This paper explores the three-way relationship between poverty, the physical surroundings and children’s exposure to maltreatment, focusing primarily on the low income countries of the global South and discussing the implications for practice. The links between poverty and maltreatment have been widely acknowledged within the academic literature and in the child protection frameworks of agencies and organizations. Yet even so, this relationship is often something that is alluded to within the organizations rather than confronted head on. It can cause uneasiness, suggesting, as it does, some personal deficiency or deviance among the poor – not to mention the implications that programming might have to deal with the larger context of poverty. Attempts to address child protection are unlikely to be effective without acknowledging and attempting to understand this critical relationship.

Title: Environments of Poverty and What They Mean for Child Protection

Author(s): Sheridan Bartlett

Publication year: 2009

Publisher: Save the Children, Sweden