The Human Rights Act and Child Poverty Action Group state that “every child [in New Zealand] has the right to security, food, shelter, education and healthcare” (Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), 1994). 

Maslow‘Hierarchy of Needs’ Pryamid 

Abraham Maslow ‘Hierarchy of Needs’ theory supports this statement as it to indicates that the bottom three stratifications on the pyramid ‘Physiological needs’ (air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep), ‘Safety needs’ (protection from elements, security, order, law, limits, stability and ‘Belongingness and Love needs’ (family, friends, affection, relationships) are vital in the growth and development of children and are essential to help children reach their fullest potential (Krapp, 2005).

It is so easy to assume that parents can easily provide these basic needs for their children, yet reality is they can’t and 270,000 children in New Zealand are living below the poverty line (Andykenworthy, 2013). That’s roughly 1 in every 6 children living with limited food and water, living in poor housing conditions and contracting illnesses that are normally linked to developing countries(Children's Commissioner, 2008). 

So what is child poverty? 

Andy Kenworthy defines child poverty as: “those who experience deprivation of the material resources and income that is required for them to develop and thrive, leaving such children unable to enjoy their rights, achieve their full potential and participate as full and equal members of New Zealand society” (Andykenworthy, 2013)

As I continued reading I realised that poverty is divided into two categories, ‘relative poverty’ and ‘absolute poverty’.  Relative poverty is when “people are relatively impoverished if the customary (average) standard of living in their society requires more spending than the income they have available” (Byrns, 2011).  Absolute poverty is when “people are absolutely impoverished if the minimum amounts of food, clothing and shelter necessary for survival absorb all of their income, and they live a razor’s edge existence” (Byrns, 2011). 

The 270,000 ‘child poverty’ figure at the beginning of this entry refers to ‘relative poverty’.  This means that these children are living in a household’s where the net income is less than “60 per cent of the median income, or those living on $480 a week: just under $25,000 a year after housing costs” (Andykenworthy, 2013).  These children are living in damp, cold and often overcrowding housing, which is a contributing factor to ill-health, poorer learning environments and family stress (Children’s Commissioner, 2008).

Absolute poverty on a “global scale is not present in New Zealand”, but as stated many children and families are continuing to live a fragile existence (Robertson, 2009).

Children can experience poverty in temporary stages and others experience poverty for either long periods or throughout the duration of their childhood (Middlemore Foundation, 2013).  Children who grow up in poverty are often missing out on important childhood opportunities like school outings and sports activities, have lower educational achievement, worse health outcomes and feel stigmatised. As a result of this they can be scared for life and it can reduce their chances to be employed as adults and when they are, they will have lower earnings. There are also higher rates of crime within this group and poorer health (Middlemore Foundation, 2013).  To help aid in decreasing child poverty the Minister of Social Development Paula Bennett has published ‘The White Paper for vulnerable children’. http://www.msd.govt.nz/documents/about-msd-and-our-work/work-programmes/policy-development/white-paper-vulnerable-children/white-paper-for-vulnerable-children-volume-1.pdf . ‘The White Paper for vulnerable children’ is written to protect high risk children and is a guidline to start achieve positive outcomes for them.  

Child poverty is NOT ok and I cannot wait to further explore it to find out what the government has put in place to alleviate child poverty and discover what diseases and illnesses these children are experiencing due to living in such terrible conditions.

Check this clip out, it explains 'Child Poverty' in an easy to understand way.