Poverty in relation to Child Welfare Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Poverty in relation to Child Welfare - Essay Example ldren provided clear resolutions to provide public assistance through financial aid for various individuals and families requiring the support in identified needs. The impetus of federal and state legislators to design social welfare programs stem from the factors contributing to poverty in the United States. Poverty has always been considered a social dilemma afflicting people from diverse backgrounds. It has always been an intriguing and challenging concern due to the multitude of factors that interplay and contribute to its existence. People could be misguided that poverty does not exist in a progressively developed country such as the United States. However, this social stigma pervades people from the lowest income levels despite the economic condition of the country they reside. In this regard, in view of the contention that â€Å"poverty is one of the major risk factors of child abuse and neglect†, the essay aims to provide a brief summary of the history of social welfare programs developed to address the issue of poverty. Likewise, the discourse would seek to identify, from among the proffered programs, the most effective one in alleviating poverty and improving children’s welfare. Poverty is generally defined as â€Å"the state of living in a family with income below the federally defined poverty line† (About.com: Economics, 2010, par. 1). The U.S. Census Bureau (2010) defines poverty, to wit: â€Å"Following the Office of Management and Budgets (OMB) Statistical Policy Directive 14, the Census Bureau uses a set of money income thresholds that vary by family size and composition to determine who is in poverty.   If a family’s total income is less than the family’s threshold, then that family and every individual in it is considered in poverty.   The official poverty thresholds do not vary geographically, but they are updated for inflation using Consumer Price Index (CPI-U).   The official poverty definition uses money income before taxes and does not