Edited by Carolyne Willow.
Published 2007 (ISBN: 1 905370 26 1) Price £9.95
Despite taking over 600,000 children out of poverty, the government still has a long way to go in order to meet its pledge to eradicate child poverty by 2020. Poverty, violence and a lack of access to basic health and educational opportunities in the earliest years of a child’s life can do damage that may take years to reverse, if reversal ever happens at all. As Mary Crowley points out in her essay, the quality of parenting and the income of parents have more effect on educational achievement than the variations in the quality of a primary school. By the time many children reach school, they are already playing catch-up. The contributors to this publication consider how government, families and communities can nurture a healthy, well-educated, ambitious and socially cohesive population. The essays look at a range of issues: the need for Britain to fully implement the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the right of the child to be protected from assault in the home; how to improve the tax and welfare system to lift children out of poverty; how social care can meet the needs of children from various backgrounds; and how to improve the environment in which children interact and play. The collection also includes a contribution by two young people, looking at the issues that face children seeking asylum in Britain. Taken together, the essays look at how every child can live a life free from violence and in an environment where they can realise their maximum potential.
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