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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"With their effort and one opportunity": Alleviating Extreme Poverty in Chile

Emanuela Galasso, 2006

Evaluates the effect of an anti-poverty program, Chile Solidario, during its first two years of operation. Estimate the impact of the program on a large array of socio-economic outcomes including education, health, housing, and employment. Finds also suggest the key role that psycho-social support had in enabling this change, by increasing awareness of social services in the community as well as households’ orientation towards the future.

Progress for Children: A Report Card on Nutrition

UNICEF, 2006

Evaluates global improvements in nutrition as progress towards achieving the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs). Suggests that the MDGs are attainable only with re-prioritization of efforts to reduce child undernutrition.

Using Social Transfers to Scale Up Equitable Access to Education and Health Services

Katie Chapman, 2006

This paper focuses on the impact of one form of demand-side policy option - social transfers, particularly cash transfers and vouchers - on access to health and education services by the extreme poor.

Child Poverty and Cash Transfers

Armando Barrientos and Jocelyn DeJong, 2006

This paper examines the effectiveness of targeted cash transfers programs on reducing childhood poverty. It also explored the comparatives effectiveness of different kinds of cash transfers.

Evaluating the Impact of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs

Laura B. Rawlings and Gloria M. Rubio , 2005

This paper examines the short-term impact of conditional cash transfer programs in comparison to traditional social assistance programs. Programs in Colombia, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua and Turkey are highlighted.

Breaking the Poverty Cycle: A Case Study of Cash Interventions in Ethiopia

Lesley Adams and Emebet Kebede, 2005

This paper examines the role, process and impact of cash transfer interventions in Ethiopia using several case studies. Challenges and recommendations for future cash interventions are discussed in-depth.

Economic Strengthening / Livelihood Tools and Literature Review

Hugh Allen, 2005

Summary and analysis of the status of the literature and reviews on economic strengthening and livelihood tools. Contains recommendations of best practices and guidelines on which tools work.

Conditional Cash Subsidies for Children Affected by HIV/AIDS

UNICEF, 2005

Outlines the impact of a pre-pilot conditional cash transfer scheme implemented in Kenya and defines key issues to be considered before moving forward into pilot and national schemes. Short annexes include tools/frameworks to guide implementation.

Poverty, Vulnerability, and HIV/AIDS Mainstreaming in Lesotho: Livelihoods Recovery Through Agriculture Program and Secure the Child

Joanne Abbot, Mosele Lenka, PJ Lerotholi, Makojang Mahao, and Sechaba Mokhamaleli, 2005

A description of a multi-level intervention in rural Lestho aimed to improve the livelihood security of vulnerable households by improving home gardening, increasing awareness of HIV/AIDS, and influencing policy. By focusing on rural livelihoods and economic empowerment the program had some success in raising awareness and strengthening resilience to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Family Matters: A Study of Institutional Child Care in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union (Shorter Version)

Richard Carter - Every Child, 2005

This report reviews the faltering progress made in childcare reform across Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union over the 15 years since the ‘orphanages’ of Romania were revealed to the world.