Child Poverty
"The most perverse form of denial of child rights is poverty, because poverty makes it impossible to satisfy those needs that are basic rights."
- Tereza Albenez, Special Advisor to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
What Child Poverty means:
It means a severe lack of basic goods and services required for survival and development.
It means that children cannot access the same quality of life as other children around them, and are unable to develop supportive relationships and participate in society.
It means these children are kept from achieving a standard of living which is regarded as acceptable by the society in which they live.
Child Poverty means:
- that children do not have enough food to eat they do not have adequate shelter
- they are too poor to receive an education that they do not have the ability to become the person they have the potential to be.
This is important:
Poverty is most threatening to the rights and well being of children.
It is most threatening to children’s survival, health
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| Produced By: Ms. Michela Morosini |
and nutrition, education, participation, and protection from harm and exploitation.
It creates an environment that is damaging to children’s development in every way – mental, physical, emotional and spiritual.
Poverty greatly hampers children’s ability to achieve their full potential.
Addressing child poverty means:
- more than just providing children with the material means of survival.
- giving a child what is fundamental to their development and wellbeing: a family.
- giving them a roof over their heads
- food to eat, a bed to sleep in, clean clothes to wear, and protection.
- relationships, connections of support, the ability to build trust in and responsibility to other people.
This is foundational to growing up to become a self-sufficient adult, who has support from their family as well as the social foundations to build relationships in the larger community.
Combating Child Poverty at the heart of the Family Strengthening Programme
Many children who live in poverty are forced to grow up far too quickly, taking on the responsibility for their own survival as no child should have to.
Some find themselves responsible for the survival of other children, many times their own brothers and sisters.
SOS believes that every child has the right to develop into their full potential by having the support and care of a family, and the ability to learn and grow within a stimulating and protective environment.
This is why SOS believes that remaining in the care of their family is crucial for a child’s identity and empowerment, giving them the foundation to be an independent and self-sufficient adult who can make a real contribution to their community.