Written by: HHLaw (View All Posts
) Published: February 3, 2020
Categorized: Children's Issues.
Tags: Children's Issues.
Certain policies that have been suggested by anti-poverty organizations may go a long way to ending child poverty in single-parent households in British Columbia. Children not having their needs met is one of the most challenging of children’s issues in British Columbia today. Even though just 20% of kids are living in single-parent homes in the province, more than half of them are living at or below the poverty line.
Most of those homes — 85% in fact — have a female as head of the household. There are definitive reasons why they and their children are living in poverty: most are on welfare or receive disability payments. And nearly two-thirds of employees who earn a minimum wage in British Columbia are women — many of whom are the only breadwinners for their children.
Suggested policy changes include those on issues of the minimum wage, increasing disability pension and welfare rates, changing the rules to qualify for disability payments, expanding education choices for single parents, student debt forgiveness for single parents, parental leave reforms, housing, and childcare among others. Suggestions also include the enforcement of child support payments and increased education and preventative measures regarding domestic violence. Anti-poverty organizations believe that government policies as they are now actually add to single-mom poverty.
A British Columbia lawyer is an advocate for the best interests of children. He or she may be able to help a client when it comes to important children’s issues that may affect their well-being. These could include child support and child custody, which may play a role in social constructs like child poverty.
