Saving the Children

I totally agree that children in Britain should not need this type of charitable aid.

Sadly there are families , in Britain, living in appalling conditions. Not as appalling as conditions in other places in the world..
Here they will have running water and sanitation but many will be malnourished, have no bed, be in a home with minimum heating and poor cooking facilities and no money to heat water for baths /washing etc. It is hard to comprehend how this can be but it does exist and if you are a baby , toddler , youngster...you need help.

I'm a community governor at a school with the largest number of children on the free school meals and the largest number on the ESN register. It breaks my heart to see these little mites going without. I welcome Save The Childrens intiative if for nothing else it demostrates who suffers in recession like this and draws attention to what needs to be done.

I think that we are talking about relative poverty here in the UK, rather than the absolute kind. However, Save the Children has produced a report which shows that a worrying number of children here in the UK don't have things such as a winter coat which most of us would probably think of as essentials, even if life doesn't depend on them.

Worryingly, the majority of these children (according to STC) have parents who are in work, but struggle with the high costs of childcare and often, with paying off debts, typically taken out with payday loan companies or doorstep lenders.

The growth of food banks is another indicator that people are falling through the net, and that the role once carried out by the welfare state is now being taken up by churches and charities. I suppose this state of affairs will only get worse as the promised next round of cuts comes into force.

I agree with you janeainsworth in that this is really the government's repsonsibility. There is a lot that could be done, for example, cutting the cost of childcare for the working poor. In the meantime, as like Huckleberry Finn, I have plenty of the kind of time that isn't money, I help out at a local credit union in the hope of at least keeping some poor souls out of the hands of loan sharks.

Whatever we think about the politics etc of individual countries, the welfare of all children is paramount. They are our future and our combined responsibility as human beings.

Yes, there is unimaginable need in LECDs, as I have seen in Africa and India, and yes, the more developed nations should rethink their budgets, but meanwhile, if a child is cold, or hungry, or doesn't have access to clean water (the biggest need) then we should do all we can to rectify the matter as soon as we can.

And we should, at the same time, of course, be lobbying and harassing our politicians.

Children are children no matter what country they are in. You say the government should step in. I agree but are we to leave children to suffer because our government doesn't care?

Save the Children works with children in India. This country has a nuclear arsenal and in 2011 spent $44889 million dollors on defence. Another government who doesn't put children first. To be fair to India it's not the only country in the developing world who spends vast amounts on defence but it shows that some of the countries supported by Save the Children don't put their children first.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/apr/17/military-spending-countries-list

Sorry greatnan you've lost me there
vampirequeen It's not quite so simple. I would fully support charities in this country which exist to help children in emotional distress, like Childline, or to prevent cruelty and abuse like NSPCC. I have given money to a small charity called Safe at Last which helps children who have run away from an abusive environment.
But that is very different from Save the Children changing from helping children in Third World countries, where deprivation is on a scale unimaginable here, to providing help for families in this country.
We think we are a civilised society.
If that's the case, no family should have to rely on charity for the basic necessities of food, clothing and furniture.
By taking on this role, at best, STC are allowing the government to avoid its responsibilities.
At worst, it is taking a political role itself.

THe most effective way to stop the transmission of Aids is to supply condoms.

Surely any child in need should be helped.

Good idea JO4.

change to this one *janeainsworth*?

There are children in much greater need than the Uk's.

Save the children charity, has for the first time in it"s 93 year history has decided to launch a fund raiser for children in this country. So they should .

Saving Children World wide includes the UK as far as I'm concerned..

There are children in need all over the world. Save the Children is a charity for children where ever they may be.