Applications for Buttle UK's Chances for Children
grants come from a unique network of frontline support workers who are
interacting with the most vulnerable children and young people across the UK on
a daily basis.
These individuals include family support workers,
community project workers, social workers, health visitors, school careers
advisors, probation officers, advocacy/advisors, youth workers, community
nurses, tutors and head teachers. They
work for organisations such as local authorities / councils, charities, housing
associations, advice services, local healthcare trust partnerships, primary and
secondary schools and children’s centres.
Buttle UK surveyed support workers to find out about
their current experiences of working with children in poverty. While all these
individuals are used to seeing child poverty on a daily basis, their feedback
illustrates the extent of some of the challenges that families are currently
facing.
They had over 1,200 responses to their quantitative
survey questions. This report explores the survey results on the extent to
which children affected by poverty experience mental health issues, and the
circumstances that contribute to this.
Results highlight:
·
65% report that poverty has a high
negative impact on children’s mental health.
·
60% report that poverty has a high
negative impact on children’s self-esteem.
·
Support workers reported the
following specific areas as having a large negative impact on children’s mental
health:
·
58% - family financial pressure
·
54% - not enough sleep
·
53% - social isolation
·
45% - bullying
·
42% - not enough exercise
·
42% - screen time
Supporter workers providing qualitative feedback
reported a range of other issues affecting children’s mental health:
·
29% noted the impact of difficulties
in family relationships. Of these:
·
41% referred to parenting / the
parent-child relationship
·
51% referred to the relationship
between parents (i.e., couple relationships)
·
17% referred to sibling relationships
·
10% referred to the extended family
·
15% observed the impact of parent
mental health problems
·
13% noted exposure to / witnessing
drug and alcohol abuse and crime
·
9% reported the impact that being a
young carer can have
·
11% highlighted that children’s mental
health can suffer when there are issues around school and education.
·
11% drew attention to the
relationship they see between housing issues, of which 38% referred to
overcrowding in particular.
·
9% reported that problems with peer
relationships and 11% noted that they commonly see social media use among
children impacting mental health.
Source: Buttle
UK