To think there is not really any chikdren in poverty in the uk

[Domjolly]

I think last nights comic relief has really brought home to me and my family that there is not really any children in the uk who live in REAL poverty



There is not one child that has to walk 3 hours to school
There is not one child that cant get some form of education
There is not one child who can get medical intervention
I think you would be hard pressed to find familys which children who are homeless or who dont have clean water and sanitation


And i actaully now thing people who say this is insulting to children who do live in real poverty

[Domjolly]

Haveing things like internet and getting more than one gift at christmas is classed as poor here in my view it simply shows how spolit we are


We also have a pretty decent welfare state

[ScillyCow]

Yes I agree.

But there are children in the UK who do not have their own beds.
Who go to school with dirty, holed clothes and without breakfast.
Who are not spoken to kindly between waking and sleeping.

There are many different kinds of poverty.

[Nanny0gg]

Suggest you visit
www.kidsco.org.uk/

I see poverty.

[Domjolly]

Thats not poverty thats negelect people in africa have nothing are poor but still are good parents and i think we confuse the two here


The majorty of children who are dirty its beause there parents are negelcting then we have clean water so why would any child be dirty in the unless the parents were feckless

[meditrina]

There is no absolute poverty in UK; and it's all too easy to forget that we are lucky in being able to take for granted things that others do not have - clean water, good health care, free education etc.

That does not make the effects of inequalities in the UK any easier, though.

But I do think that because we do not see the effects of absolute poverty on a daily basis, it's easy to overlook just how harsh it is.

[Domjolly]

Nanny0gg really


How many children cant go to school
Howmany children cant get a simple BCG vaccine
How many chikdren are living under a bridge with ther whole familes
How many familes live on less than a doller a day
How many chikdren dont have running water




Numbers please

[glenthebattleostrich]

But Scilly, you are describing neglect rather than genuine poverty.

A friend of mine works in an inner city school with a high proportion of families on welfare and such a high proportion turn up for school without having eaten anything, sometimes since the previous days lunch. Some would say that is because they live in poverty but their parents can afford to smoke so as far as I am concerned they are being neglected.

[cocolocopoco]

you have absolute poverty, and then relative poverty wiki

[secretofcrickleyhall]

Someone above is quite right, we don't have poverty in this country, we do have neglect. The former is in some ways simpler to solve: you don't solve neglect by throwing money at the problem, despite what people think.

[snotfunny]

I think I would disagree, actually. I don't think it's a case of: 'people have it worse in other countries, so we're fine'. It's more that there is a basic set of needs that should be met for all children- and I would include clean, comfortable clothes, adequate diet (in nutrients as well as quantity), a bed to sleep in and adequate housing in that.

Just because some parts of the world have children in circumstances far worse doesn't mean that children in this country who don't eat properly and don't have a decent space to live in and sleep in are ok. They aren't. It is still poverty and will still have a detrimental effect on their mental and physical help. It is unacceptable.

[Skullnbones]

Poverty is a funny word. Surely like many words it can change what it means depending on where it is visiting? Poverty in Africa is starkly different to here. But to say poverty doesn't exist here in various forms, yes YABU. I know children who live in filth, don't get fed, parents can't afford heating. A just because they live in a country that CAN stop poverty, it doesn't mean the country we are in DOES stop poverty. I think you need to expand the meaning of the word OP.

[Emilythornesbff]

Well it's relative isn't it.
Yabu

[peanutMD]

Poverty is not a fixed situation, there are varying levels of it and the definition will change depending on where you are in the world because of social expectation.

So yes poverty in Africa is very real in the sense that they have little to no basic provisions in many cases whereas here in the UK poverty can be identified in the child whose parents can't afford to buy a new pair of school school shoes in winter or the child whose family has a slice of toast for dinner because they have run out of food.

[missalien]

Sorry so is parental neglect not as bad as poverty ? Is that what you are saying ? Is this competitive suffering for children?

[SirBoobAlot]

I don't understand why it must be a competition. Children around the world are suffering. It doesn't matter who is suffering 'more' by someone's standards - it matters that it is a consideration at all.

[twofingerstoGideon]

What's your point, Domjolly? Is it that some people have such appalling lives that anyone in a less worse situation should just shut up and be grateful?

I agree with snotfunny.

YABU and, I suspect, a little goading...

[Domjolly]

We have cronic neglect in this country i have worked with chikdren in care the issue with most of the children was not money was the fact there parents couldnot meet there basic needs born yo drug addicts,drunks,criminals thats why they go to school dirty ,unkempt hungery


Beause there are lots of parents who are not these things who are on welfare whos children are clean,fed and have there needs meet its hard but they do it


We to often mistake neglact for poverty in my view its why so many children end up being kept if chacotic familes

[Domjolly]

missalien the difference is money alone cant solve parental neglect i am afraid

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

I agree with snotfunny and Skullnbones. That there is appalling poverty in Africa does not negate the fact that there is real poverty in the UK too. Go and volunteer at your nearest Foodbank if you want to see evidence of that.

[ginslinger]

no but money can help provide training and support for parents who have quite probably been failed by their own parents which is why they're not coping so well now. It's a question of stopping cycles. And money does make a difference when you haven't got it.

[secretofcrickleyhall]

missalien Actually, I think neglect is worse, I think (know) children can and do suffer going without all sorts of 'needs' if they know they are loved and their parents put them first. If all some families have is a slice of bread and the child gets it while the parents go hungry that is awful, so so sad. But that child at least has the reassurance of knowing he is loved and put first.

Neglect, whether that's through ignorance or making a deliberate choice, is worse because the child not only goes without having his needs met but also knows his parents COULD feed, clothe, house him - but something else is more important.

Neglect isn't solved by throwing money at it. You can't make someone love a child or do right by them

[PeachActiviaMinge]

Here read this then tell me they weren't living in poverty when she went without food and his meal was one weetabix with water.

I'm glad you can afford the view that we don't have children living in poverty in this country spend a week in my home and visit some of the family's living on this estate and tell them they're not living in poverty.

[Domjolly]

Toasttoppers not having carpet in my book is not povery not haveing house and living under a bridge is being poor