Food and Shelter

Not surprisingly the approach of Christmas gets many of us contemplating the plight of people less fortunate than ourselves. Food and shelter are two of the most basic of needs and it should be of concern to us all that the continuing economic situation is leading to an increase in people's difficulty in obtaining both.

In a nation brought up under the auspices of a welfare system introduced after the Second World War and designed to banish the 5 evils famously outlined by Beveridge in his 1942 report, I think it takes some getting used to. After all we all know that the welfare bill has grown exponentially and certain newspapers continually tell us that there are apparently many millions of people living quite well on state benefits. 

The coalition government endlessly state that the system has become unaffordable at present levels of entitlement and 'reforms' have begun. As a result the police are already reporting changes in shoplifting patterns. For years the main driver for shop theft has been the need for people to fund illicit drug dependency with high value items typically being stolen in order to sell for cash. Now however there is increasing evidence of essential food items being stolen such as baby milk.

I well remember a similar situation during the miners strike in 1984 when theft of coal became significant in order for many striking families to keep warm. People placed under extreme pressure will feel obliged to commit acquisitive crime in order to provide either for themselves or their families. Not all of course, but each person's situation will be different and as during the miners strike, thankfully communities will often rally round and try and provide food and shelter. It's no accident that food banks have sprung up all over the country in recent time and use of them has seen a dramatic rise.

The recent BBC 1 Panorama programme on the increase of homelessness served to reinforce the anecdotal evidence from food banks that quite ordinary people are increasingly coming under extreme economic stress. Working families on low wages are finding it hard to feed, heat and clothe everyone, parents are often missing meals and feel ashamed at having to turn to charity in the form of food handouts. But this is becoming the grim reality for many people on low incomes caught up in the economic downturn and having to cope with that meagre income reducing, as costs continue to rise inexorably.

As the Panorama programme highlighted in graphic detail, eviction and homelessness can befall any of us as a result of a series of tragic, unfortunate or unforeseen events. Ok poor judgement and unwise decisions can play a part too, but increasingly homelessness is going to affect more 'ordinary' people as businesses go bust, mortgages are foreclosed and illness or tragic accidents strike. It's usually the combination of factors that serve to compound a person's situation such as negative equity, relationship breakdown, ill-health or just very bad luck.

If we are not careful we may see a rise in very old-fashioned and insidious notions of a distinction being drawn between the deserving and undeserving. Of course probation has always been involved with the 'have-nots' in society and traditionally have always tried to do their level best to try and redress matters, make amends or ameliorate in some way. 

Our ability to act has been seriously curtailed of course with the demise of befriending funds and other practical help that used to be dispensed such as clothing and food. But I'm beginning to hear stories of spontaneous officer-initiated charitable distribution schemes of food in some offices. It seems like our social work ethos may just be about to be re-invented by newer colleagues feeling somewhat uneasy about how things have been going in recent times.        

Nature or Nurture?

It's one of the oldest chestnuts around and I've said before that my working hypothesis since university has been basically one of 50/50 because it conveniently means I don't have to give it much thought. Having said that, reading a bit about Frank Fields findings in his recently published report on child poverty makes it very clear that "there is overwhelming evidence that a persons life chances are most heavily predicated on their development in the first five years of life." It goes on to say that "lifes race is determined for poor children before they attend their first day at school."  They are likely to be unable to benefit sufficiently from state education and become part of a new generation of unemployed. By inference, they are more likely to cause society problems as well.

But the report makes clear the equally important point that good parenting is absolutely crucial and far more important than money on its own. I don't think probation officers would be particularly surprised by any of this and possibly it might not be surprising to a large chunk of the public either. The main concern of the report is to try and break the cycle whereby poor children become poor adults and is therefore extremely laudable, but didn't we always know this and it used to be called the 'cycle of deprivation?' 

To be honest I think this report serves to remind me exactly why I have difficulties with the stance often taken by the likes of the Daily Mail, Inspector Gadjet and the proponents of the ASBO approach to social problems. I have always been amazed at the vilification of many young people, routinely demonised for all sorts of criminal and anti-social behaviour, without taking due account as to exactly what the causation might be. Here we have a report making it clear that people aren't born a particular way, rather we all have to respond to our very different environments. Of course none of us can choose either our parents or our background. Hence the saying 'there but for the Grace of God go I.'

As a society we owe these kids from poor and neglected backgrounds some understanding about their situation when they start causing us problems. More importantly, we owe future generations of kids some much improved prospects. Of course in between these two statements, social workers, YOT workers and probation officers have to try and deal appropriately with the generation that has already been created and do some damage limitation, patching-up and general remedial work on behalf of society. I really do get the feeling that this government might actually be able to initiate some intelligent responses to the seemingly intractable social problems found in numerous parts of our communities beyond just 'ASBOing' people.

I have to admit I haven't read the report beyond the first few pages, but I notice that one proposal is for parenting education to be undertaken in schools up to GCSE level. A great idea as long as the kids aren't excluded from school of course and I do seem to remember that subject being around at my old Secondary Modern. 'Nothing new under the sun' then as the saying goes.