Child poverty in British Columbia

Therefore, the aim of this paper is to succinctly demonstrate that child poverty in British Columbia is a notable problem by enumerating the causes and government’s curbing services and solutions. The World Bank considers poverty as a multidimensional social phenomenon whose definition varies according to factors such as age, gender, culture as well as socio-economic status (26). However, it offers a general definition of poverty as an extreme lack of multiple resources which leads to physical deficiency (World Bank 26). On the other hand, a child is defined under Article 1 of the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Funds (UNICEF) as any person who is below 18 years unless otherwise stated by the laws of particular country. Child poverty Statistics in British Columbia One of the most outstanding evidence of child poverty in British Columbia (herein referred to as B.

5% and 19. 8% in Canada and B. C respectively. In 2016, child poverty rate in B. C was 15. Therefore, based on the statistics outlined above, it is doubtless than B. C suffers the greatest in regards to issues of child poverty with research point to stiff government measures to considerably alleviate it. Effects of poverty on children’s lifestyle in British Columbia On the other hand, the effects of impoverishment on children’s lifestyle in B. C points out to the extreme child poverty. The impact of poverty is translated in education, health and the standard of living. Poverty is also considerably associated with development of mental health complications. In this case, poor people tend to lack opportunities which consequently lead to depression, anger and hopelessness which triggers other diseases such as traumatic stress (The BC Poverty Reduction Coalition 3).

This condition is more adverse among children whereby they develop toxic stress which is uncontrollable even by their parents. Causes of child poverty in British Columbia In countries such as the U. S and U. Additionally, ethnicity is another cause of child poverty in B. C according to the report by BC Child Poverty Report Card racialized and aboriginal children share 31% and 23% of poverty rate in B. C respectively (7). The correlation between child poverty and ethnicity is linked to the fact that minority communities tend to have a high rate of crime thus increasing the likelihood of being raised a single parent as result of death and incarceration. In a similar manner, unemployment is another cause of child poverty whereby parents are either totally unemployed or are working in dead-end jobs (Watson).

Equally important, is the lack of government to take measures to end childcare crisis in B. C (BC Child Poverty Report Card 22). The reason why child poverty is still rampant in B. C to some extent maybe attributed to the lack of families’ access to quality and affordable child care public systems such as schools. For instance, in Canada, B. As result, adverse effects such increased incarceration, lack of quality education; healthcare and standard of living have been a major challenge to these children. On its duty, the government has failed to offer effective solutions and basic protections even after being a signatory to child support and protection organizations such as the UNICEF. Works Cited World Bank. “Chapter 2 Definition of Poverty.