Welcome to the Bitesize Lecture Hall...

Professor Paul Bywaters drops into the Bite-Sized Lecture hall to explain his latest research into the relationship between poverty and child abuse and neglect.

“The question of what causes child abuse and neglect and, in particular, the role that poverty has to play has long been debated. This article very briefly summarises some headline findings from a report which Guy Skinner and I have just written which reviews all the research on poverty, child abuse and neglect published between 2016 and 2021.

“There is a great deal of detail in the report. We found a much larger evidence base, 90 new studies over these past five years, which strongly confirms that poverty is a key contributory causal factor in child abuse and neglect.”

How does poverty cause CAN?

“OF COURSE, LIVING IN POVERTY DOESN’T MEAN YOU WANT ANY LESS FOR YOUR CHILDREN, NOR THAT YOU WILL HARM THEM, BUT IT DOES MAKE GOOD ENOUGH PARENTING MUCH HARDER.

“All parents need a basic infrastructure for family life: income, housing, employment rights, access to key services. When you don’t have these basics it forces you into impossible choices: heating vs eating; going out to work vs staying in to look after your children. The cost of living crisis has underlined the fact that, for large numbers of families, deep and persistent poverty and insecurity mean the essentials are out of reach.

“Living in poverty is also hugely stressful. It’s not just a background problem, it affects every minute of the day, every decision you make and that is hugely wearing on people’s mental health and their relationships. That increases the chances of people turning to drink, drugs and gambling to survive.

“POVERTY IS NOT A STANDALONE PROBLEM. IT’S CONNECTED TO MANY OTHER ASPECTS OF DAILY LIFE. FOR EXAMPLE, POVERTY INCREASES THE CHANCE OF DOMESTIC DISPUTES AND ABUSE OR POOR HEALTH.

“And if you do experience domestic violence or poor mental health that’s likely to make poverty worse. It’s a vicious circle. The interaction of poverty with age, gender, disability and ethnicity is another key issue for practice and policy.

“Austerity policies have meant poverty is much more widespread and deeper than in 2010. But the studies also found that, too often, children’s social care services don’t sufficiently engage with families around issues of poverty, debt and housing. It’s rarely seen as core business. This means that families’ often don’t feel understood, they don’t feel their needs are recognised. And that creates a mismatch between what services offer – with too much focus on investigation and parenting behaviour – and what families want, often very practical and material help.

“What can be done about it?

“Children’s social care services cannot solve poverty or the rampant inequality across the whole of society. Ensuring that all families have the basics they need to flourish is the government’s job. We saw the government do this in the pandemic. It’s a matter of political will. There doesn’t have to be a hostile environment for families in poverty.

“But local children’s social care services also have to change their focus and what they offer to families. There needs to be much more understanding that money and housing affect every aspect of families’ functioning. Children’s services have to join strategically with other agencies to find real and creative ways of helping families with the basics. The fact that children’s social care has been starved of funds for a decade and more makes all this harder but it’s not only about money, it’s also about priorities, about responding to what families need

“Currently more and more is being spent on looked after children and young people, and less on prevention.

“This recent research strongly underlines the need for a reset.”

Visit research.hud.ac.uk to read The Relationship Between Poverty and Child Abuse and Neglect: New Evidence in full.

By Paul Bywater