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 the experience and outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care during the Twentieth Century

Elizabeth Fernandez, Jung-Sook Lee and Patricia McNamara - UNSW Sydney, 2018

This report details a component of the UNSW national Long-term Outcomes of Forgotten Australians Study reported in No child should grow up like this which explored the in-care and after-care experiences of adults who spent their childhoods in institutions and foster care during the period 1930 to 1989. In this report, the focus is on Stolen Generations survivors and other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals who participated in the research.

Explaining the Economic Disparity Gap in the Rate of Substantiated Child Maltreatment in Canada

David Rothwell, Jaime Wegner-Lohin, Elizabeth Fast, Kaila de Boer, Nico Trocmé, Barbara Fallon, and Tonino Esposito - Journal of Law and Social Policy, 2018

The purpose of this study is to understand the prevalence of economic hardship in the child welfare system and explain the economic disparity gap.

Child Poverty and Deprivation in Refugee-Hosting Areas: Evidence from Uganda

Cardiff University and UNICEF, 2018

This study assessed child poverty, deprivation and social service delivery in refugee and host communities in selected districts in the country’s three major refugee-hosting areas: West Nile, a sub-region of Northern region that borders South Sudan; the country’s South West, which borders the DRC and Rwanda; and the capital, Kampala.

Unmasking Ethnic Minorities and Marginalized Communities in Kenya: Who and Where?

National Gender and Equality Commission, 2018

As part of its mandate the National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC) undertook a study whose primary objective is to identify minorities and marginalized communities of Kenya, and outline major issues affecting these communities in all counties.

An examination of class-based visibility bias in national child maltreatment reporting

Hyunil Kim, Brett Drake, Melissa Jonson-Reid - Children and Youth Services Review, 19 Dec 2017

This study examined the relationship “Class-Based Visibility Bias” (CBVB) using statewide individual-level data in four states (Idaho, Michigan, Missouri, and New Hampshire) and nationwide county-level data.

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Striving for the Sustainable Development Goals: What do children need to thrive?

Lucy Jamieson & Linda Richter - South African Child Gauge 2017, 01 Dec 2017

This essay critically engages with the 2030 Global Agenda and assesses the potential of the SDGs to transform our world to enable all children – regardless of race, gender, ability, or social background – to not only survive but thrive.

The Social Exclusion of Vulnerable Youth: Synthesis Report

Dr. Nicky Pouw, Katie Hodgkinson MSc, Mariëlle Le Mat MSc, Karel van Dam MSc, 15 Nov 2017

This report presents the results of a scientific research on the topic of Social Exclusion of Vulnerable Youth, commissioned by SOS Children’s Villages Netherlands.

Evaluation of Parenting Interventions to Prevent Violence Against Children in Colombia: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Ane-Marthe Solheim Skar, Lorraine Sherr, Ana Macedo, Stephen von Tetzchner, Knut Inge Fostervold - Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 03 Nov 2017

In this study, the effects of the International Child Development Programme (ICDP) and the specific addition of a violence prevention module were observed in a preidentified population in Colombia where children are experiencing high levels of violence.

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The relationship of relative child care and parenting behaviors in fragile families

Ching-Hsuan Lin and Angela R. Wiley - Children and Youth Services Review , 12 Sep 2017

This study utilized data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine how kinship care affects maternal stress and parenting practices in racial/ethnic and immigrant families in the United States.

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The Effects of Socioeconomic Vulnerability, Psychosocial Services, and Social Service Spending on Family Reunification: A Multilevel Longitudinal Analysis

Tonino Esposito et al. - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 09 Sep 2017

This paper examines the extent to which socioeconomic vulnerability, psychosocial service consultations, and preventative social services spending impacts the reunification for children placed in out-of-home care.