The Negative Effects Of Fighting Poverty In Social Work

Fighting poverty is obviously a very important part of the social work profession. The first line of the National Association of Social Workers’ Code of Ethics’ preamble reads “The primary mission of the social work profession is to enhance human well-being…with particular attention to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty (“Code of Ethics,” 2008). Thus many of a social worker’s effort is directed at fighting poverty. However more effort is needed in fighting poverty in children as it effects health, school achievement, and may cause behavioral problems (Lefmann & Combs-Orme, 2014). These consequences from poverty have the potential to effect a child for a lifetime and place a high burden …show more content…
Poor parenting obvious can have many negative and long lasting effects on children in those situations. However even more concerning is the fact that poverty has been linked to child maltreatment. In Hearn Escaravage’s study (2014) she found that the level of poverty may be more strongly associated factor with child maltreatment than even the mental health of the parent or their substance use. This should make the issue of child poverty even more concerning to social …show more content…
The main way is to try to get the family out of poverty. This is important because children who grow up in poverty are more likely to be in poverty as adults (Moore et al., 2009). Stopping the cycle is a crucial part of preventing poverty. This can be done in many ways. One particularly successful method has been welfare to work initiatives have been very successful in the past (Moore et al., 2009). These programs incentivize finding work by only continuing welfare only if the individual is working. The more people working, the less poverty will exist, including child