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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Child Protection and Education Needs for the Children and Adolescents of Phnom Penh’s Urban Poor Communities

UNICEF Cambodia, 01 Dec 2018

This study examines child protection risks faced by preschool age children (3-5 years old) and adolescents (10-14 years old) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and determines the interconnectivity between such risks and education.

Khmer Language Version: Child Protection and Education Needs for the Children and Adolescents of Phnom Penh’s Urban Poor Communities

UNICEF Cambodia, 01 Dec 2018

Income poverty, unemployment and social grants

Katharine Hall and Winnie Sambu - South African Child Gauge 2018, 20 Nov 2018

This chapter from the South African Child Gauge 2018 provides an overview of children living in poverty in South Africa, highlighting those living in households without an employed adult.

The Family Matters Report 2018

SNAICC – National Voice for our Children, 20 Nov 2018

Family Matters reports set out what governments are doing to turn the tide on the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out of-home care, and the outcomes for children and their families.

Foster care from the perspective of Roma foster parents in Roma settlements in Međimurje county

Mateja Krčar & Maja Laklija - Criminology & Social Integration, 05 Nov 2018

The aim of this research was to gain an insight into experiences of Roma foster parents with providing foster care in Roma settlements in Croatia.

The African Report on Child Wellbeing 2018: Progress in the child-friendliness of African governments

African Child Policy Forum (ACPF), 02 Nov 2018

This report has two aims: (1) examine how well African governments are delivering on their promises and commitments to children and (2) provide a comprehensive, quantitative and qualitative view of the current realities and trends in the state of child wellbeing in Africa, and their implications for the future.

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The severity, consequences and risk factors of child abuse in China – An empirical Study of 5836 children in China's mid-western regions

Qi Di, Wang Yongjie, Wan Guowei - Children and Youth Services Review, 28 Oct 2018

Based on empirical studies of 5836 children in six provinces of China's Mid-Western regions, this paper contributes to existing knowledge by analyzing the severity, consequences and risk factors of child abuse.

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Country Care Review: Bulgaria

Better Care Network, 22 Oct 2018

This country care review includes the care-related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

A socioecological approach to children’s experiences of violence: Evidence from Young Lives

Kirrily Pells, Virginia Morrow, M. Catherine Maternowska & Alina Potts - Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies: An International Interdisciplinary Journal for Research, Policy and Care, 20 Oct 2018

This paper highlights findings from a a 15-year longitudinal cohort study of children growing up in poverty in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam.

Entangled Roots: The Role of Race in Policies that Separate Families

Elisa Minoff - Center for the Study of Social Policy, 01 Oct 2018

By examining the roots of policies that separate families and their entanglement with racial prejudice and discrimination, this report makes the case that we must embrace an alternative path.