This thesis considers the extent to which tax and transfer policies in South Africa support children between 2000 and 2008. The analyses are carried out using a four-dimensional analytical framework which separates the dimensions of welfare ideology, policy aims, policy instruments and welfare outcomes. This approach is adopted in recognition of the fact that the extent to which tax and transfer policies support children is seen to vary according to the dimension of analysis. The analysis of welfare ideology, policy aims and policy instruments is undertaken by considering key legislative texts, including the Bill of Rights in the South African Constitution, budget speeches and policy documents. Welfare outcomes are analysed at the individual and household level using microsimulation modelling. A microsimulation model for South Africa, SAMOD, is developed specifically for these analyses. The findings of this thesis add conceptual and empirical understanding to the impact of tax and transfer policies on children. Children are found to be supported by policy to some extent, and have been prioritised in reforms to social assistance. However, recent reforms to tax policy have not benefited children and the analyses indicate that child poverty rates in South Africa could be lower than they are at present had the government pursued alternative policy reforms. The construction of the microsimulation model SAMOD is a valuable tool to facilitate future policy evaluation in South Africa. Further development of SAMOD is recommended to continue to progress and enhance debates on policy reforms. In addition, this thesis highlights some key areas for future research including developing further understanding of the patterns of inter and intra-household income allocation and the impact that this may have on poverty measures for different groups.

Despite the increasing policy and academic attention given to child poverty in recent years, little is known about children’s perspectives and their experiences of risk, coping and resilience in the context of poverty. The existing child poverty literature is dominated by studies from economics and developmental psychology, which for the most part overlook not only the perspectives of children in poverty but also their use of coping strategies and experiences of resilience. Much can be inferred, however, from studies of the lives of children in developing countries in terms of the active role poor children play in their lives and their families’ lives. Additionally, a small but growing number of qualitative child poverty studies in Europe and North America (e.g. Ridge, 2002) have highlighted the resourcefulness and optimism of many children living in poverty. They have shown the merit of prioritizing children’s perspectives and experiences or minimally setting them alongside the perspectives of adults in order to understand their lives and concerns fully. This thesis builds on these studies by exploring the lives of children living in poverty that go beyond their material disadvantage or survival. It highlights the priorities, concerns and responses of children living in a context different from the one covered by most of these studies. It also explores the theoretical concepts of coping and resilience to establish whether these constructs can be reliably applied in a society that is very different from the one in which they were developed. The study focuses on Ethiopia, one of the poorest countries in the world. It addresses the perspectives and experiences of twenty-six children (11 girls and 15 boys) between the ages of 11 and 14 in Kolfe area, one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Addis Ababa. It employs qualitative research methods such as semi-structured individual interviews, daily diaries, drawings and timelines with the children. The key finding of the study is that the majority of these children perceive that relationships that are characterized by conflict are more damaging than material poverty. This suggests that research and interventions focusing on poverty not only undermine children’s positive experiences and agency but also obscure their real priorities and concerns. The children’s accounts further suggest that the theoretical concepts of “coping” and “resilience” are applicable to Ethiopian children, although as in other contexts how the children understand and experience them is influenced by the culture and environment in which they live.

The link between poverty and children’s health is well recognized. Even temporary poverty may have an adverse effect on children’s health, and data consistently support the observation that poverty in childhood continues to have a negative effect on health into adulthood. In addition to childhood morbidity being related to child poverty, epidemiologic studies have documented a mortality gradient for children aged 1 to 15 years (and adults), with poor children experiencing a higher mortality rate than children from higher-income families. The global great recession is only now very slowly abating for millions of America’s children and their families. At this difficult time in the history of our nation’s families and immediately after the 50th anniversary year of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty, it is particularly germane for the American Academy of Pediatrics, which is “dedicated to the health of all children,” to publish a research-supported technical report that examines the mediators associated with the long-recognized adverse effects of child poverty on children and their families. This technical report draws on research from a number of disciplines, including physiology, sociology, psychology, economics, and epidemiology, to describe the present state of knowledge regarding poverty’s negative impact on children’s health and development. Children inherit not only their parents’ genes but also the family ecology and its social milieu. Thus, parenting skills, housing, neighborhood, schools, and other factors (eg, medical care) all have complex relations to each other and influence how each child’s genetic canvas is expressed. Accompanying this technical report is a policy statement that describes specific actions that pediatricians and other child advocates can take to attenuate the negative effects of the mediators identified in this technical report and improve the well-being of our nation’s children and their families.

