Ending child poverty

What a Concept! Department

Did you know that Great Britain has an official policy of ending child poverty by 2020? This was adopted seven years ago by the Tony Blair government and has already led to a drop of 17% in child poverty. That was less than their target of 25% -- but the government has vowed to try harder.
Advocates say that the main benefit of this policy is that it “focuses the minds of the politicians” on this problem, which, as you know, is at the root of a lot of the other problems children face, in health, school success, mental health, etc. Some of the things the Brits are doing to end child poverty are:
· a system of subsidies to low-wage earners
· continuing increases in the minimum wage so it keeps up with inflation (like the measure Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed this year)
· a 10-year national child care strategy to help parents access affordable, high-quality child care (so they can hold down a job)
· programs for healthy development of preschoolers, teens, and young adults.
Could we adopt a policy like this here? Probably depends on how hard we push………..
Jean
(article on this at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/
2006/04/02/AR2006040201091.html)