L-R: Rohan Feegrade Lutheran Care, Jenny Hall Uniting SA, Ross Womersley South Australian Council of Social Service, Evelyn O’Loughlin Vinnies SA, Aradia Sayner, Women in Poverty Network, Dr Harry Randhawa Uniting Country SA, Terese Edwards, Single Mother Families Australia, Helen Connolly Commissioner for Children and Young People SA, Sue Raw, Baptist Care SA.
One in six South Australian children live in poverty. Numbering 64,000, that’s 11,000 more people than it takes to fill the Adelaide Oval. Baptist Care SA believes that for any child to be living in poverty in SA is indefensible and must be addressed.
Through its community services, Baptist Care SA meets directly with parents and children who are experiencing, or at risk of, poverty. These children don’t have enough food— they miss breakfast, go to school without lunch, go without medical care and medications, and don’t get to do the kinds of activities other kids do, such as joining sporting teams and going on school excursions.
On 17 October, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, I joined other not-for-profit CEOs at the Adelaide Oval to add Baptist Care SA’s voice to the combined community sector’s call to take action to end child poverty.
Individual CEOs spoke about their common experiences of working in a sector where 16.6% of all South Australian children live below the poverty line. As a group, we expressed our concern that children experiencing poverty today are at risk of becoming trapped in a cycle of continued poverty; with exposure to childhood poverty proving a greater risk of poverty in adulthood.
With the cost of living proving a common thread, the CEOs spoke about stressors such as the costs of housing, energy, petrol and food all contributing to increasing need for vital community services.
With Baptist Care SA’s Food Hub experiencing unprecedented demand, I spoke about the increasing number of families seeking emergency food relief and the constant demand to have enough food on hand to support the growing number of people in immediate need. Many of those in need are working families with at least one person in paid work, which proves that employment is no longer an effective insulator against poverty.
As a group, we joined to increase the community’s understanding of poverty and call on the South Australian Government to take action to end poverty, now.
Words by
Sue Raw
CEO, Baptist Care SA
