New insights and information about issues of poverty

My conversation partner for this section of my blog posts is going to be Chris Bayes who is an ECE professional in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Chris teaches four year olds in the Foundation Class at Diocesan School for Girls. She has worked for the Ministry of Education as a Senior Advisor and as a Facilitator for Professional Learning.

We are conversing via email. I emailed Chris my questions about issues of poverty in her country and she thought they would be better answered by one of her colleagues who specializes in the area of poverty and I am still awaiting her response.

In the meantime I will discuss some information and new insights that I have gained about poverty in New Zealand and how it might affect young children and their families. The National Children’s Nutrition Survey said that “1 in 5 families studied said they could only sometimes afford to eat properly and that their food sometimes ran out because of lack of money.” (National Children’s Nutrition Survey, 2002)

One of the major concerns for children and families in poverty in New Zealand is the cost of living is so high that after housing is paid for there is little left for day to day expenses like heat, electricity, food, clothing, and other essential items required to live our day to day lives. The child poverty monitor lists this condition of poverty as material hardship. This led me to explore material hardship a little further in the area where I live and I realized this a real thing here as well. Once people find housing it is very difficult to keep it due to the high cost and the need for other essential living expenses. (Child Poverty Monitor, 2015) (sharinghouse.org)

References:

Internet Site : National Children’s Nutrition Survey (2002) http://www.moh.govt.nz/notebook/nbbooks.nsf/0/658d849a2bac7421cc256dd9006cc7ec/$FILE/nzfoodnzchildren.pdf

Internet Site: Child Poverty Monitor (2015) http://www.nzchildren.co.nz/