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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Understanding child neglect in Aboriginal families and communities in the context of trauma

BJ Newton - Child & Family Social Work, 20 Jul 2018

This paper argues that to meet the needs of Aboriginal families and communities where there is child neglect, policy and practice needs to acknowledge and address the impact of trauma in shaping the lived experiences of Aboriginal people.

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The moderating effects of ethnicity on key predictors of trauma in child welfare involved adolescents

Micki Washburn, L. Christian Carr, Alan J. Dettlaff - Journal of Adolescence, 04 Jul 2018

In this study, key predictors of trauma were examined using a multi-group analysis of a nationally representative sample of 716 child welfare involved youth ages 11–17.

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Shaping Cash Transfer Impacts Through ‘Soft-Conditions’: Evidence from Lesotho

Noemi Pace, Silvio Daidone, Benjamin Davis, Luca Pellerano - Journal of African Economies, 28 Jun 2018

This paper focuses on the role of ‘soft conditionality’ implemented through both ‘labelling’ and ‘messaging’ in evaluating the impact of the Child Grants Program in Lesotho, an unconditional cash transfer programme targeting poor households with orphans and vulnerable children.

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Using time-to-event analysis to identify preconception and prenatal predictors of child protective services contact

Anna E. Austin, Jared W. Parrish, Meghan E. Shanahan - Child Abuse & Neglect, 02 Jun 2018

This study examined preconception and prenatal predictors of time to first child protective services (CPS) contact among Alaska children.

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Mental health among adolescents living with HIV in Namibia: the role of poverty, orphanhood and social support

Shelene G. Gentz, Isabel Calonge-Romano, Rosario Martínez-Arias, Chengbo Zeng & Mónica Ruiz-Casares - AIDS Care, 30 May 2018

This study examines the mental health of adolescents living with HIV (ALHIV) in Namibia, and the factors that contribute to mental health problems.

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Briefing notes on SDG global indicators related to children

UNICEF, 17 Apr 2018

This is a series of briefing notes for UNICEF regional and country offices on SDG indicators. The first note summarises the development and implementation of the SDG global indicator framework and UNICEF’s role in supporting member states to collect, analyse and report on child-related SDG indicators at national and global levels.

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Country Care Review: Nepal

Better Care Network, 16 Apr 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.

Promoting positive parenting for families in poverty: New directions for improved reach and engagement

Davielle Lakind & Marc S. Atkins - Children and Youth Services Review, 12 Apr 2018

This article presents evidence for innovative service models from within and outside of the parenting literature that provide support to individuals and families in communities of poverty, highlighting aspects of service models that align with the needs of high poverty families.

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The educational attainment of maltreated youth involved with the child welfare system: Exploring the intersection of race and gender

Jamie Cage, Nicole A. Corley, Leon A. Harris - Children and Youth Services Review, 07 Apr 2018

Using an intersectional framework, this study investigated whether race and gender alone or the intersection of race and gender predicted the educational attainment of 429 maltreated youth involved with the U.S. child welfare system.

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Wungurilwil Gapgapduir: Aboriginal Children and Families Agreement

State of Victoria, Department of Health and Human Services, 01 Apr 2018

This document outlines the partnership between the Victorian Government, Victorian Aboriginal communities and the child and family services sector.