Essay- Discuss the Effects of Poverty on Children’s Lives and Analyse the Impact on Practice of Government Policies to Alleviate It.

Essay- Discuss the effects of poverty on children’s lives and analyse the impact on practice of government policies to alleviate it.






























Within the body of this essay the practitioner will discuss the effect of poverty on children’s lives. Furthermore, the impact of government policies to alleviate it will be analysed. Since 1997 child poverty became a government concern. Tackling child poverty matters because it results in children suffering both now, and in the future. The presence of poverty means that children are being denied their basic rights as citizens. Article 27 of The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) says that: “States Parties recognize the right of every child to a standard of living adequate for the child’s physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development.” Children in poverty are much more likely to be materially deprived and therefore lack the things needed to have a happy childhood as the lack of income limits choices and places a strain on families.

Poverty in the UK is defined in terms of standards of living in society in general. Individuals, families and groups in the population can be said to live in poverty when they lack the resources deemed healthy nutritionally, the ability to participate in the activities, and have the living conditions and amenities which are customary, or at least widely encouraged and approved, in the societies in which they belong. Poverty has different facets and could be named as absolute, relative or consensual and it may be a result of social exclusion or lack of economic opportunities (The Poverty Site, n.d).

Absolute poverty has been described by scholars as the lack of sufficient necessities and resources needed to keep body and soul together. In other words, lacking the necessities in life such as food, water, shelter, clothing and many more. An example of this type of poverty in the UK would be someone living on...