WHY DO WE HAVE CHILD POVERTY?

A child born into child poverty misses out on the opportunities that other children in New Zealand take for granted. This lack of opportunity can include not having a birthday party, or going on a family holiday. Not only do these children miss out on these opportunities that shape childhood, but they also suffer hardship. This hardship may include going to bed hungry, living in house so damp that chronic respiratory illnesses are the result, or being wet after walking to school in the rain as their parents cannot afford rain jackets (Boston & Chapple, 2014). 

Figure 1. Poverty Facts (From Child Poverty Monitor, 2015). 

Why are these children in poverty? Household income is a factor. However, Susan Mayer makes an argument in her book What Money Can’t Buy: Family Income and Children’s Life Chances (1997) that poor child outcomes are not caused by low income. Instead she argues that poverty hides the issues of parenting, school, and neighborhood quality that drive outcomes for children (Boston & Chapple, 2014). However, research after Mayer’s book showed that income is a cause for concern when it came to positive outcomes for children. The research suggested that the lower the family income, the longer the child spends in poverty, and the earlier the child experiences poverty, the stronger the “effect of income as a cause of poor trajectories for children” (Boston & Chapple, 2014, p. 49). Statistics New Zealand (2012) confirms this and states that the length of time that families spend in a low-income situation in addition with their ability to access resources such as accumulated savings, can have an impact on child outcomes. 

Poverty in New Zealand has been a topic of interest for some time. Take for example the first childcare centre which was established by the Catholic Church in Wellington in 1908. This was created and based on “Christian motivations of caring for the children of the poor whose mothers where working” (McLachlan, 2011, p. 36). This is one instance which shows how the people of New Zealand where caring for its poor.

Figure 2. Child poverty trends (From Child Poverty Monitor, 2015). 

How does New Zealand compare to the rest of the world? 

In 2004 it was 20th out of 30 OECD countries in terms of child poverty (Baker, 2015).

Figure 3. Where does New Zealand rate? (From Baker, 2015). 

However, by looking at child poverty through lenses focused on household income it can be noted that in the last two decades of the 20th century the income gap in New Zealand has become more unequal (St John & Wynd, 2008).

New Zealand was a prosperous nation whose exports were sold to England. However, in 1971 there was news that they would join the European Common Market and New Zealand had to find new places to sell its exports (Red Sky Television, 2015).  Now New Zealand had to remain competitive and had to be priced competitively to “compete effectively on the international market” (Adams, Openshaw, & Hamer, 2005, p. 40). Since 1984, New Zealand’s “international competitiveness has had a dramatic (and at times detrimental) impact on its economy, society, and education” (Adams, et al, 2005, p. 40). These impacts include unemployment, family burdens, and a widening income gap between the rich and the poor (Adams, et al, 2005).

Video: Why New Zealand has poverty?  (AWATCHFULLEYE, 2011). 

The widening income gap also came about from the economic reforms in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The labour market reforms of the early 1990s depressed wages and kept them low especially for unskilled workers. In 1991 the social welfare benefit were cut significantly. The income gap widened further in 1996 when the Child Tax Credit was introduced (St. John & Wynd, 2008). This was a benefit payment incorporated through means-tested family support tax credits; however, this was only available to parents in paid work (Baker, 2012). This created an income gap between “beneficiaries with children and employed parents” (St. John & Wynd, 2008). 

This graph shows how the income gap between the rich and the rest increased greatly from the mid-1980s on. This gap greatly effects society by dividing communities, encourages competition and leads to more stressful, less healthy society (Inequality: A New Zealand Conversation, 2013).

Figure 4. The widening gap (From Inequality: A New Zealand Conversation, 2013).

 Watch this video by KidsCanNZ to see an example of the difference household income can make.

How does poverty affect children? 

Research suggests that early childhood poverty may be especially damaging. Magnuson (2013) says that there are two factors that make these years of life especially critical to development:

“Development of young children’s’ brains leaves them particularly vulnerable to environmental conditions and their family life dominates their day-to-day existence” (p. 4).

A child living in poverty learns that this is how their life is. Poverty will affect every aspect of their development. It affects a child’s wellbeing and it is a known fact that income is a cause of a child’s health (St John & Wynd, 2008). 

St John and Wynd (2008) state that “a child growing up in poverty is three times more likely to be sick than a child growing up in a higher-income household” (p. 6).A child in poverty is more susceptible to poor nutrition and a stressful environment. This contributes to a child’s poor health and the ability to fight infections. The child’s parents also may not have money to pay for a doctor visit and medicine. A child’s level of health is an influencing factor to how well they do in their education. If a child is unwell they will miss important learning experiences. Children who live in poverty are also “more likely to start school with an educational disadvantage” (Fletcher & Dwyer , 2008, p. 51). Children in poverty are limited at developing basic skills because of factors including overcrowding housing, receiving less early childhood education, and poor parental skills (Fletcher & Dwyer, 2008). They may also lack the energy and enthusiasm to learn to their greatest potential. This contributes to the wellbeing of a child and ultimately their education.

So what is the government doing about child poverty in New Zealand? 

References:

Adams, P., Openshaw, R., & Hamer, J. (Eds.). (2005). Education and society in Aotearoa

                           New Zealand (2nd ed.). North Shore, New Zealand: Nelson. 

AWATCHFULLEYE. (2011, November 23). Why New Zealand has child poverty [Video

file]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLH2u2uIBhw

Boston, J. & Chapple, S. (2014). Child poverty in New Zealand. Wellington, New Zealand:

Bridget Williams Books. 

Child Poverty Monitor. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.childpoverty.co.nz/resources

Fletcher , M., & Dwyer , M. (2008). A fair go for all children: actions to address child poverty in New Zealand. Retrived from http://www.occ.org.nz/assets/Uploads/Reports/Poverty/A-fair-go-for-all-children.pdf

Inequality: A New Zealand Conversation. (2013). Understand Inequality. Retrieved from:

http://www.inequality.org.nz/understand/#!prettyPhoto

 KidsCanNZ. (2012, April 2). Must watch video: New Zealand’s chilling child poverty story `

[Video file]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsSK59THwCc

Magnuson, K. (2013, August). Reducing the effects of poverty through early childhood           interventions. Institute for Research on Poverty: Fast Focus, 17, 1-6. 

Maureen Baker. (2012). Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand: 'Family welfare - Family

policy, 1980–1999'. Retrieved from: http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/family-welfare/page-6

Maureen Baker. (2012). Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand: Story: Family Welfare.

Retrieved from: http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/diagram/26099/child-poverty-rates

McLachlan, C. (2011). An analysis of New Zealand’s changing history, policies and

approaches to early childhood education. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 36, (3), 36-44.

Red Sky Television (2015, June 5). Inside Child Poverty [Video File]. Retrieved from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AnC8yMph78

St John, S., & Wynd, D. (Eds.). (2008). Left behind: How social and income inequalities damage New Zealand children. Auckland, New Zealand: Child Poverty Action Group Inc.

Statistics New Zealand (2012). Measuring child poverty in New Zealand: Issues and          
            practicalities. Retrieved from: http://www.occ.org.nz/assets/Uploads/EAG/Working-                            papers/Statistics-NZ-Measuring-Child-Poverty