Children Affected by Poverty and Social Exclusion

Around the world, poverty and social exclusion are driving factors behind the placement of children into alternative care. Families give up their children because they are too poor to care for them, or they feel that it is the best way to help them to access basic services such as education and health care. Discrimination and cultural taboos mean that girls, children with disabilities, ethnic minorities, children with HIV/AIDS and children born out of wedlock, make up a disproportionate number of children abandoned into alternative care.

Poor-quality alternative care leads to a vicious cycle of poverty and inequality. With limited family-based alternative care options in many countries, children often end up in institutional care. Already marginalized by poverty or stigmatization, they risk becoming further excluded from society, as they grow up separated from their families and communities. In the worst cases, inadequate or unsafe care standards expose them to neglect, violence and abuse. When they eventually leave institutional care, young adults may then struggle to reintegrate into their communities and face high rates of homelessness, unemployment, chronic poverty, depression and even suicide.

Greater political and financial commitment is needed to tackle the poverty and social exclusion that drives families to give up their children. This includes wide-ranging measures to combat poverty, discrimination and stigmatization, to change attitudes towards single parenthood and disability, and to adopt social policies promoting family empowerment and parenting skills. Greater priority must also be given to developing good-quality family-based care options, such as foster care and adoption, for the girls and boys who need alternative families.

The documents in this section examine the relationship between poverty, social exclusion and placement of children in alternative care.

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Nurturing Identity Among Indigenous Youth in Care

Ashley Quinn - Child & Youth Services, 20 Sep 2019

Abstract
Indigenous cultures have been under significant attack in Canada since first contact with Europeans. This has resulted in significant harm to Indigenous Peoples and particularly to youth in state care, who often struggle with their identity when they are placed in non-Indigenous out-of-home settings. Developing protective ways of countering this is compounded by the lack of understanding of identity development amongst Indigenous youth. This article reviews theories of Indigenous identity development and their implications for Indigenous children, particularly those caught in the nexus of two cultures, as is the case with those in state care.

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The health needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out‐of‐home care

Eli Shmerling, Mick Creati, Mary Belfrage, Susan Hedges - Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, 13 Sep 2019

The aim of this study was to document the health needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and adolescents in OOHC attending the paediatric service at the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service (VAHS) between February 2014 and February 2016.

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Is Poverty Eroding Parental Rights in Britain? The Case of Child Protection in the Early Twenty-First Century

Alicia-Dorothy Mornington & Alexandrine Guyard-Nedelec - Philosophy and Child Poverty, 13 Sep 2019

This chapter argues that poverty per se should never constitute the basis for removing children from their parents and seeks to understand the British situation, in order to see how poverty is treated in relation to child welfare in Britain.

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Children safe, family together: A Model and Implementation Guide for Aboriginal Family and Kin Care Services in the Northern Territory

Government of the Northern Territory, 11 Sep 2019

‘Children Safe, Family Together', the new family and kin care model outlined in this paper forms an integral part of the overall strategy being currently implemented by Territory Families (TF) to transform Out-of-Home Care in the Northern Territory (NT) and address worrying trend data pointing to the significant over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the NT child protection system.

Child Multidimensional Poverty in Thailand (Thai Version)

Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, Oxford University, 01 Sep 2019

This report presents a Child Multidimensional Poverty Index (Child MPI) for Thailand.

Pathways in a Forest: Indigenous Guidance on Prevention-Based Child Welfare

West Coast LEAF, 01 Sep 2019

This report explores the experiences of 64 Indigenous parents who have had engagement with the child welfare system in Canada. Their stories and expertise provide a wealth of knowledge about the strengths and weaknesses of current prevention-based efforts and programs. Their experiences demonstrate that, despite the Ministry for Children and Family Development’s (MCFD) emphasis on improving prevention-based services for Indigenous families, long-standing apprehension-focused practices continue to permeate the system.

A Long Wait for Change: Independent Review of Child Protection Services to Inuit Children in Newfoundland and Labrador

The Office of the Child and Youth Advocate, 01 Sep 2019

This review was initiated by a formal request from Nunatsiavut Government to investigate Inuit children’s experiences in the child protection system in Canada.

Child Multidimensional Poverty in Thailand

Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, Oxford University, 01 Sep 2019

This report presents a Child Multidimensional Poverty Index (Child MPI) for Thailand.

Improving housing and service responses to domestic and family violence for Indigenous individuals and families

Kyllie Cripps & Daphne Habibis - Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, 29 Aug 2019

According to this research, the unintended consequences of limited housing pathways puts Indigenous women at significant risk of having their children removed by Child Protection. The research examines how housing and other service responses need to be improved to meet the needs of Aboriginal individuals and families in the aftermath of domestic and family violence.