Child poverty is overwhelming teachers & GPs!

* even in the moneyed Blair years and Sure Start and other initiatives the problems for some families remained.*

This is because there is no quick fix, but changing governments fail to commit to long term projects, which is what is needed.

But isn't the point that we do know that all problem families are not going to be helped but some will be. Some no matter how much support is given will continue the cycle of deprivation and it will go on generation after generation.

But what is absolutely certain is that if no support is given, if all that can be offered is the help of stressed teachers and GPs then even those families that might manage to lift themselves and/or their children out of grinding poverty, will simply fall further.

It may not be possible to solve all the problems, but we can certainly do better than we are doing. I grew up beside poor families when a proper welfare state helped them., I worked in many different schools in deprived areas. There were families with huge and multiple problems. One of the schools had one of the first breakfast clubs in the country. This was at the start of the Blair years. There was hope for those families then.

I only hope there will be hope for them if Starmer wins the election. I wish he would agree to pay benefit for a third child. I wish he was committed to funding social services properly and was recruiting as many social workers and probation officers as the police. Because more teachers might help but it won't solve all the problems.

Cross Party support is what’s really needed, on the big subjects including family support networks, the NHS, social care.
More trained and well paid social workers, it’s a helluva job and the drop out rate/ burned out rate is high.More money and training put into specialist schools.All this sort of stuff can’t be left for any one political Party, it just wouldn’t all get done.

Oreo

Cross Party support is what’s really needed, on the big subjects including family support networks, the NHS, social care.
More trained and well paid social workers, it’s a helluva job and the drop out rate/ burned out rate is high.More money and training put into specialist schools.All this sort of stuff can’t be left for any one political Party, it just wouldn’t all get done.

Seriously? Nothing has been done for 14 years that's why we are on this situation. How can there possibly be cross party support when one party has to clear up the damage done to our services by the tories?

You could really say 9/10 years for Conservative government to get things done as the last term has been dealing with the fallout from Covid, Brexit and Ukraine.In their early years in power there was a financial worldwide meltdown.
Am no apologist for the Tories but the truth should still be stated.
So, yeah seriously I think certain things would be better done cross Party, the very least being the NHS and social care.
The Labour Party would need three clear terms and no wars,world financial troubles and nothing else like Covid to come along in order to fix the many problems.Is that likely you must ask yourself?
Keir Starmer will do his best but isn’t a miracle worker and will have to fight off the extreme within the Party as well as all the usual things that life will throw at any country from time to time.

A fair summary Oreo.

Germanshepherdsmum

A fair summary Oreo.

Yes, very fair.

Except Brexit was “self inflicted” (thanks Cameron)

zakouma66

Poor wee GS, sorry for your difficulties.

As do I!

Elegran

Isn't it interesting that those closest to the problem are not believed by those observing from a safe distance?

Very interesting.

Must say I find the term ‘child poverty’ troublesome - how can it possibly be separated from ‘parent poverty’?

The problem in many cases, I’m sure, is that even if parents work full time, they can’t earn enough to enable a reasonable standard of living. Especially in the SE, where the cost of housing has soared in recent years.

Of course the issue is exacerbated for single parents, but the basic problem IMO is so often our low wage economy.

If parents are unable to work, or choose not to, that is of course an entirely different matter.

Of course if childcare were made genuinely affordable, as it is in some other European countries, I dare say a good many parents (mostly women) whose pay would not even cover the cost of childcare, let alone provide any extra, would be only too willing to return to work.

Oreo

You could really say 9/10 years for Conservative government to get things done as the last term has been dealing with the fallout from Covid, Brexit and Ukraine.In their early years in power there was a financial worldwide meltdown.
Am no apologist for the Tories but the truth should still be stated.
So, yeah seriously I think certain things would be better done cross Party, the very least being the NHS and social care.
The Labour Party would need three clear terms and no wars,world financial troubles and nothing else like Covid to come along in order to fix the many problems.Is that likely you must ask yourself?
Keir Starmer will do his best but isn’t a miracle worker and will have to fight off the extreme within the Party as well as all the usual things that life will throw at any country from time to time.

The problem is that many of us remember what it was like when Thatcher ruined things and the mess that the Blair government had to clear up. No covid, no Brexit , no Ukraine just a sustained lack of investment in education and the NHS. We see exactly the same problems now as there were then. And it's the Tories who caused them.

