Child Poverty And The Canadian Welfare State

In 2005, 1.2 million children in Canada were living below the poverty level. This represents a 20 percent increase since 1989, the year that the federal government unanimously passed a resolution to eliminate child poverty by 2000. To understand the state of children's welfare, Child Poverty and the Canadian Welfare State reviews Canadian social policy reform, and discovers that the welfare of poor children is a casualty of the war on the welfare state launched by opposing political ideologies. This study surveys the shift from entitlement to charity from the perspective of social policy reform.

This report examines the extent of child poverty in Canada and its consequences for children. It suggests that poverty contributes to the disintegration or dysfunction of some families which may result in family violence, abuse or neglect.

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the federal government's program designed to address child poverty after the commitment made by the Canadian parliament, in 1989, to eradicate child poverty by the year 2000. Specifically, the Child Tax Benefit (CTB), the targeted children's poverty program introduced by the federal government in 1993, is analysed in relation to whether it reduced, made no difference, or increased the level and depth of child poverty in Canada. To examine if there were significant correlational effects among the three years (1990, 1993, 1997) of data used in this study a Structural Equation Model was developed. Relationships of control (or modifying) variables such as total income, wages and salaries, and income after tax, were found to be appropriate predictors when dealing with child poverty. It was also found that each year could be treated/examined separately and that there was very little dependence between years. The results provide sufficient support to sustain that the effects of the program CTB, on child poverty are negligible. The cutbacks to social assistance through claw backs and de-indexing and overall reduction on expenditures for social programs delivered through the welfare state had deleterious consequences for families and children during the time periods analysed in this study.

This is a fascinating national study of transforming patterns of dependent child life from colonial times to mid-twentieth century.

What are the major issues confronting social policy-makers today? What theoretical perspectives shape our thinking about the causes of social problems and how we should respond? What can we do to influence decision makers about which policy choice to make? In this completely revised and updated edition of "Canadian Social Policy," a new generation of social policy analysts discusses these important questions. Readers who are interested in discovering the current policy debates, and who want to understand the policy-making process at various levels of government as well as how they can influence the process and assess whether policies are working, will find this book invaluable.