Recent social policy discourses in Aotearoa New Zealand focus on vulnerable children's well-being and the detrimental, long-term and costly impacts of child poverty. The discourse pervading much of the policy labels children and young people as "vulnerable" or "at risk" or "in crisis", a view, which we argue, is both…

In September 2000, building upon a decade of major United Nations conferences and summits, world leaders came together at United Nations Headquarters in New York to adopt the United Nations Millennium Declaration, committing their nations to a new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty and setting out a series of time-bound targets--with a…

Human Capital development through education is a long time investment made by the state to enhance the well being of her citizenry. By investing in education, well educated individuals bring to bear their talents, knowledge, skills and experiences as they function in the various sectors of the economy. Human Capital development is therefore a…

Despite more than 40 years of legislation to improve the outcomes of children and youth with disabilities and those growing up in poverty, vast numbers of adults with severe disabilities are unemployed or underemployed and living in poverty. This article suggests that one of the factors maintaining the problem is our failure to acknowledge the…

New Hope, an employment-based poverty-reduction intervention for adults evaluated in a random-assignment experimental design, had positive impacts on children's achievement and social behavior two and five years after random assignment. The question addressed in this paper was the following: Did the positive effects of New Hope on younger children…

The Inquiry into the Future for Lifelong Learning proposes a strategy for lifelong learning for the next quarter-century. In this article, four of the Inquiry's commissioners--Leisha Fullick, John Field, Teresa Rees and Helen Gilchrist--reflect on some of the report's key themes. Fullick discusses the role of "local responsiveness" in…

This article discusses the theoretical underpinnings of different types of income poverty measures--absolute, relative, and a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) "quasi-relative" one--and empirically assesses them by tracking their performance over time and across demographic groups. Part of the assessment involves comparing these measures to…

This document continues a series of statistical reports from the National Center for Children in Poverty about young child poverty in the United States. The highlights of this update include the current profile of extremely poor, poor, and near poor population of young children; an examination of the changing association between higher education…

As part of a commitment to eliminate child poverty, the British government has established Sure Start programs across the country. Sure Start programs are very similar to U.S. Early Head Start initiatives; their stated aim is to improve the health and well-being of disadvantaged families and children before and from birth. The article describes…

This booklet provides data on a series of related measures of child and family well-being in Indiana, following national guidelines established by the Kids Count project to help Americans better understand the problems faced by children and adolescents and to foster greater commitment to improving outcomes for vulnerable children and their…

This Kids Count report is the second in a series examining statewide trends in the well-being of Indiana's children. After an introduction and an explanation of the statistics, sections of the statistical report contain data on several indicators of well-being: (1) Indiana's children and their families, including population estimates, ethnicity,…

This Kids Count report is the third in a series examining statewide trends in the well-being of Indiana's children. The report combines statistics of special concern in Indiana with 10 national Kids Count well-being indicators: (1) percent low birthweight; (2) infant mortality rate; (3) child death rate; (4) birth rate to unmarried teens ages 15…