Child Poverty and Its' Impact on the Wellbeing of the Child

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

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DECLARATION

I, (Your name), would like to declare that all contents included in this thesis/dissertation stand for my individual work without any aid, & this thesis/dissertation has not been submitted for any examination at academic as well as professional level previously. It is also representing my very own views & not essentially which are associated with university.

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Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTii

DECLARATIONiii

CHAPTER 01: INTRODUCTION1

Background of the Study1

Rational of the Study2

Significance of the Study3

Overview of the Chapters4

CHAPTER 02: LITERATURE REVIEW7

Family Income and Poverty10

Income Volatility11

Family Poverty and Children's Adolescents13

Childhood Poverty and School Achievements17

Family Disruption and Poverty20

REFERENCES25

CHAPTER 01: INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Child poverty has become a major problem than that of poverty in general. Valuing Children, Valuing Parents, (2004) points out that UK is one of the industrialised countries with high rate of child poverty. A survey conducted by Valuing Children, Valuing Parents found out that in UK nearly 50% of children were at risk of living in a low-income household. Poverty has a negative impact on a child's health, development and wellbeing. According to the Every Child Matters Green Paper (2003), all children have a right to be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution to society and achieve economic wellbeing, however poverty has deprived children this right.

Studies have shown that poverty does not only stunts, children's growth but also affects their ability to learn. Children from poor backgrounds score considerably low on measures of vocabulary and communication skills, knowledge of numbers, copying and symbol use, ability to concentrate and cooperative play with other children than children from higher income households. Children living in an environment of poverty and deprivation are at high risk of exposure to violence, crime, family disruption, and separation from their family environmental toxins, inadequate nutrition, maternal depression, parental substance abuse, trauma and abuse, and low quality child care. As a result of this they are more likely to use children and family services. A study conducted by Bebbington and Miles (1989) found out that in UK children from poor background are 700 times more likely to become looked after.

Even though there is clearer indication of the link between poverty and social problems experienced by children and their families, Valuing Children, Valuing Parents has indentified that practitioners and policy makers are reluctant to acknowledge this link. Additionally Davis & Wainwright, (2005) also point out that the professionals who work with people living in poverty often do not adopt a “poverty-aware approach” Davis and Wainwright argue that social workers in Britain have failed to consider poverty as the root of social problems and do not focus on its mitigation.

Rational of the Study

In past studies, research has focused on the negative outcomes of low-income families on children, but ...