The Kids Arent Alright: Child Poverty in B.

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English 110 T.Punchard Research Essay Tasha Bates 110124

The Kids Arent Alright: Child Poverty in B.C. When we think of child poverty, many of us picture images of children in Africa or Ethiopia living in some of the harshest conditions imaginable. While these children are facing some severe hardships, they are not alone. Children living right here within Canada, B.C , or even right here in our own community are living in poverty. The purpose of this paper is to take a closer look at child poverty in Canada. Three aspects of child poverty will be examined, including causes of poverty, the consequences on the children stuck in this lifestyle and suggestions for improving the conditions for these children. On November 24th 1989, the Canadian house of commons unanimously passed an allparty resolution to eliminate child poverty by the year 2000 (Stats Canada, 2012). But what exactly is child poverty, and what does it look like? The word poverty itself is a noun and means the state of having no money and few or no material possessions (wordnet.com 2012). But poverty is much more than that to a child living this life. The majority of Canadian children living in poverty reside within our communities silent and invisible. When children in grades 4 and 5 were asked What is poverty?, they replied some heart wrenching answers like; wishing I could go to MacDonalds., not getting to go the birthday parties., not being able to have sleep over because we cant give snacks or breakfast., not having breakfast sometimes., or being teased for the way I am dressed. (Albanese 2010 pg xvii) . Ultimately, child poverty is family poverty since children are dependent on their families for survival. It is not just families living on income assistance that fall prey to a life of poverty, there are the working poor, parents with disabilities, and lone-parent households. In fact 1 in 2 children living in a single mother home will live in poverty (Cheal 2006). There are many ways to measure the numbers behind poverty. One such measure is the 1

Low-Income-Cut-Off (LICO), which has been used for decades as a way of measuring whether a family has to spend too large a proportion of its income on basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter compared to other Canadian families. (Albanese 2010 pg 7). In a rural community such as ours, the LICO is $14,914.00 (Albanese 2012 pg 8). In 2003 Human Resource Development Canada released another measure of poverty; a budget study or measure called the Market Basket Measure (MBM). The MBM calculate the amount of income needed by families to meet basic needs. The MBM determines whether a familys disposable income falls below the cost of a selection of good and services in their community. The MBM takes into account the needs, sizes and compositions of families. In other smaller communities this sits at $22,233.00 per family (Albanese 2010 pg ). However these measurements do not show the real issue. Children in BC are not doing well. In fact they are some of the worst off in the country (Hicks 2010). Some disturbing statistics may help to put this problem into perspective. Last year (2011) the Trail Salvation Army gave out 400 Christmas hampers to families in need and they expect their numbers to increase this year (Radtkee). In 2008, 78,101 people were assistance by food banks in BC in the month of March alone; 31.2 % of these people were children (as cited by Albanese, 2010). Furthermore between 1989 and 2006 the richest 10 % of the Canadian population saw their income grow by 30% ($47,591). The bottom 10% however saw their income drop by almost 8% ($1309) (Albanese, 2010). This is absolutely unacceptable. The rich continue to be better off, while the suffering suffer more? What does this all mean for our children? What are the consequences to living in poverty as a child? Some of these effects are apparent including lack of nutritious food on a regular basis, which can cause many health concerns presently and in the future, such as 2

diabetes and obesity (Albanese, 2010). Another consequence is unacceptable living conditions for the child. Living with poverty often results in the home being located in lower quality neighborhoods, with higher crime and addiction rates (Albanese, 2010) Some effects of poverty have a more corrosive societal impact. Children who live in poverty are more likely to drop pot of high school, or fail to acquire post-secondary education (D.Ross, K.Scott, M.Kelly, 1996). This can only have negative consequences in terms of these children being unable to become fully successful within our communities . Why should we focus on children in poverty and not any other demo graph? First of all, children are the most helpless of the helpless. Children are unable to fix things themselves. They need us to help them. Our children are only given the opportunities that their caregivers are able to present them with. This leads to a second reason for focusing on children; they are our future. If we want a happy, healthy and peaceful world we need to start bridging the gap between the rich and poor now. While I feel that it is unrealistic to expect an end to child poverty this year, next year or even 5 years from now. However I believe that we can start with a few things: for instance brining awareness to the poverty here within our community. Awareness is the first step tpo demystifying poverty and its causes. Another thing each of us can do is vote. You have a voicemake it count by encouraging governments to support more affordable housing and childcare programs and raising the income of welfare recipient s to match a current living income. We all can support our local charities like the food bank or the United Way. If we all do a little something I think we might have a fighting chance at ending child poverty in Canada. While BCs children may not be living in huts or hiking 5 miles each day for water, they are nonetheless of equal concern. For children living in such a wealthy country; child poverty is 3

inexcusable. I have looked at what poverty is and have seen the effects of this way of life on children. I have touched on several things that can be done to help combat child poverty in BC. I believe that the time is past due to uphold the promise made to end child poverty in Canada. What are we waiting for?

References
-Albanese, Patriza. Child Poverty in Canada. 2010. Oxford Publishing House -Cheal, David. Canadian Families Today: New Perspectives 2nd edition. 2010. Oxford Publishing House. -Hicks, Steven. Social Work in Canada: An Introduction 2nd edition. 2010. Thompson Educational Publishing House. -Ross, David; Scott, Katherine; Kelly, Mark. Child Poverty: What are the Consequences?. 1996. Centre for International Statistics Canadian Counsel on Social Development. -Stats Canada Website: www.statscan.com 2012 -Word net dictionary webpage: www.wordnet.com 2012