View Full Version : Child Poverty in Scotland
The latest appeal on STV to help the victims of child poverty in Scotland, makes pitiful and thought provoking viewing. How can our government make such large financial commitments to help poverty abroad when this is occurring on our doorstep?
Maybe the large charities like Oxfam and Save the Children should be setting up outposts in poorer areas of central Scotland and the Highlands.
Can I ask, what do you class as Poverty? I ask because I always classed it as not having enough to eat and no clothes to wear, that shouldn't be happening in this country today and if it is can you highlight it please?
Or do we in this day and age class child poverty as not having a mobile phone, i-pod, computer, TV in bedroom... etc, etc.
When we see images of children weighing only a few pounds and starving in Africa with no clothes or home I see that as true poverty and I dont know of any child in Britain that is living in such conditions as that!!
C3............:(:(
http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/en/scotland.htm
T (http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/en/scotland.htm)here have been several ads, graphically emphasising this on STV and I have no reason to doubt them.
http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/en/scotland.htm
T (http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/en/scotland.htm)here have been several ads, graphically emphasising this on STV and I have no reason to doubt them.
Child Poverty Actenshrined into law the Labour government’s promise to end child poverty by 2020. It was supported by Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties in Parliament, and the promise is now part of the coalition government’s policy agreement.
A quote from the save the children site(link above) which shows that all the Parliamentary parties are aware of child poverty in Britain but one which I for one was unaware off and as Corrie says should not be happening.
oldmarine
14-Sep-11, 05:20
I read in our local paper we now have official poverty in Tucson, Arizona but I doubt it's anything like that in Africa.
Walter Ego
14-Sep-11, 08:02
I asked a question about these ads on another thread and got no response.
I'll try here:
The ads state that "one in four children in Scotland live in poverty".
How are they defining poverty?
tartanyorkie
14-Sep-11, 08:17
I was sure I had misheard. I thought they said someone with two children having less than £348 left after they had paid all the bills. Was that weekly or monthly?
David Banks
14-Sep-11, 08:32
I can report that a US government report has just announced that 64.2 million americans are living below the government-set poverty line.
There are constant appeals for additional support from food banks in Canada and the States.
I have never heard one report of a food bank closing down because they are no longer needed.
There are (at least) annual reports in Canada and the US that the gap between rich and poor in these countries continues to grow.
The wide swing to conservatism makes no sense to me as it only helps the top few percent of the population - a long way from sizable proportion of the electorates.
Is the problem with how elections are financed? Canada's conservative government are going to remove a restriction put in place by the Liberals on the amount corporations can finance political parties - damn them.
Would a fully independent Scottish government be more likely to buck this trend?
Child, not family poverty, is a national scandal and must be an incredible embarrassment for our government in this day and age.
Clearly the cause of a good percentage of our children not having enough to eat, being poorly clothed and poorly housed is not war or famine.
As we are constantly reminded on this forum, the unwaged and low earners have access to endless benefits and although it is difficult in these times of austerity, it is not impossible for them to survive within their means with careful budgeting and doing without luxuries – many many families already do so. In these situations, surely feeding and clothing children must be a priority, before drink, drugs and cigarettes.
Things are going to change though, if the introduction of benefit cuts comes to fruition.The selfish and fechless parents who already put themselves first, will have less of an income, therefore the children in these families will suffer even more.
What to do? Will the government have to step in? It has long been called a “nanny state”, will it now have to live up to that name. Already many schools provide care from breakfast till 6pm, will that have to be extended somehow. Can parenting courses for disfunctional families be introduced with benefits dependent on attendance. In the meantime, maybe the answer is food and clothes vouchers. Demeaning, I know, and open to abuse, but this is an emergency situation, with our children at the centre.
This situation must not be allowed to continue with Scotland possibly having its own “Red Nose Day” and “Children in Need” events to make sure our own children have a decent standard of living.
weezer 316
14-Sep-11, 10:40
We have poor people in this country. We have very very little poverty. I would rather pay for a child in Africa to get a drink of clean water than for some chav who is defined as living in poverty mostly because they have never had a job to get and extra tenner in thier giro.
Plus poverty in the highlands is non existant. Im from glasgow and I can tell you I was utterly amazed when I moved up here at how well people lived. One of the highest standards of living you will find anywhere in the UK
I agree, we do not see poverty and starvation as there is in Africa due mainly to war and droughts, and on paper there should be no family with children, without an income to live on, in this country.
