Poverty And Childhood Development

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Poverty & Childhood Development in the United States Poverty is one of the nation’s leading social issues which continues to affect all aspects of family life, especially child development. The dictionary defines poverty as “the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor”. On the other hand, Child development refers to the ordered development of dependent sensory motor skills, cognitive-language, and social-emotional functioning which depend heavily on a child’s physical well-being (Engle & Black, 2008). Now that our focus is clear, let’s look at the data. In 2016, the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) annual salary for a family of four was $24,300 (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services,…show more content…
Applying the Community as a Social System approach is beneficial because it focuses on all subsystems as well as their influence within a community while acknowledging the reciprocal influences and relationship between local and larger environmental systems (Shiver, 2014, p. 266). I chose the Community as a Social System approach because childhood development issues not only effect the local community but are only the beginning of affecting society on a larger scale as those children begin to age and struggle to become productive members of…show more content…
This is especially true for urban areas where there is higher racial and ethnic diversity within the population. As a social worker, this is possible by engaging with private-not-for-profit organizations such as YMCA or Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America to maintain a presence in the communities which need them most. It would be beneficial to encourage community members to become involved through volunteering at such programs. It would help establish and strengthen communities’ ties. It would also benefit the community to be able to provide resources such as Head Start so that pre-school aged children could access early education, nutritional education, and positive parental services that work to build up children and families living in poverty. The earlier children access interventions they increase the likelihood of obtaining a positive childhood development and educational

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