Dr. Cathy Grace, director of Early Childhood Development,
Children's Defense Fund, shares information on the effects of poverty on the
early childhood community.
Poverty is an issue that has plagued not only our country
but other countries as well. It is a much bigger problem now than ever and it
has a damaging effect on a child’s development. Poverty has a much more
damaging effect on children who are born in poverty rather than if conditions
were to change after they have reached the age of 8. Poverty comes with
different issues that are physical, mental, and emotional that can take the
life out of people. Families don’t have enough energy to accomplish daily
task. Children who are stricken by poverty lack the strength and energy to
perform well in school or any other activities.
Today in the United States we have the highest number of
children living in poverty than we have had over the past 20 years. In order to
bring on change we must start within the community. We have to speak out and
take a stand for those who are not able to speak for themselves. The only way a
child’s voice can be heard is through us by advocating for their rights. We
have to ensure policy makers and government officials are not putting the
rights of young children on the back burner. We have to ensure the rights of
citizens are being protected. If we lose sight of these issues now and our
rights are taken away this could lead to much bigger problems down the road.
We often assume that people living in poverty are not
working, but that is not true. Most families in poverty work two to three jobs
but are still considered to be within the poverty guideline because there wages
are so low. We also assume people who do work may not be willing to further
their education. This is why it is very important to get a better understanding
of what poverty is and how it has affected so many people. As long as we
continue to assume we will never truly understand what it is going to take to
address and fix this issue.
In China they have developed key finding and recommendations
to address their poverty issues. To address the issue of unemployment and
insecure employment, Improved access to relevant and marketable skills that
will enable people to find work in a changing job market, re-employment
opportunities, and microcredit schemes to assist unemployed and low-income
people to start their own small businesses will be made available and
increasing the minimum wage so that it is higher than the MLSSA (Minimum Living
Standard Security Allowance). Second they would like to improve education and
skill levels of poor adults which may include affordable loans and subsides for
low income families to have access to technical and vocational skill training.
Third, they would also make accessing education for poor families easier by
removing cost barriers that may prohibit a child from receiving the best
education.
References:
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/index.html
Course Media: "The Effects of Poverty on the Early
Childhood Community"
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