKay, 2002). Children who are living in this kind of situation are likely to become a statistic within the current benefit system. This in turn means children will be exposed to some form of poverty for an increased period of time. O’Neill (2002) supports this argument by claiming children in lone-mother families are affected by higher levels of poverty and deprivation than children who live with both mother and biological father. Household employment status has also found to be a main factor of poverty affecting children. In 1995/1996, 54% of all children were living in workless households (Gregg et al, 1999). Unemployment within families not only has an impact on the economy, with more people having to rely on income support but also has repercussions on a child’s educational goals and social development. The children who

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