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

OP

look up section 4 support.

Failed asylum seekers and their children are put on 'section 4 support' which is a plastic card, like a debit card which can only be used in certain shops.

UKBA do have to provide accommodation but there is no choice. The only proviso is that it is 3 miles or less from a shop that takes the 'azure card'.

Because the card can only be used in certain shops there are things that literally cannot be bought. One of these is bus fare.

About £35 is put on the card every week. If more than £5 remains on the card it is deducted from the next payment. £35 is for a single person, if they have a child under one they get an extra £5 a week.

It can be used to buy a phone card, but only for certain calls, to a lawyer or the CAB, but you have to prove you need it.

So, OP, no child in Britain has to walk for three hours to get to school. But a three year old may have to walk a 6 mile round trip for mum to buy milk. You can't exactly leave a three year old alone.

If that three year old needs an operation that is not an emergency, say a tonsillectomy or grommits fitting, they have no entitlement to it.

[http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/30/asylum-theresa-may-private-fiefdom]

liberalconspiracy.org/2012/06/06/housing-for-asylum-seekers-a-multi-million-pound-privatised-nightmare/

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-21747912

I'm not sure I know what a 'chikdren' is.

But I do know that child poverty top trumps is as tasteless as it is stupid.

Undeserving poor blah blah blah. It's great that of all the things you took away with you from Comic Relief, you managed something so mean spirited.

Try the Daily Fail. They'll love you over there.

YABU

I think the idea that children in this country suffer from neglect not poverty is a false attempt to put all the blame on individual parents and ignore the structural problems built into our society that hinder people from building a better life for themselves and their families. There are plenty of children who live in families where the parents struggle to pay all the bills, feed everyone and clothe everyone. Where the stress of working out where the money is going to come from eats into their emotional reserves and the practicalities consume a lot of their time. And it isn't because they're spending all their money on booze, fags, flat screen TVs and goats. People without much money are more likely to live in areas with high crime rates and in substandard housing without adequate facilities, which in turn leads to hgher costs of living.

We have public schools and the NHS, but we don't provide a safe home for everyone or food. So there are plenty of ways for poverty to catch up with people. It's not as stark or wide spread as areas of Africa, but it exists.

Also, kids in this country who, though clothed and fed, don't get a holiday, don't get day trips or get to go to clubs, kids who don't have reasonable access to a computers and other educational resources also suffer from a form of relative poverty. They will fall further and further behind their peers in terms of gaining the skills needed to do well in our society because as society gets richer it requires a higher base level for participation.

The child doesn't care whether it's neglect or poverty. To them, the end result is the same. They have nothing.

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.

You've spoken to all the families, have you Glen ?

twofingerstoGideon Like the name

try
telling that to the parents of babies who have died because they could
not afford to heat their houses. Not being hysterical, this HAS
happened.

Thanks Mini

I know quite a few children in this country who live in poverty. No adequate heating. Dirty clothes because parents don't have a washing machine and can only afford to go to the laundrette once a fortnight. Not enough food. No presents at all at Christmas/birthdays. Barely a roof over their heads. And they may well have to walk a few miles to get to shops/school because they can't afford to use the bus.

I'd say that's living in poverty.

2006 report detailed that the U.S infant mortality rate ranked second highest in the world, among developed countries. Further, statistics regarding this rate showed disturbing patterns. The figure was much higher in the US among minorities.

WHY? at a time when the gap btw the richest and the poorest is growing so that now the richest 10% now own more that 85% of the wealth in the world, when CEOs now earn on average 500x what front line staff earn, when banks are tax payer subsidised and nation states indebted up to the eye balls, when the NHS is increasingly being sold off chunk by chunk to private health firms and the Tories are taking money from lobbyists from US health insurers, surprise surprise we have rising infant mortality rates in the UK too.

Yes, I'd noticed that too.

Plenty kids living in b n bs through homelessness. I would class this poverty.

And, Yet everybody bitches about the bedroom tax, which is supposed to redistribute a welfare resource to help curtail these situations.

I see kids living in terrible poverty every day at work. Kids who live in squalor, no bed sheets (if they even have a bed), infested with head lice/scabies, stealing food off other kids plates when at nursery/school etc. Their parents can always manage to get them the best trainers and games consoles/phones for christmas but that does not mean they are not living in relative poverty on a daily basis.

YABU. It is a real problem in the UK. Open your eyes OP.

What a shallow viewpoint. No UK kids in poverty.

Its relative. Where I live most parents are rich. I Tower Hamlet s London there is much poverty.

Kids going to school without breakfast. Great debt among many families just to suvervive.

Original poster get out more and read more. Please

Is the original poster Iain Duncan Smith?

There is poverty if you look in the right places,

I'd say in this country its more poverty of the mind though, leading for already poor people spending what little money they have on things like , booze,drugs. or spending more time finding girlfriends/boyfriends etc basically prioritizing anything but their children.

Yes, of course all poor people in the UK spend their money on widescreen TVs, white lightning and drugs and give their kids (who they don't care about) crisps for breakfast.

They're not like these hard-working immigrants / cheerful Africans who want the best for their children.

These are Self-Evident and Known Facts which require no evidence to back the up.

[/sarcasm]

whimisical please read my examples, then tell me about priorities, in fact let me copy and paste then for you.

"I disagree, what about asylum seekers? and Those families who live in other peoples back gardens, with no sanitation and running water? In my borough this has been a big issue recently with the council trying to clamp down on this.

I know homeless families, one woman escaping dv, had no access to bank account didn't know her in number to claim benefits, had to pay for b and b as no I'd and stuff, she had to survive on charity.

Another woman Canadian living with husband, no access to public funds or work visa, escaping dv she wasn't entitled to anything, her and kids again had to rely on charity.

Children of illegal immigrants; one woman I know came to uk as a student at 17 then her mum died in Jamaica, she had no way or where to go back home, no money, she had kids and a relationship here, she has been trying for years to sort out her status, it has been going back and forth, her kids are born here, but she cannot get housing, she has to rely on subletting others council properties, or sofa surfing with her kids as these let's normally last only a month or two. A lot of the time she doesn't have money for food, all her money goes on taking her kids to school, because she moves so much school is far.

Another woman is a student, here on student visa, her husband is an asylum seeker, they met and got married in uk, have a Child, he has been waiting seven years for decision, just last week he was given right to remain.

I could go on."

There are major gaps in the welfare state. The people no one is worried about.

YABU. Actually OP your willful blindness in regards to poverty in the UK makes you very unreasonable.

I work with children and young people and believe me, there ARE children living in poverty in the UK, although perhaps not comparable with elsewhere in the world. Nevertheless, it is unacceptable. I know of families who are squeezed into tiny, dirty, damp and cold temporary accomodation awaiting rehousing. Where the parents are unable to afford quality food orany new clothing or toys for their kids. Children coming to school hungry.

Thank God we have the NHS, though.

Yabu
I don't think I need to add anything more to the above posters

I saw children wearing the same clothes day in day out, with no shoes that fit, and no food in the day until lunchtime, with no jacket for Winter and in the house it was rubbish everywhere and mattresses on the floor, mum smoking drugs and ciggies and going out on nights. I'd say that child lived in poverty.