Providing Solutions to End Poverty in Children

Photo taken from: http://billmoyers.com/2015/01/19/12-days-12-things-can-fight-poverty/

The problem is that children are falling behind in their education and they are not able to gain access of resources that they need to enhance their developmental and learning skills. Poverty is one of the main causes that hinders education to these children. A solution that I came across on is to invest in providing federal subsidized resources to families and children who are dealing with poverty. Some examples of resources would be: the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), SNAP (food stamps), health care coverage, housing subsidies, subsidized jobs, the Child Tax Credit, and child care subsidies for families (Children's Defense Fund, 2015). Also, through resources such as having quality early childhood education, school programs, tutors, and educators, children can find aid in gaining back the skills that they weren’t able to develop due to being in poverty (cognitive, developmental, critical thinking, fine and sensor motor skills, etc.). Providing these resources to children and their families, will not only stop poverty from happening, but also help children to continue on with their education without falling behind. The children and family will be affected by this positively because they are receiving resources that'll help them both go through life without having to live in poverty any longer. However, the federal and state government would be affected by this negatively because they would have to worry about providing different subsidizing resources to all families who are in poverty, which makes it a burden due to the US going into more debt. Another stakeholder that will be burdened from this is taxpayers because they will have to pay higher taxes for investing more into education. However, I believe that this is a reasonable burden to bear because education is the core foundation for children's lives. Without having the core skills that they need, children will not be able to adapt to society well (ex: being able to problem-solve), or receive the learning and knowledge that'll be used later on in their lives. The government will also be helping families and children live a better life instead of being in misery (poverty), which makes the inequality now justified.  

A second solution to ending poverty that will help children further their education is to invest more into affordable, high-quality child care and early education. "Boosting investments in Head Start and the Child Care and Development Block Grant, as well as passing the Strong Start for America’s Children Act—which would invest in preschool, high-quality childcare for infants and toddlers, and home-visiting services for pregnant women and mothers with infants—will help more struggling families obtain the child care they need in order to work and improve the future economic mobility of America’s children" (Rebecca Vallas & Melissa Boteach, 2014). Not only will children have access to quality early childhood education now, but they will also receive benefits from it such as retrieving back the skills that they weren't able to receive due to being in poverty. Both of these solutions will help stop children from being in poverty and instead, live with having resources that'll help aid them into having a better life and having better education. 

References:

Children's Defense Fund. (2015). Ending Child Poverty. Retrieved from: http://www.childrensdefense.org/policy/endingchildpoverty/?referrer=https://www.google.com/

V, R. & B, M. (2014, September 17). The Top 10 Solutions to Cut Poverty and Grow the Middle Class. Retrieved from: https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/poverty/news/2014/09/17/97287/the-top-10-solutions-to-cut-poverty-and-grow-the-middle-class/