The Poverty Stricken People Of Canada Social Work Essay

The di deform struck People Of Canada Social Work EssayOne of the first micro governance behaves of insufficiency would be if an individual came from an broken family. This is a predisposing factor that an individual is likely to break impoverished themselves, if their family of origin was brusk as well. more than than than half the clawren in the United States upkeep in mendicancy grew up to be impoverished, while 1 in 4 grew up to postulate a low socio-economic status and 1 in 3 in Canada (Corak, 2006). Also, according to the text Social Inequality Patterns and Processes 4th ed., by Martin Mager, low nameal in set, whitethorn result in worthlesser quality education, continuing the cycle by making it unwieldy to find an adapted job due to lack of education. That lack of education becomes a perpetuating factor, which maintains the cycle (Mager, 2008).An early(a) father of impoverishment in or so cases whitethorn be divorce or single pargonnthood. This would be a precipitate driving force because together a couple on two incomes may be able to frequent a nestling, however, divided they may non turn over the income to provide as they did previously. According to a case d unitary in Ottawa, children in single p bent homes be more likely to become impoverished, curiously when there was more than one child brio in the home (Fleury, 2008). In many situations, one p bent may direct stayed at home to cable c ar for children and the household, while the other(a) worked, meaning that pa take would be dependent on the other parent. If a divorce translates place, the dependent parent no long-acting has the other parent to support them, and they may non have trade, making it very easy for them to twilight into need. still a nonher cause of poverty is addiction, which posterior be both a effect and a perpetuating cause. Addictions can practic wholey lead to loss of employment and misuse of finances which can bring on and perpetuate the issue of poverty. Lawrence M. Mead says although poverty is non an addiction, it is lots caused by and causes addiction. Addiction has a definite run effect on poverty. If one has an addiction, for example, to a drug, it becomes the most(prenominal) important thing in their life, all their funds goes to purchasing the drug, all their time is devoted to scoring and doing drugs, which actor, they may not go to school or work, or their behaviour causes them to be dismissed, meaning they have no means for an income. The addicts income would go towards drugs, and not other compulsions, or they would not have an income at all, leaving them in poverty.Lastly, a cause of poverty is oft debt and poor debt management. It is possible to live with more or less debt and not have to live in poverty, however if debt is not managed properly and becomes more than one is capable of dealing with, it can lead to poverty. Four million Americans would exceed below the federal poverty line if the interest they feed on their credit cards and other consumer debts were subtracted from their incomes says a San Francisco Chronicle article. These spate are called the debt poor (Abate, 2009). These population, although they may not look like the sterile poor, they technically do not have the means to obtain the necessities of life and, at some tailor are faced with bankruptcy and the loss of their home.Microsystem ConsequencesA microsystem government issue of poverty is low self-esteem. It is obvious children living in poverty have trouble buying the latest trends, their parents may not drive the nicest car or drive a car at all, maybe they do not have a washer and dryer and so sometimes they have to go without clean clothes for a period. Their parents cannot render to govern them in music littleons or sign them up for sports teams. Some children, who are springy would not let this stop them from macrocosm confident, however, not all children understand that they a re not on a level playing field, so to speak and believe that it is a weakness in themselves and not unfairness within the system and smack that their personal worth is directly related to their financial worth. A child with the tools to gain ground is more likely to succeed and if they succeed, they become more confident, making them more likely to take more risks, with a likelihood of succeeding again and increasing their confidence more. In some cases, children in poverty lack those tools, or have to work harder for them, meaning they do not succeed as oftentimes, decreasing their self-esteem (Eric J. Marsh, 2010).Bullying is another consequence of poverty that often goes along with low self-esteem. Children in poverty are often bullied. According to a line of business do in the UK, low-income children are often the target of bullying in wealthier areas, because of their socio-economic status (Branigan, 2007). One in 13 children in an international study of 35 countries and more than 162 000 children reported bullying due to their socio-economic status. The inequity among adolescents from low socio-economic standgrounds puts them at a great risk for bullying. Teens that are from schools and living in countries where there is a bigger gap between socio-economic groups are at higher risk of being bullied.Poverty excessively has a huge repair on childrens somatic phylogenesis. One in ten Canadians is affected by food insecurity which has a correlation coefficient to poor health (Kirkpatrick, 2008). Without proper diet, children go away lack the nutrients they need to develop optimally, and may scour become over or under weight. Studies show children with a balanced diet are sick slight often than children with poor nutrition (Kirkpatrick, 2008). Families may not be able to apply medical expenses or treatments that would prevent their child from illness or lessen the effects of an illness or injury, causing impairment. Also, parents in low-income homes may find it more difficult to present necessary repairs in the household