There is no excuse at all for children to go to school unwashed. Soap and water cost hardly anything. Brushing a child's hair takes seconds. A simple breakfast of toast is better than nothing. Many people are just lazy.

Skydancer

There is no excuse at all for children to go to school unwashed. Soap and water cost hardly anything. Brushing a child's hair takes seconds. A simple breakfast of toast is better than nothing. Many people are just lazy.

Unfortunately children don't have a choice in the parents they are given. So the children of addicts, the mentally ill, the depressed, the inadequate, the struggling, the desperate will find that there isn't soap or toothpaste, that the comb or brush is missing or lost, and there is nothing in the house to eat. Such children will pull on their dirty uniform and get themselves to school if there is the promise of a breakfast. Once there teachers and classroom assistants attempt to teach them how to care for themselves. It's difficult because quite often they have very low self esteem and are already caught in a self destructive cycle.
I saw children like this 30 years ago. I would imagine there are more now.

Oreo “As to the much quoted phrase ‘the gap between rich and poor is widening’ well, no it isn’t”. “What is widening is the knowledge about who has what and how much and who has very much less”

You are completely wrong, and if you looked for the evidence you would know this. There are numerous studies to show how this is linked to poverty.

According to the J Rowntree Trust There are no nations which have high levels of economic inequality and low levels of poverty.

Skydancer

There is no excuse at all for children to go to school unwashed. Soap and water cost hardly anything. Brushing a child's hair takes seconds. A simple breakfast of toast is better than nothing. Many people are just lazy.

A bowl of porridge before school, brushed hair and washed face should be mandatory or else it should be reported and there should be a home visit so that the neglect can be addressed.

Macadia

Skydancer

There is no excuse at all for children to go to school unwashed. Soap and water cost hardly anything. Brushing a child's hair takes seconds. A simple breakfast of toast is better than nothing. Many people are just lazy.

A bowl of porridge before school, brushed hair and washed face should be mandatory or else it should be reported and there should be a home visit so that the neglect can be addressed.

How will the neglect be addressed? And who wil do it?

Skydancer

There is no excuse at all for children to go to school unwashed. Soap and water cost hardly anything. Brushing a child's hair takes seconds. A simple breakfast of toast is better than nothing. Many people are just lazy.

That'll be right.

What about children who have to get themselves up because one/ both parents are doing early morning jobs 🤷‍♀️
They are more than likely to be given instructions but: they are still children
I know of what I speak because I was one.

Good post nanna8 👏👏

I went to primary school with kids who wore glasses taped up with plasters, with dirty necks, ears and teeth, with shoes that didn’t fit, with clothes too small and several who didn’t own a coat. We don’t see poverty like that anymore thank goodness.
Back then there were no charities to help people.

I agree completely with you when you say “why are they deliberately letting more and more disadvantaged people enter the country and paying for their food and shelter.”

We MUST stop this, sort out our own problems, make sure kids are fed, clothed and cared for and only then help others. If it takes years so be it.

Heres a thing.....there are sufficient rescources in this country. We have enough.

Children can be fed and nurtured, families can be assisted, refugees can be welcomed and contribute.

How do you expect that to be achieved?

I'm not a politician or a manager but I would humbly suggest that as one of the top 5/ 6/7 most wealthy countries in the world, some equitable sharing of rescources may be possible.

Instead we have greed and prejudice at every turn.

Germanshepherdsmum

How do you expect that to be achieved?

They usually have no idea GSM but think saying it is enough.

Macadia

Skydancer

There is no excuse at all for children to go to school unwashed. Soap and water cost hardly anything. Brushing a child's hair takes seconds. A simple breakfast of toast is better than nothing. Many people are just lazy.

A bowl of porridge before school, brushed hair and washed face should be mandatory or else it should be reported and there should be a home visit so that the neglect can be addressed.

I agree it would be helpful for someone to help the family and get involved, but there aren't and could not resources wise be enough SW's to do this very intensive work (it would involve more than one visiting). Realistically, I'm more and more convinced tho that returning to Sure Start could help a great deal maybe with outreach workers.

Oreo

Germanshepherdsmum

How do you expect that to be achieved?

They usually have no idea GSM but think saying it is enough.

" They" ?