The purpose of this essay was to study some selected magazine articles by examining how the concept of child poverty is produced in the public debate, and to see if the definition of the term has changed over time. The theoretical approach on which this study is based has been used as a tool to provide better understanding on the subject. Furthermore, theories of consumer society, the "collateral damage" and the theory of welfare regimes have been used. In the previous research presented in the paper focuses on linking children and families living in precarious economic conditions, consumer standards and welfare systems that characterize society. This study has a qualitative approach as it attempts to capture and increase understanding of how the concept of child poverty can be understood from a Swedish context. The study is based on newspaper articles that are studied using a structural text analysis. Consequently, the analysis is divided into three themes, the first is the role of children in the family, and the second are political decisions and welfare role of the state and the third theme is the importance of the charity. Finally, the study's results indicate that the definition of child poverty has changed over time and also that the child has received more attention in the public debate. / Syftet med denna studie var att genom några valda tidningsartiklar undersöka hur begreppet barnfattigdom framställs i den offentliga debatten, samt att se ifall definitionen av begreppet har förändrats över tid. De teoretiska utgångspunkterna som denna studie bygger på har använts som verktyg för att ge ökad förståelse kring ämnet. Vidare har teorier om konsumtionssamhället, "collateral damage" samt teorin om välfärdsstatsregimer använts. I den tidigare forskningen som presenteras i uppsatsen ligger fokus på att länka samman barn och familjer som lever under knappa ekonomiska förhållanden med konsumtionsnormer och de välfärdssystem som präglar samhället.  Denna undersökning har kvalitativ ansats då den försöker fånga samt öka förståelsen kring hur begreppet barnfattigdom kan förstås utifrån en svensk kontext. Studiens datamaterial baseras på tidningsartiklar som undersökts med hjälp av en strukturell textanalys. Följaktligen är analysen uppdelad på tre teman, varav det första är barnens roll i familjen, de andra är politiska beslut och välfärdsstatens roll och det tredje välgörenhetsorganisationers betydelse. Avslutningsvis visar studiens resultat på att definitionen av barnfattigdom har förändrats över tid och även att barnet har fått ett större utrymme i den offentliga debatten.

In this essay we aimed to find how economic scarcity among children and youth presents itself in school, according to how school staff experience it. We have conducted interviews with student welfare staff to hear their experiences of this subject and how the schools try to help these pupils. We have used interpretative phenomenology as a base for our work. We have also used some of this traditions most important notions along with notions of Erving Goffman and Sara Ahmed during our processing off the material.  With help from these, we report our most interesting results. We have seen that a lack of resources exists among youth today and that everyone not has easy access to things many of us might take for granted. Also, we have seen examples of how these circumstances can be mentally perceived. In the interviews we have been given examples of how schools try to support these pupils through free activities and through advices about and contact with helping agents in society. Some quotes and information from our interviewees has inspired us to discuss how the attitude and the relation we have to the subject may influence our work with it and the results that we reach. / Målet var i denna uppsats att se hur ekonomisk utsatthet bland barn och ungdomar yttrar sig i skolan berättat utifrån skolpersonals upplevelser.  Vi har genomfört intervjuer med elevvårdspersonal för att få höra om deras erfarenheter av detta ämne och hur skolorna arbetar för att hjälpa dessa elever.  Som bas för arbetet har vi använt oss av tolkande fenomenologi.  Några av denna traditions centrala begrepp har vi också använt tillsammans med begrepp från Erving Goffman och Sara Ahmed i vår bearbetning av materialet.  Med viss hjälp av dessa redovisar vi de mest intressanta resultaten. Vi har funnit att brist på resurser existerar hos unga i skolorna vi har undersökt och att alla inte med lätthet kan få det som många tar för givet. Vidare har vi fått höra exempel på hur sådana förhållanden kan upplevas mentalt.  Det har i intervjuerna kommit fram olika exempel på hur skolor försöker ge stöd, genom aktiviteter och kontakt med hjälpinsatser. Med utgångspunkt i intervjuerna vill vi också diskutera inställningen och förhållandet till ämnet och hur det eventuellt kan påverka arbetet och resultatet.

