Elevating Children
Introduction
When examining children in the United States, they are often considered to be the foundation of the country’s future. Whether or not a nation grows and prospers will largely depend on the health and education of its citizens, particularly its children. As a result, it is the responsibility of adults to ensure that children are given the opportunity to obtain a healthy development and opportunities that will allow them to succeed. Unfortunately, children are not always afforded these opportunities, as many children face challenges such as poverty, child maltreatment, lack of health insurance, lack of appropriate education, and involvement in the juvenile justice system. In addition, due their age and status in society, they often lack the knowledge or opportunity to advocate for themselves and their needs, which puts them at a further disadvantage during the most important development periods of their lives. Due to the importance of children and awareness of the various challenges they face, it has become increasingly important to advocate for children and work to elevate their status in society, so that they can advocate for themselves.
Challenges Facing American Children
Poverty
In order to achieve a healthy development, children must be provided with adequate resources and a nurturing environment. Unfortunately, an alarming number of children in the United States have been living in poverty. According to the National Center for Children in Poverty (2014), approximately 22% or 16 million children throughout the country live in families below the poverty line. In addition, research has shown that in the United States, one in five children has a chance of being born into poverty (National Center for Children in Poverty, 2014). The country’s child poverty rates become increasingly alarming when considering that even as the world’s largest economy, the United States has the second highest rate of relative child poverty among industrialized nations (National Center for Children in Poverty, 2014).
Child Maltreatment
Although children are born with a limited range of abilities, they undergo tremendous development during childhood as their brains and bodies rapidly mature. Due to the significant amount of development that occurs, it is important to provide children with a safe and nurturing environment that gives them the opportunity to reach their potential. Unfortunately, not all children are provided with this opportunity, as a significant number of children have been identified as victims of various forms of child maltreatment, such as physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, and neglect, which has significant effects on their development and ability to function. When examining statistics, research has revealed that approximately 683,000 children in the United States were recently identified as victims of maltreatment, which reflects a victimization rate of 9.2 per 1,000 children in the population (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2017).
Health
In order to survive and thrive, all children need access to affordable and comprehensive health coverage that is easy to obtain and retain. Health insurance is necessary for children’s healthy development, as unmet physical health and mental health needs can result in children falling behind developmentally and having trouble catching up physically, emotionally, socially, and academically. In recent years, children’s access to health insurance has been improved by Affordable Care Act (ACA), which has led approximately 95% of children in the United States having health insurance (Children’s Defense Fund, 2015). However, some children, especially minority children, still face barriers and lack access to health insurance due to their parent’s employment status and/or their immigration status (Children’s Defense Fund, 2015). In addition to the importance of health insurance for children, access to health insurance for parents is also important, as lack of health insurance for mothers could lead to prenatal consequences for children. For example, recent research has revealed that 19.8% of uninsured women give birth before 37 full weeks of gestation, placing their babies at risk of complications (March of Dimes, 2014).
Educational Disparities
For many families, education provides the best chance for escaping the grasp of poverty and creating more opportunities for themselves. By pursing an education, children can begin to work towards acquiring the knowledge and capital they need to reach their potential and support themselves and their families in the future. Unfortunately, in the United States, some children do not get the opportunity to obtain an education, as unequal educational opportunities continue to persist throughout the country. For example, statistics suggest that persistent disparities in school funding, quality of education, and school discipline practices have led to poor academic achievement among a significant portion of the country’s students, especially among poor and minority children who tend to fare far worse in the educational system than their counterparts (Children’s Defense Fund, 2015).
Juvenile Justice System
Although entering the juvenile justice system is often viewed as a punishment for delinquent children, it can be viewed in a positive light, as it is also often identified as one of the last chances to rehabilitate delinquent children and divert them from entering the criminal justice system as adults. However, the juvenile justice system does not always serve to rehabilitate children, as evident by the increased risk of abuse and suicidal ideation that children face when they enter the system, and challenges children face when exiting the system, such as graduating from school, finding stable housing, and maintaining their physical and mental health.
Interventions to Elevate Children’s Status
Due to the importance of children and increasing awareness of the various challenges they face, it has become increasingly important to advocate for children and work to elevate their status in society, so that their challenges can be recognized. When considering specific ways in which society can elevate the status of children, some options may include educating parents, educating the general public, giving children a platform, and addressing children’s problems.
Educating Parents
Many of the problems that children in today’s society face are generational and have been in the family for years. Often, children face the same traumatic experiences and barriers that their parents and grandparents once faced. In many cases, individuals do not know how to address their problems and rely on solutions previously utilized by family members. However, this becomes problematic, when solutions are unsuccessful, as they allow the problem to persist and create cycles of trauma and adversity. As a result, it is important for us, as a society, to educate parents on the impact of trauma; the importance of a healthy development; the value of an education; and the various resources available in their community, such as childcare, headstart programs, financial assistance, emergency housing services, and counseling services. It is also important to work with parents to acknowledge and confront generational problems and the maladaptive behaviors that have resulted, in an effort to break the cycle of trauma and adversity. By connecting parents to resources and working with them to break cycles of adversity and trauma, they can become empowered to elevate the status of their children.
Educating the Public
Raising public awareness to the challenges children face is another way to elevate the status of children in our society. Often, the challenges children face remain largely unnoticed by the general public, unless grave outcomes, such as when a child dies or a child commits a serious crime, garner media coverage. In addition, our status as one of the top industrialized nations in the world has blinded many people to the problems of the country, who still believe that these are problems of less industrialized countries. As a result, it is our responsibility as a society to raise awareness to the challenges that children face, such as poverty, various forms of maltreatment, poor health, inadequate schools, and criminalized behavior of children. This can be done through campaigns, such as marathons, designated awareness months, or the creation of organizations that work with children facing these challenges and call on volunteers from the local community. In addition, further awareness can be raised through civic action, such as protest, that speak up against injustices, such as inadequate schools that fail to prepare students, unlawful police practices against children, and lack of appropriate resources in the local community. Lastly, lobbying to local government representatives is another way to raise aware, as it can influence law makers to focus on areas that are important to local community members.
Give Children a Platform
When assessing the public perception of children, a popular belief across the country is that children do not have a clear understanding of their challenges and needs. As a result, adults are often tasked with making decisions in the best interest of the children. However, recently new approaches, such the shared core practice model (CPM), are working to better engage parents and children in need of support and make them part of the intervention process. The CPM approach is useful because it allows the family and community members to work with families as a team to identify strengths, areas of concern, needs, and interventions. Furthermore, it acknowledges that children have status and a voice, and gives them the opportunity to provide input regarding their current situation and future.
Addressing Children’s Problems
When examining the challenges faced by children throughout the country, the persistence and pervasiveness of these challenges hints that society has not historically acknowledged the importance of this population and the development that occurs during childhood. As a result, in order to elevate children’s status in society it is important to address these problems by advocating for the expansion of strong community-based human services agencies for families that are facing poverty and health crisis; spreading awareness to prevent child maltreatment and collaborating with the community to identify maltreated children; advocating for early education programs, IEP services for children with disabilities, and overall quality education for children; and advocating for a fair juvenile justice system that focuses on rehabilitation and does not disproportionate target minority children.
Conclusion
Although children in the United States face numerous challenges, in the form of poverty, maltreatment, poor health, inadequate education, and early involve in the juvenile justice system, and are further disadvantaged by their status in society, there is still hope for this population. As a society, we can elevate the status of children by educating parents on the importance of development during this period and the general public on the challenges that children face. In addition, addressing this problem displays the importance of children and can further elevate their status.