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Poor Kids

198 replies

expatinscotland · 07/06/2011 22:45

Anyone watching?

OP posts:
lisad123 · 07/06/2011 23:20

banardos, who sadly have just lost loads of funding from goverment Shock

sungirltan · 07/06/2011 23:20

imabee - its like this, what goes hand in hand with poverty is a complete lack of advocacy and or opportunities. if your house is mould infested and you live in council/housing ass accomodation then you can complain to them. they will most likely send someone to look, patch it up and fob you off. unless you can scratch together a deposit and rent privately then you are stuck, even if you could its too risky to leave a permanent tennancy. you can go on a waiting list for a larger property if you have more/older kids or you can apply for an exchange scheme but this is a dead end if your place is falling apart. mocing on to advocact, the reason that most services are taken up by the middle classes is because we are generally resourceful and stroppy and know how to lobby the council/write letters/not take no for an answer. if you do not have those tools then what can you do?

Mamathulu · 07/06/2011 23:21

I'm sure I wasn't as aware of jobs and politics as these (and my own) DC's are today. Yes, it does seem like they're reiterating what their parents have said to them, but they've absorbed it, understood it and are obviously in agreement.
Why does Sam's dad not have CHB through yet??

Daydreaming · 07/06/2011 23:23

Just throwing money at the parents is not enough though is it... It goes a lot deeper than that.

How about giving all children a better education?? Giving people more support and living skills before things get this bad, better housing, etc.

lisad123 · 07/06/2011 23:24

These children have huge amounts of knowledge and their parents dont hide much from them in my experience. My parent hid the fact of how little we had growing up so i wouldnt worry, but these parents dont.

Someone I know had no tax credits for 8 weeks!! how they think you can live is madness

Mamathulu · 07/06/2011 23:24

Providing jobs and cheaper child care would be enough, I think. Oh, wait - the govt have shafted us on that one, as the public sector's lay-offs will all be contributing to the unemployment figures soon.

Colleger · 07/06/2011 23:24

I grew up in one of those flats in Glasgow and they have always been riddled with damp. My first son spent the first three years of his life in one of them and he is the only one out of my children to have asthma. We can all moan about the Camerons but most of these estates have always been in Labour councils and they have always turned a blind eye to the problem. Everytime we complained about the damp they used to pretend it was condensation Hmm so they didn't have to sort out the problem.

What I want to know is why haven't the school bought that poor little lad a school shirt? Angry

And what can we do to help? There must be an organisation out there where our money will go to the front line and not on admin!

JohnniesBitch · 07/06/2011 23:25

Wow really less than £1000 a month after housing costs. I'm a 1 adult 4 children household full time work and don't have £1000 a month after rent paid I wouldn't consider myself in poverty though?
I only caught a small part of the programme I get quite cross watching them usually as invariably you have a family worthy of an article in the daily mail!

MollieO · 07/06/2011 23:26

I assume there must have been a form to fill in that wasn't or he maybe didn't know he needed to do that.

When I was unemployed I was amazed at how little I had to live on. £65 per week plus council tax benefit.

lisad123 · 07/06/2011 23:26

thats the thing, its a terrible circle, unless someone teaches you who to fight with for your stuff, how to budget, how to make healthy cheap meals, NOT to borrow from the provey man, and how to find things for free, you are buggered.

frillyflower · 07/06/2011 23:26

The children seem well educated actually. It's not schooling they are lacking. They need an adult to clean and decorate - to give them a better environment.

sungirltan · 07/06/2011 23:29

afaik the shit council flats date back to the 60's and Tee Dan Smith (sic) and his cheapo social housing con. There was a good doc back along on the bbc about how social housing has changed over the last century and pretty much concluded that high rise flats are the root of all evil in terms of poverty and anti social behaviour and crime. i can well believe it..

wonder if sam's mum is watching?

girlylala0807 · 07/06/2011 23:29

If they are living in damp THERE IS NO POINT IN DECORATING!

isthismadness · 07/06/2011 23:31

Sam is such a good looking bright little thing

Mamathulu · 07/06/2011 23:31

What exactly is meant by housing costs though? And how the hell did that woman leave her kids like that? Fair enough if she wanted out of the marriage, but I cannot understand women who can leave their kids - my mum was one of them, and the only reason why I understood her leaving was because she thought I was better off with my dad as she was an alcoholic.
Oh, and those flats are gone then!

sungirltan · 07/06/2011 23:31

lisad123 - yes agree but also add traching people how to deal with endless misery and low self esteem caused by having to count every penny forever.

frillyflower · 07/06/2011 23:34

They are not all living in damp. Not caring for your house at all makes it all worse. Those poor children.

MollieO · 07/06/2011 23:34

i wonder why Sam's sister doesn't have a weekend job?

mousehole · 07/06/2011 23:34

This reply has been withdrawn

withdrawn at poster's request

georgie22 · 07/06/2011 23:34

Poor Sam is clearly an intelligent child, as is his sister, but he's being ground down by bullying at school. Surely there should be some system where schools can take donations of second hand good condition uniform to give to kids like Sam. It looks like his dad is making an effort to cook healthy meals for the family and at least there's food in the cupboards. And he's made him a birthday cake!
It's so sad that the little girl in Bradford can't see any future for herself that doesn't involve living in poverty.
Makes me so grateful for what we've got.

mousehole · 07/06/2011 23:36

This reply has been withdrawn

withdrawn at poster's request

girlylala0807 · 07/06/2011 23:36

Have you been listening...sometimes these kids go without lunch. Decoration imm sure comes after that. If you had ever lived like that you would understand that its not just about cleaning, Once you hit a low and stop caring its not easy you know.

BoiledFrog · 07/06/2011 23:37

I do kind of get why the houses are so manky Blush, when we moved into this house we were all gung ho with the decorating, when it got to a liveable standard, we just kind of stopped. There is always something more pressing to spend spare cash on, school shoes, christmas blah blah and after a while you don't even see it.

Add in depression or stress and it can easily deteriorate, we don't even have the excuse of surviving on income support (although it's not as bad as that). My kids do have bed linen and what not but we still don't have carpets upstairs, and the ones we got for downstairs could do with replacing tbh.

igggi · 07/06/2011 23:37

It's just all going to get worse in the coming years isn't it.
Sad

Mamathulu · 07/06/2011 23:37

Wow - 11% in the next 3 years? THAT's disgraceful.