The purpose of this study was to examine what previous research says about children’s experiences living in a low-income family. Its aim was to found out what children themselves say about their life living in a low-income family and what consequences, practical and emotional, low-income environment has on children. More specifically our aim was to find out how children themselves experienced their situation compared with their peer’s economical situation. We also wanted to see if there were any differences between what younger and older children say about their situation. Furthermore, we wanted to find out what meaning they added to “normality” and how they related to that phenomenon. The study was based on reviews of nine qualitative studies from Sweden, England, North Ireland and USA – all published between 1998 and 2011, focusing on children and their experiences of poverty. Five themes were identified that seemed to be important for children’s experiences: life circumstances, relationships, children as actors, school and future. The analysis was based on perspective of normality, focusing how impoverished life circumstances put children in a category which deviates from majority of society. Main results demonstrate that there are big differences in how younger and older children experience their situation where older children showed more discontent and the younger children seemed more satisfied about their situation. Overall the children appear as actors which have not given up hope to change and impact their situation – there was a major will to fit in and be like other peers. As a positive aspect the study shows that relationships seemed very important for these children where friends seemed to be a good support and the family ties were strong.

This study aims to explore the dynamics behind the emergence and expansion of working street children since 1990s in Turkey and Romania, in the context of New Poverty. Poverty is not a new concept, it is a dynamic process, accommodating to new circumstances, its scope shrinking from time to time, but surviving ages. Children, on the other hand, are among the groups that are first and foremost affected from the course of poverty. Nevertheless, working street children is a new notion different from traditional forms of child labour driven with distinct dynamics. In this study, it is claimed that poverty is transformed in the course of globalization process and neo-liberal paradigm. It is also argued that the way children are affected from poverty changed in this process, leading to emergence of working street children. The main discussion of the study is about the connection between working street children and the concept of New Poverty. Turkey and Romania are countries whose political, economic, social and cultural characteristics involve differences at the expense of similarities / however, working street children have been a common problem that both countries have faced at the same period. Employing comparative historical methodology, the main research question is developed as why working street children emerged in similar time periods in Turkey and Romania, which are two quite different countries. After an introductory chapter, Chapter II aims to provide a theoretical framework in which transformation of poverty in general and transformation of child poverty in relation to this process leading to emergence of working street children will be discussed. The third chapter focuses on Turkey and the fourth chapter is on Romania / in both chapters the dynamics leading to emergence of working street children, the scope and dimension of the issue is explored. The fifth chapter is devoted to the comparison of Turkey and Romania in terms of working street children in the context of New Poverty. The conclusion chapter discusses the findings of the study in both countries and tries to locate them into the theoretical framework.

Turkey experienced conflict-induced internal displacement due to the political and social unrest, in the late 1980s and during the 1990s, in East and South East Anatolia regions. The unplanned and involuntary nature of migration led internally displaced persons (IDPs), and in particular forced many Kurdish migrants&rsquo / children to poverty. Within this framework, this study aims to explore how internally displaced families&rsquo / high school attending children experience poverty in two cities, Izmir and Diyarbakir. In this thesis, it is argued that the motive behind child poverty among internally displaced children is an overlapping process of forced migration and consequences of neo-liberal economic policies in Turkey. Although high school education is not compulsory in Turkey, these displaced students prefer to attend high schools instead of working (or besides working) to contribute household budget despite the fact that they are from poor families. In particular, the research aims to understand internally displaced children&rsquo / s expectations from high school and the barriers to their education. Based on the assumption that education, in today&rsquo / s economic structure, is the only way for displaced children to achieve upward social mobility, the main research question of this study is that whether high school education would enable these children once caught in poverty in Diyarbakir and Izmir to achieve social upward mobility. All in all, but, it is claimed that although these children seem far from improving their lives through attending high school, social and economic inequalities from the beginning of their lives are barrier to their futher educational achievement and developing their human capital, and hence hinders their social upward mobility.