However, while the adult or adults can take care of themselves and decide what to spent the cash on, the children are the vulnerable ones. They are under the complete control of the adult so it is the adult's responsibility to ensure they are fed, watered and clothed.
This is obviously not happening or there would be no need for this campaign.
I think there may be more dysfunctional homes in Highland than you are aware of, Weezer
If what you say is true and factual Nightowl, what we need to do is not throw even more money at child poverty but put some money into good Parenting courses. I do believe that every Family in the UK gets enough money to live on if they are careful and get their priorities right. Its the Parents that put themselves before their children that need help and guidance and the message must be got over That the child must come first!!
C3...........[disgust]
This is the kind of thing that needs rolling out across the whole of the UK................
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14883535
It's sad that some Parents don't even know how to cook a meal, does that mean their children are being brought up on junk food?
C3............:eek:
weezer 316
14-Sep-11, 13:08
God split me in two! I agree with corrie! Think its time I deleted my profile if this is what its come too!
Read that article, pretty bad, but at least shes getting somewhere with a bit of help coming to visit her as opposed to going to some class and fill in forms
Okay authoritarian as it sounds, instead of running programmes to teach parents. Why don't we just require them to pass some sort of practical test and to prove than for the foreseeable future that they can financially support the child. I can think of far more draconian laws and practices still in force.
For anyone that cares about the calculations for what is classed as poverty, all I can find is this (http://www.poverty.org.uk/summary/income%20intro.shtml)
NickInTheNorth
14-Sep-11, 13:34
It's sad that some Parents don't even know how to cook a meal, does that mean their children are being brought up on junk food?
C3............:eek:
well one of the biggest sellers at McColls at High Ormlie is a prepared burger in a plastic box, costs £1.95 each which you stick in a microwave. There are plenty of kids around here that seem to buy themselves one everyday...
Saddest thing of all, you can buy 2 better ones at Lidl for £1.65, and get some good excercise while heading to the shop too!
This is the kind of thing that needs rolling out across the whole of the UK................
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14883535
It's sad that some Parents don't even know how to cook a meal, does that mean their children are being brought up on junk food?
C3............:eek:
This from what I read on the Save the Children site this is the type of work that they are doing in the UK. It is not about condemnation of inability to manage or throwing money around but in a constructive approach to educate on parenting and money management skills. When some on this forum say they find it difficult to manage on a good income what must it be like to try and manage on a very low income and also be ill equipped as a person to do so.
God split me in two! I agree with corrie! Think its time I deleted my profile if this is what its come too!
Read that article, pretty bad, but at least shes getting somewhere with a bit of help coming to visit her as opposed to going to some class and fill in forms
I could not agree more with you and Corrie. The extended family has broken down due to many reasons and in the past there was an extended family who would have stepped in to advice and guide and where necessary read the riot act to either parents or children.
[QUOTE=RecQuery;887264]Okay authoritarian as it sounds, instead of running programmes to teach parents. Why don't we just require them to pass some sort of practical test and to prove than for the foreseeable future that they can financially support the child. I can think of far more draconian laws and practices still in force.[/QUOTE
How do you enforce those who fail the 'test', do you sterilize them? Hitler would have endorsed your 'solution' but there again millions died in the last war rather than live under those conditions.
This is a good report from UNICEF, it states that kids need more time and not more "stuff" from their parents, which I believe to be true. I am sure most kids would love to have more time and attention from their parents than expensive presents thrown at them hoping it will keep them quiet for a wee while!!!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14899148
I am not sure that UNICEF's answers to the problem are the right ones though!
C3.................:eek::confused
Broadly there are two types of poverty
Absolute poverty which is the starving and homeless type and which nobody should be experiencing.
And Relative poverty which takes lots of social indicators into consideration and the arbitrary percentage which don't meet those indicators are in poverty. So in effect you can't get rid of relative poverty and in contrast to other poor communities or populations some will be quite well off than others.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty
Broadly there are two types of poverty
Absolute poverty which is the starving and homeless type and which nobody should be experiencing.
And Relative poverty which takes lots of social indicators into consideration and the arbitrary percentage which don't meet those indicators are in poverty. So in effect you can't get rid of relative poverty and in contrast to other poor communities or populations some will be quite well off than others.
Correct.
I doubt there's too much absolute child poverty in the UK.
There's a few ways to reduce relative poverty. Make the rich poorer or the poor richer.
It's the basis of communism.
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