Gestor bibliográfico Crisis y Salud

This report shines a light on the experience of families living in poverty and sets out what children have told us living in poverty is like. Too often the burden of getting by on a low income is putting enormous emotional strain on parents and children. Right now, children are missing out on the things they need to have a fulfilling childhood, such as having access to the internet at home or having friends round for tea. Crucially, they’re also missing out on daily essentials, such as healthy food, warm clothes in winter and new shoes when they need them. It shouldn’t happen here in the UK in 2012. Even in tough times there are choices to be made about how government money is spent or how we as individuals decide to respond to difficult circumstances. Last year, Save the Children successfully campaigned for extra childcare support so mums and dads can afford to go out to work and we’re encouraging the adoption of the living wage by employers. We’re rolling out our ground-breaking Families and Schools Together (FAST) programme to more than 4,000 schoolchildren across the UK this year, helping to give children in low-income areas the best start at school. We’re providing beds, cookers, cots, toys and other essential household items through our Eat, Sleep, Learn, Play! (ESLP!) programme to 3,000 low-income families this year. We want to go even further by developing new early intervention programmes and pushing the government to do more to help families in poverty. We need to make sure that no one gives up on the fight to end child poverty. If we fail to act now, we risk betraying the dreams and talents of an entire generation. But, together, we can turn this around. We must make sure action is taken so that no child misses out on the things they need for a happy and decent childhood, and that steps are taken, such as supporting parents into secure and well-paid jobs, to break the vicious cycle that keeps families poor – generation after generation