Child poverty in Sweden as a social phenomenon has been highlighted in various debates and in poverty research during the recent years. Children's economic vulnerability has gotten more place in research. An interest to highlight child poverty awakened and this study highlights child poverty through a resource perspective among children in preschools. This study aims to examine how preschool teachers perceive the child's assets to various resources as well as how preschool teachers perceive the impact of the preschool where they work on children's access to these resources. The study is qualitative and has used interviews as a tool. The respondents' answers were analyzed using previous research, and Pierre Bourdieu's theoretical concepts capital, field and habitus as analytical tools. Four preschool teachers in two different preschools in the area Norsborg were interviewed. The results show that preschool teachers perceive that there are differences between children in access to different resources. Some lacks in resource assets has proven to be clearer than others, such as children's clothing. However, the causes of children's access to various resources have been harder to understand. Another result of this study is that preschools in various ways contribute to children's different resource assets by example that all activities that kids do with preschools will be free for children and their parents. Another way for preschools that affect children's access to resources is the way preschools informs the children’s parents about different activities. But there are also differences between the preschools where one of the preschools in this study allows kids to bring their own toys from home, which can contribute to resource differences between the children in the preschool. / Barnfattigdom i Sverige som ett samhällsfenomen har på senare år lyfts fram i olika debatter. Inom fattigdomsforskning har studier om just barns ekonomiska utsatthet fått allt större plats. Utifrån detta väcktes ett intresse att belysa barnfattigdom bland barn på förskolor genom ett resursperspektiv. Denna studies syfte är att undersöka hur förskolepedagoger uppfattar barns tillgångar till olika resurser samt om förskolepedagogerna uppfattar om den förskola de arbetar på påverkar barns tillgång till dessa resurser. Studien har använt sig av kvalitativa intervjuer där respondenternas svar har analyserats med hjälp av tidigare forskning och Pierre Bourdieus teoretiska begrepp fält, habitus och kapital som analysverktyg. Fyra förskolepedagoger på två olika förskolor i området Norsborg har intervjuats. Resultaten visar att förskolepedagogerna uppfattar att det finns skillnader mellan barn avseende tillgång till olika resurser. Några bestämda brister i resurstillgångar har visat sig vara tydligare än andra så som barns kläder. Däremot har det varit svårare att kartlägga orsakerna till barns olika tillgångar. Ett annat resultat av denna studie är att förskolorna på olika sätt bidrar till barns olika resurstillgångar genom exempelvis att alla aktiviteter som barnen gör med förskolorna är kostnadsfria för barn och deras föräldrar. Ett annat sätt för förskolorna att påverka barns tillgång till resurser är att förskolorna sprider information om olika fritidsaktiviter till barnens föräldrar. Men det finns även skillnader mellan förskolorna där en av förskolorna för denna studie tillåter barn att ta med egna leksaker hemifrån, vilket kan bidra till resursskillnader mellan barnen på förskolan.

The aim of this qualitative study was to examine and understand how teachers see and handle the signs of child poverty within a classroom context. The paper is based on an interview study involving 8 teachers in 2 Swedish schools for children between the ages of 6 to 12 years old. Poverty is a complex word and there are many definitions of it. What do teachers interpret as signs of child poverty in the school context? How do they act when they think it’s necessary to protect a child from being affected by it, and how can we understand their choice of action with the help of action theory? We discovered that the teachers notice different things as signs of child poverty, and they all react in both different and similar ways. But one thing do they have in common: They discuss neither the signs nor their actions with each other. They act mainly on basis of individual choices and opinions, even though they are a part of a larger context in the school organization.