to think that it's appalling that society has come to this

[floraloctopus]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-48119099

The school is described as the 4th emergency service (yes, I know that's the coastguard/lifeboats) as they are providing a food bank service, helping get rid of head lice, running training courses on cooking on a budget, meanwhile they are having to make staff redundant because of budgets.

It shouldn't be like this, children and families are suffering whilst the rich get richer thanks to the government policies which take from the poor and give to the rich.

About £6 for treatment or even less for a comb and conditioner. A tiny cost compared to the yearly cost of having a child.

That's 10% of the amount of tax credits that I get a week so it's a significant amount of money.

@Backwoodsgirl why didn’t Venezuela make the list? Because it was basically a dictatorship under Chavez now sliding into failed statehood in the vacuum he left when he died. Not Socialist. You really aren’t that good at this, are you?

Signedup, agree it's not the child's fault. There should be harsh penalties for having a child that you can't or won't support. There's nothing stopping people now and the amount we spend on child related benefits is staggering. If we had strong measures, people may think twice before proceeding.

Snuffalo what about farms? Would they have to be sold every time the farmer died?
What about widows and widowers? If the house was jointly owned then would it have to be sold to pay inheritance tax?

The thing is, the number of children going into care is going up and up, it was at the highest number for years last year, and it is reported that a significant factor in this is poverty

Being cuts hitting individual household budgets plus cuts to services and supports for families in need

And yet - the private companies picking up the mantel, starting up new children's homes (such as The Priory) and setting up fostering agencies are not only getting their funds from the government, being funds which could have gone to families in the first place, they are also reporting vast profits.

the amount we spend on child related benefits is staggering
I'm astonished by how little of tax money goes on children.

*"Being" should read "As a result of"

The vitriol that people spout towards the poor and 'have-nots' is sickening. Schools SHOULD be community hubs and have well established links with other community organisations. I have worked with children with significant additional needs and the lack of support for parents and families was one of the most difficult things to manage. The mother of one of our pupils was sadly lost to suicide. I wouldn't be so irresponsible as to speculate why, but she was a single parent with a severely autistic child (10 years old, non verbal, doubly incontinent, extreme violence inflicted on himself) and other, young, NT children. I still think about her and wonder if the outcome would have been different if someone had only been able to ask how she was doing or had the time to support her - even if through the medium of 'budget healthy cooking' or something similar. I think if we choose to live in community based societies then we should absolutely be prepared to do whatever needs to be done to support anyone who needs it.

fair enough, I don't discuss anything more intellectually taxing than the weather with 'libertarians' as it's a political philosophy for children.

Whenever someone announces they are a "libertarian" I assume they are 14.

Why would you continue to produce more children if you are living in poverty........ I donated to a food bank regularly but boy did I get my eyes opened with regards to the regular users, mostly youngish mothers of multiple children, all born into ‘poverty’ yet continuing to be produced at regular intervals. The children were sadly not well cared for yet these women all managed to maintain their gel nails, hair extensions, latest fashions, fake tans, smoking habit. One actually asked for extra goods to sell as she was trying to get enough money to audition for The Voice 😳. I feel heart sorry for people who planned children, do their best for them but land in difficult circumstances through bad luck but I really lack empathy for the whining mother of four who keeps bringing more into an already overloaded benefits system (and planet!) whilst the poor kids she already has are half neglected.

Essentially, we do not love in a civilized society when people are living on the streets. nuf said.

live! I meant live!!!

Children have been failed in care over and over, for decades - even the hardened "libertarians" would have to see the burden which falls on society when those children who have been failed by care and I would guess that is a significant proportion do not become productive members of society as adults.

@Southwestten if you want your farm to go to your child then hire them and pay them and they can earn enough to buy it or they earn the money in some other way. In some cases there may be exceptions if the heirs can’t/could never afford the farm but they have specialist knowledge and skills that need to be carried on for agricultural heritage reasons but the heirs would not then be able to turn around and sell for a profit after they claimed the farm for those reasons. And of course you keep your partner’s assets. We are trying to redress the unfairness of generational wealth, not put old people on the street.

How do you propose to penalise parents that are already in poverty? Some poor people can actually be good parents too you know.

Have you seen the cost of head lice treatments recently?

They're available on the NHS, and conditioner combing can be done extremely cheaply. A school that is having to de louse children is dealing with a bigger problem than the parents not having money.

Those blaming the parents, explain this:

Why are things getting worse? Are parents really getting shitter? Do you really believe that the British are devolving or are at least, shitter parents than say the Swedish?

Really? Why are the British shitter than the Swedish?

I don’t remotely pretend to know the answer to the problem but do want to address one issue that was mentioned in the early posts - why do people vote Tory?

My own answer is because nothing and nobody on this earth would convince me to vote Labour whilst under the leadership of Corbyn.

I live in NI so voting here does not follow the traditional Tory/ Labour pattern. But until there is a sensible opposition party to the Tories they will continue to be voted in.

I don’t vote Tory (as I said I’m from NI and whilst there is a Tory party here it’s not a major player) but even if I had more options I would never vote Labour.

Treatments for head lice are no longer available on prescription, it changed last year.

it may not be the fault of the poor, but many of the "poor" don't really help themselves do they. The past was a different country. A lot of so-called "poverty" is self-inflicted nowadays. IMO

So it wasn't in the past?

It's poverty of opportunity that's the problem.

What does a libertarian society do with severely disabled people who can’t work? What happens when a child from a poor family gets cancer or is hit by a car and the parents can’t pay for healthcare? What absolute drivel the idea of libertarianism is; the whole idea falls apart under the slightest scrutiny.

In the same place Gt Yarmouth a man did find decent work!

www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-norfolk-48155615/the-offshore-wind-turbines-getting-people-off-benefits

Poor kids. What a crap life.

You who "knows somebody" with the latest iphone , foreign holidays etc .

The person you know is obviously taking the piss or on the fiddle somewhere . That is NOT how most live on benefits !