Children and the Global Economic Crisis: European Perspectives
MONDAY 10 NOVEMBER 2014
Investing in Children CIC
Introduction.
Investing in Children CIC is not a research organisation. Our purpose is the promotion of the human rights of children and young people. Most of our time is spent supporting children and young people to influence the world around them, and working with agencies to support them to enter into purposeful dialogue with their young service users. The observations below are based upon conversations between Investing in Children staff and some of the children and young people we work with.
Most of the groups we work with are focused on achieving change locally, where they live their lives. And many of them, particularly in the northeast where we have been active for longest, come from marginalised communities. Their comments, reported below, relate to how the results of the economic crisis have been experienced within their ‘lived lives’. We also provide an example of how some young people have become active within their communities, in discussing and designing appropriate responses to the economic situation. (Johnson 2014)
Conversations with young people.
Although the young people showed very little knowledge or awareness of the existence of a global financial crisis, many were acutely aware of the effect of dwindling resources,both on their families and their communities:
- The Shrinking State. Some young people commented upon the reduction in the availability of services that had previously been present in their communities. Some of these had been provided directly by the local authority or the NHS, and others by voluntary organisations, who were often reliant upon statutory agency funding.
Young people have describedliving in communities with little or no specific provision for them, outside of school hours. Statutory and voluntary youth services are in general decline, and spaces like public libraries increasingly operate limited opening hours. Admission charges to sports and leisure centres are often beyond their means. The effect of this varies. For example, in ex-mining areas, where the majority of the population live in small settlements (ex-pit villages), unreliable and expensive public transport exacerbates the problem.
Young people experiencing mental health problems have talked about the long waiting times in some areas, to access support and treatment. Young carers have spoken about the cuts to their support group. Young people living in supported accommodation have reported poor and ineffective levels of assistance.
- Growing inequality. Some young people in the secondary school system have described their perception of being treated differently be some teachers, who, they feel, favour students from more affluent neighbourhoods. One young person remarked that some teachers ‘see young people in stereotypes’. They observe that, in a crowded classroom, better-resourced students are often seen to be more capable, and paradoxically attract more teacher attention than students who may need additional support to succeed.
Although this is not new – we have heard children and young people from marginalised communities make such comments before- it seems to becoming more widespread. This may be a consequence of the accelerated academisation programme, which has allowed some schools to opt out of the broader debate about community wellbeing, and adopt a much more limited agenda, focused on narrowly defined academic achievement.
- Leaving school.Young people attempting to move from school to the world of work have described how the support and advice that had been available to previous generations is now much harder to access. There are limited employment opportunities and appropriate training is harder to access without support. The Education Maintenance Allowance is much missed.
Young people who had been identified as NEET (not in employment, education or training) have commented on the futility of being pressurised to sign up for training courses which occupy their time, but do not improve their employment prospects.
Where families are relying on benefits, young people have described the insecurity and tensions created by the fear of sanctions. Young people talk of the social security system becoming unpredictable, and where there is more than one family member in receipt of unemployment benefit, the possibility of having that benefit suspended can cause family conflict. There appears to be an increase in ‘couch-surfing’, which may be a response to the rising tension at home.
We are seeing young people coming along to Investing in Children sessions with younger siblings in tow, because they have caring responsibilities. Young people talk about parents working away from home, or having more than one part-time job.
Helpless victims or active citizens?
One of the things that make children and young people particularly vulnerable to the effects of the global economic crisis is the tendency to assume that they are unwitting and passive victims, and that protecting them from the ravages of austerity is the responsibility of the adult world. Whilst it is unarguable that they are not responsible for creating the crisis, they do have the right to participate in the ongoing debate about how the consequences of the crisis are managed.
In our experience, given the opportunity, children and young people can organise and take action that can amelioratesome of the consequences of austerity.
Children and young people as active community builders.
In 2012-13, Investing in Children worked with a large group of children and young people living in two adjacent deprived communities in the northeast.To start with, we created a number of adult-free spaces (which we call ‘Agenda Days’) for children and young people to come together to discussed their situation and develop their ideas about what action should be taken.
A number of issues were identified:
Things to do and places to go. Generally, youth provision was patchy and uncoordinated. In one community, the youth club had been closed, and the leisure centre was under threat. There was very little provision for the under-13 year olds. The newly-opened swimming pool in the nearby city was too expensive, and young people from the estates reported that they did not feel welcome.
Relationships with the police. In the community which had lost its youth provision, there was a feeling of unfairness about police intervention when groups of young people gathered on the street. On occasion, this had led to young people being arrested.
Safe access to open spaces.A number of outside play areas were poorly maintained. Increased volume of traffic due to the development of a local retail park had increased parental concerns about safety, and thus further reduced access for some children.
With support, the children and young people involved then entered into dialogue with a range of agencies, to attempt address their issues:
- In partnership with a local charity and the two existing community centres, and using the evidence collected during the agenda days, a successful community funding bid was made that now finances a centre-based youth work programme in one community centre, a junior youth club at the other, an extensive summer activity programme, and a detached youth work programme.
- The two local community centres have agreed to coordinate their activities so that sessions do not clash.
- After a serious of meetings, the local police showed considerable sympathy to the plight of the young people, who had little choice but to meet in the street. They accepted that there were occasions when the problem was not antisocial behaviour by the young people, but intolerant attitudes by some of the residents who were making the complaints. They adopted a more balanced approach, spending time as much time talking to the adults as the young people. Relationship between the young people and the police improved, and the level of complaint calls dropped dramatically.
- The police also established regular meetings with children and young people in the two communities, to better understand the challenges they faced. Amongst other things, this resulted in traffic calming measures being introduced. In areas and at times identified by young people.
- The young people met with local councillors and a successful bid was made to access funding from the Section 106 Developers Fund, to improve the outdoor play areas. (Johnson 2014)
Summary
The effects of austerity and particularly of cuts in local government spending, are felt more acutely in communities like the two described above, because they were already under-resourced to start with. The process described above required persistence and patience, as some of the adults who had become accustomed to making decisions on behalf of the community came to terms with the legitimacy of the young people’s case to be treated as participants, but once this was achieved, progress on their agenda became possible.
The process took two years. Shifting entrenched attitudes takes time.
The estates are now more equal communities, where resources are better distributed between generations, and children and young people feel more respected.(Davis et al 2014)
Conclusions
Whilst the structural causes of the global financial crisis require political action at a national and international level, the impact of the crisis is experienced by children and young people where they lead their lives. As the example above demonstrates, recognising children and young people as active contributors to dialogue and action can go some way to ensure that limited resources can be used more equitably and to better effect.
Liam Cairns
November 2014
References
Davis J, Hill L, Tisdall K, Cairns L and McCausland S (2014) Social Justice, the Common Weal and Children and Young People in Scotland.Jimmy Reid Foundation.
Johnson R (2014) ,Rights-based approach to Communities. Durham. Investing in Children Archive
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