A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF CHILD POVERTY REDUCTION ADVOCACY

Abstract

<p>In recent years child poverty has become a concern among poverty reduction advocates and social policy actors. This is evident in advocacy efforts of the National Campaign against Child Poverty (Campaign 2000), and the policies embedded within the National Children’s Agenda and the Ontario Government’s Child Poverty Reduction Strategy. In this current era of social policy, advocacy groups have changed the shape of their poverty reduction arguments to suit the current third way social policy approach (Dobrowosky and Jenson, 2004). In Hamilton a local multi-sector poverty reduction advocacy group formed in 2006, the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction (HRPR). Initially, this group chose to advocate for poverty reduction through a child centred framework. This research project examines what contributes to this social policy phenomenon as well as the potential consequences of a child focused policy response.</p> <p>The local advocacy effort of the HRPR to reduce poverty mirrors this larger trend in social policy. In the following chapters I will examine whether and how the HRPR is illustrative of this larger trend and the strengths and weakness of this advocacy approach. As well, I will explore what the implications are for women and other marginalized groups who live in poverty when social policies or programs focus solely on child poverty reduction.</p>