that would ensure their childs safety. expectant mothers living in poverty also pose a risk, if they are not able to pass adequate prenatal care.Poverty has an force on kind health, as well. Children from low socio-economic backgrounds were more than in two ways as likely to suffer from anxiety and slump as their counterparts from better socio-economic statuses (Mark Lemstra, 2008). Children from low-income families, not only(prenominal) have the normal stress a child would have, many impoverished children are aware of their families hardships and have essential anxiety about bills and debts and food security, and feelings of hopelessness about their situations and lack positive feelings of self-worth.Besides affecting physical and affable health, societal development is also a consequence of poverty. Poverty has an impact on the development of hearty skills in children. Children living in poverty often have poorer language skills and less demonstrable coping skills, which in turn impacts the quality of their relationships with peers (Lisa Fiorentino, 2004). Children living in poverty also have less opportunity for brotherly interaction due to the fact they are not able to afford to be part of extra-curricular groups that help develop affectionate skills and elevate peer relationships. Without the gold to afford the same sociable opportunities children in low-income homes are not able to develop social skills as easily, so poverty is a definite impact on social development.Cognitive impairment has also been cited as a consequence of poverty. According to research, children who are malnourished get out suffer cognitive deficiencies and children living in poverty are more likely to be malnourished than those who are middle class or affluent. Also, children who are poor are less equipped to explore their environment meaning they are not receiving the same mental st imulation or their environment is less stimulating (Brown, 1996). Parents are also less able to afford to put their children in activities or secure things like books and computers that would help stimulated cognitive development. Thus, there are various reasons why poverty has an influence on cognitive development including malnutrition, and lack of opportunity for mental stimulation.Another unfortunate consequence of poverty is abuse and neglect. According to research from the NSPCCwomen from poor childhood homes were in two ways as likely to have suffered abuse or neglect (77 per cent versus 38 per cent), and the association was even more striking with multiple forms of abuse, with a three-fold increase 45 per cent of those from poor childhood homes had see more than one form of abuse compared with 15 per cent who had experienced no poverty. (NSPCC, 2008)Poverty can put a lot of stress and strain on families making parents more susceptible to becoming perpetrators and childre n more vulnerable and likely to be victimized. drop of resources also makes it more difficult to provide children with their basic needs, which does not always constitute an allegation of neglect, however, if the parent is using child welfare tax and child support for personal use and not to provide for the child it is neglect.Poverty can also impact ones personal treasures and beliefs. Childrens values and beliefs are affected by their socio-economic status. From personal experience, being very poor growing up, I had a certain paradigm. I believed that crocked people were the enemy and that they did not value me because I was poor. I also did not value education very much because I did not believe I would have the opportunity to go to college or university, because my parents could not afford to help me pay for it. I learned not to value money and do with less. Family was important to me, since I spent so much time at home, due to the fact I could not afford to be in any lesson s or on sports teams. It is obvious a child from a poor home compared to a family from a wealthy home would have a very different outlook on life.Mesosystem CausesLack of resources is a precipitating cause of poverty. There is a lack of inexpensive housing and lack of go available to combat poverty and to assist those in poverty, especially for new immigrants coming to Canada. There are not plentiful services available to help new Canadians adjust, to help them upgrade education, to find jobs and affordable homes and to learn the language so they can succeed at their job and at school. In some more rural areas there is no ESL program offered. Also, the complicated forms and waitlists mean people in need of poverty relief may not get help for months (Canadian Council on Social Development, 2010).Loss of employment is a precipitating cause of poverty, as well. Loss of a job sometimes not only means loss of financial support from an employer, it also means loss of insurance. Meanin g medical and alveolar care, house repair, car repair are not covered, so families do without or are put further in debt by having to pay for medical or repair bills. If a family has no income it is difficult to provide necessities for ones family, and if the low-income cut-off is more than 50% of income is spent on necessities, than anyone who is unemployed or whose spouse is unemployed will likely fit that criteria (Statistics Canada, 2010).Mesosystem consequencesA microsystem consequence of poverty was child abuse and neglect, so it is evident then, that on a mesosystem level there is a consequence which affects Childrens Aid Societies. CAS woks with families to help get them on caterpillar track and get support that they may not otherwise be able to afford for their child. According to OACAS, many of the children using their services are living in poverty (Laurie Monseebaaten, 2008). Poverty is a blanket puzzle which is the cause and consequence of many of the things CAS deal s with on a regular basis, often times to deal with these other problems they provide families with services that deal with poverty.Another big consequence of poverty is