Getting to Know Your International Contacts-Part 1

For this blog assignment I must say that to date, I have not heard from my two contacts. However, I have gone on the website of the Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Center's page (http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/) and the country that I have chosen to share three insights or ideas about childhood poverty is China. The insights/ ideas come from the Poverty Research and Policy Center (CHIP) Report 3: Urban Poverty, Childhood Poverty and Social Protection in China: Critical Issues and is authored by Colette Solomon et al (2004).

 In the first insight, the report categorically states that poverty especially urban poverty is due largely to China’s socio-economic shift which has definitely impacted the children. The socio- economic shift has brought changes in “the social security system, the restructuring of state owned enterprises and increased rural-urban migration” (p.48, 2004)The effects of these changes on children have been far-reaching especially in the areas of education, housing, health and medical care.

In the second insight, the speed of poverty seems to escalate as the family expands and poverty tends to be worse among families that have more dependent relatives. The report goes on to show that the smaller the family the better the welfare will be properly distributed especially for the children and while there are few single parent families in China, the statistics show that the single parent families do have the highest poverty rate. The trend also shows that poverty and single parent families will continue to rise as economic changes, social pressures and population mobility increase.

The third insight is the growing phenomenon of “street children.” These children have become the signs or icons of the economic and social changes that have been occurring in China.  A large majority of these children are not in school, “and they are living without family care and protection while engaging in exploitative work” (p.34, 2004). “Street children and other poor children face a range of social problems which include discrimination, exclusions, limited education and opportunities for development”(p.35,2004) One of the most outstanding fact that caught my eye was that by the year 2000,there was an official estimate of between  150,000 and 200,000 street children living in Chinese cities.

The report highlights too that “Save the Children (UK) China Program's work with street children, migrant children and trafficked children has also identified some cases of children being coerced into unpaid work situations. In the report too there are interesting facts which point out that paid and unpaid labor for children in urban areas includes work on the streets (begging, collecting garbage, cleaning shoes etc.) in factories, domestic and entertainment settings” (p.40, 2004).

As I continue to examine the effects of poverty on children in the Chinese society from this report, I realize that although there has been a nine-year compulsory education policy that has had some impact in keeping children in school and reducing to some extent the likelihood of child labor, much more needs to be done to help disadvantaged families who are unable to pay school fees. It is also clear that disadvantaged children should be provided with effective protection, which includes education and welfare and social welfare policies must be based on children’s rights which aim specifically at improving the well being of poor and dispossessed children (p.42, 2004),

Reference:

Solomon, C. et al., (2004). Urban poverty, childhood poverty and social protection in China: Critical issues CHIP report no 3. Retrieved from: http://www.childhoodpoverty.org