Understanding Poverty - Combat Poverty Agency

Way ForwardIn recent years, the Government has set admirablegoals to tackle the problem of child poverty. TheNational Children’s Strategy (NCS), developed in 2000,and the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion(NAPSincl) are the primary policy frameworks forreducing poverty and social inequality among children.clothing, runners and school bags becomes a passportto acceptance by others. Not having the ‘right’ clothescan mean that a child is shunned by his or her peers.This creates a vicious circle of stress, with childrenfeeling ashamed when their parents cannot affordbrand names.“Well there’s about four you would be alright with:Adidas, Nike, Ellesse and Reebok. Sometimes whenmy ma can’t afford any of these, I try and get oneswith no name. Having ones with no name is betterthan having a crap name. You can pretend withones with no name. Sometimes I make them alldirty so that it looks as if they’re designer.”In extreme cases the parents’ inability to afford the‘right’ brand label for their children results in thembeing bullied:“You have to wear designer stuff. All the kids havedesigner stuff and we haven’t. We stick out andwe’re picked on…”These strategies focus on including children’sparticipation in the decision-making process, as well aslooking at ways to reduce deprivation among children,particularly by increasing educational and familyincome supports. The government will track the impactof government policies and its progress toward thesegoals by the major study Growing up in Ireland, (to becarried out from 2006 through 2012). However, muchspecific policy work remains to be done in the fightagainst child poverty.Good quality, well paid work is a key route out ofpoverty. Improving employment rates for householdswith children is therefore one of the best ways toreduce child poverty.In order for parents – particularly mothers – to go towork, they need to be sure that their children willreceive high quality child care. Improving the numberand quality of childcare providers, particularly indisadvantaged areas and for lone parents, is critical tosolving child poverty.Parents also need to know that the family will be betteroff if they go to work and that they will not lose out