that it affects the childs school experience. In some cases children go to school in a poorer neighbourhood and so their peers are poor, but quite often poor children go to schools where there is socio-economic inequality. This, in some cases affects them more as it makes the children more reluctant to read help financially to pay for field trips or sports teams. They lose out on learning opportunities because of their poverty. They also have a more difficult time succeeding in school because they may not have access to computers or books necessary to help them learn and complete school work, and because they may have jobs outside of school to help them combat the poverty, leaving them less time for their school work (Sands, 2007).Poverty is a big barrier to health care, even in Canada. Although initial healthcare is throw in. The make up of medication, optic care and dental care is still too expensive for some people to afford. For example, there is a treatment for AIDS however, it is too expensive for individuals to buy, but the pharmaceutical companies will not distribute it for free or at a lesser cost because they do not wish to lose winnings (UNFPA, 2009). Because dental care, eye care and medication are for the most part, not every day needs, most people living in poverty go without it.Another consequence of poverty is that churches are pertain in poverty relief around the beingness. Religious groups are the number one source of appealing funds donated in Canada and advocates for the poor according to the World Council of Churches (World Council of Churches, 2011). Churches are very involved locally and internationally with the fight against poverty, they work on all levels of prevention, primary, secondary and tertiary. They support the development of micro businesses for women in Indian as a primary prevention, they work with Canadian Food Grains Bank to distribute food as a secondary prevention and they work in soup kitchens and assist people locally who come into get support as a tertiary prevention. (McLennan, 2011).A consequence of poverty is the inability to afford to put children into extracurricular activities and segregation in extracurricular activities. This has consequences in itself, but in general, the high cost of music and dance lessons and sports teams means that children are not able to participate, or are segregated to detail activities that are more affordable. Recently, there has been offered a tax break for parents of children on sports teams, which has alleviated some of the stress put on parents to allow their children to participate, however, some parents still struggle to put their children in activities, some of which are difficult to get to if parents do not have reliable transportation.Having children in extracurricular activ ities is also a primary preventative measure for preventing children from getting involved in crime, so parents in poverty who cannot afford to put their children in sports or pay for some kind of art lessons may also have to suffer another consequence of poverty, which is having their children involved in crime. Crime is another consequence of poverty for a number of reasons. Families may steal food to supplement what little they have, children and youth may steal things they want that they cannot afford, parents and children may get involved with dealing drugs or fraud to supplement their income. A study done in the U.S. also shows that the law is more lenient to affluent offenders giving them little or no jail time compared to poorer offenders (Reiman, 1995).Another consequence of poverty is that families are segregated to specific neighbourhoods and attend specific schools depending on their income. Rarely when low-income housing is built is it just one house in a relatively a ffluent neighbourhood, most low income housing is built in blocks townhouses or apartments and there is often more than one in a neighbourhood. Thus, that particular neighbourhood is stigmatized as being the poor neighbourhood. Peers are all from similar socio-economic backgrounds, schools in the neighbourhood are often overwhelmingly populated by low-income children (Fleury, 2008).Exosystem CausesA perpetuating cause of poverty is lack of government funding for poverty relief. For people already living in poverty if they cannot get sufficient assistance to help them out of poverty, it means they remain there longer. Any social assistance one may receive is barely enough to live on so these people are still only making ends meet. Without the opportunity to save some money people will continue living paycheque to paycheque and if there is an emergency it may put more financial strain on them, because they did not have enough to live on to begin with and they are put into debt.Another perpetuating cause of poverty among immigrants in Canada is the transportation loans. Refugee families come to Canada, hoping for a better life, the Canadian government is kind enough to loan them money for travel expenses, which are very costly. However, they are expected to pay this loan back within a very brief window of time, keeping in mind that what little money they came with has been put towards finding a place to live and they may not even have a job yet (Canadian Council for Refugees, 2010). Unfortunately, this is of little concern to the government, so these people must struggle both with being able to support themselves in a new country and with paying back debt, perpetuating their poverty.Next, the cost of living in Canada has a great impact on poverty and is a precipitating consequence. This is a cause more often attributed to developed countries. The average cost of rent in Toronto is between $775 and $895 for a 1 bedroom apartment, the cost of groceries for a month is approximately $100 a month and the cost of ring services is about $23 a month (Fast Facts, 2006). With just those expenses, the cost of living for a month can be more than $1000, however, a person employed full-time (40 hrs/wk) at minimum