Session: (WITHDRAWN) Multidimensional Child Poverty and Deprivation Globally (Society for Social Work and Research 25th Annual Conference - Social Work Science for Social Change)

Nearly 385 million children live in extreme poverty globally at rates higher than those among adults. Recent evidence points to the potential of multifaceted interventions in alleviating deep poverty, but there has been little rigorous evaluation on the effectiveness of such approach in alleviating poverty among children. Furthermore, all existing evidence is either compartmentalized (i.e., it examines sector-specific child outcomes, such as, for example, education, health), or it analyzes child poverty measured solely in terms of household's monetary deprivation. Defining child poverty solely in terms of household's monetary deprivation poses challenges for the existing body of evidence for the following reasons. First, it has been documented that individuals who are income poor differ from individuals who are poor on multiple dimensions. Therefore, comprehensive understanding of poverty calls for use of multidimensional poverty measures. Second, a growing body of evidence suggests that children experience poverty differently from adults; and, therefore, using household poverty to measure child well-being does not render an accurate picture of child poverty and deprivation. The proposed symposium focuses on multidimensional measures of child poverty and deprivation, discusses effect of different program, policies, and systems on multidimensional child deprivation, and aims to contribute to a broader discussion on importance of adapting a comprehensive view of child deprivation not only by researchers but also by policy makers who aim at reducing child poverty. Symposium presenters will examine effect of cash transfers (policy), child savings accounts (program), and neighborhoods (system) on multidimensional child deprivation. Geographically, presentations cover Uganda, China, and United States.