pay ($10.25) makes less than twice that, meaning significantly more than half of their income goes towards necessities of life.Finally, a perpetuating cause for poverty among children is the discrepancy in the Low-Income Cut-off with regards to what necessities are. It observes the need for clothing, shelter and food however, it does not take into account a childs need for social and emotional development and scholastic success, which may come from appropriate childcare, participation in extracurricular activities and the purchase of school supplies. Without these things it is much more difficult to succeed in school and life, meaning less abiding employment, which in turn results in continuing the cycle of poverty.Exosystem ConsequencesOne of the consequences of poverty is how people view those on social assistance. There is the common stigma that people on social assistance are abusing the system and that they are just lazy and do not wish to get a job, however that is not always the case. In some cases, the recipient of social assistant is someone who was a dependant and did not work or could not work and for a variety of reasons had to leave that dependant situation and indispensable financial support, but was not able to find a job immediately (Pulkingham, 2011).The picture of poverty in media is a consequence has a consequence on how poverty is viewed. The media has created this stereotype of the poor adolescent. They are always from the wrong side of the tracks, engage in immoral behaviour, get into a lot of fights and never excel in school or they are portrayed as dirty street children. For example, in the movie Slums of Beverly Hills, the characters are a poor family who must constantly move to avoid paying rent the young female is not interested in school and is very promiscuous (Jenkins, 1998). Evidently, this wide portrayal of poverty does not help with a childs self-esteem or to reduce bullying or encourage impoverished youth that they are capable of achieving great things.Another fabrication that has become the consequence of how people view poverty is the myth that people who use soup kitchens and food banks are homeless or jobless, when in reality many of the people accessing these facilities are working poor, who have jobs, and perhaps a home. They may be able to pay their rent, but their income is not sufficient enough to afford adequate food. termination to 7 million workers earn less than $ 20 000 per annum and40% of impoverished children live in families where at least one parent is employed full-time year round. Parents have children to care for and sometimes that means they need to supplement their meals with food from a food bank or meals from a soup kitchen to make s ure their children are fed (Poor No More, 2009).Next, a consequence of how people view poverty is the myth that poor children are less intelligent and not as successful as wealthier children. Although there is proof that poorer children are more likely to struggle in school and that they will continue the cycle of poverty and that poverty is a risk factor for lower IQ, this is not always the case. Really, this depends on resilience. The more resilient and determined a child is, the more likely they will overcome their circumstances and excel in school and in life (Lisa Fiorentino, 2004). Although they may not have the same resources as a wealthy child, as long as they have a good support system and the determination to succeed no matter what obstacles are placed in front of them, they will break free from that stereotype.Yet another myth that exists is that poor people are always looking for handouts. This is actually very inaccurate often families remain in poverty because they ar e too proud to ask for assistance which could be a perpetuating cause of poverty as well. Also, though they are poor they are far from helpless. some people would be happy to offer their skills or work in return for support and would feel more fulfilled doing so (Poor No More, 2009). Some acknowledgement and treatment as an equal is often what the poor are looking for, not just spare change.The final myth that exists in our order of magnitude is that poverty only happens in Africa, this. The overwhelming amount of support and publicity the poverty stricken upright receives is inspiring, however, servicing the local poor does not seem nearly as important to people. When we look at the private aid going overseas to relieve poverty and the amount of sponsorship and adoption of children in evolution nations, it is significantly more that what is received locally. Fifteen per cent of Canadian children are living in poverty that is approximately 100 thousand children (Fleury, 2008). 1 00 thousand children who need help, but are overlooked for children in developing countries. Poverty does happen in Canada.Macrosystem CausesA precipitating cause of poverty that has been highly bare in recent years is the economy. Canada, along with nearly the entire rest of the world has felt the impact of an economic depression which has inflated prices, caused job loss and created a huge influx of people into social assistance. As previously discussed, cost of living, job loss and lack of resources are causes of poverty an economic depression is the cause of all three, making poverty an issue on a supranational scale. Third world governments are obligated to compete with each other and with more dominant, developed nations. To attract investors, impoverished countries flack to provide cheaper resources, goods and labour. This has only increased poverty (Shah, 2011). So, the economy has been an international cause of poverty.Additionally, war is a precipitating cause of poverty . War causes immense destruction and costs millions of dollars. There is destruction to systems such as social services and health care and resources are diluted and redirected from poverty relief to maintaining the war, as well as physical damage to buildings and belongings. This consequently results in poverty