Deservingness, children in poverty, and collective well being

•Children's poverty is largely ignored in contemporary political discourse.•Social welfare focuses on “deservingness” rather than collective vulnerability.•Philosophy, policy, and practice regarding children in family and community context•Offers a policy perspective addressing child poverty in family and community context

Rising numbers of children and families have been thrust into poverty. However, debates about poverty policies and aid are in fact debates about ourselves—our logic of life and our humanity—as a nation, a culture, a people; and social welfare programs will always be underfunded and of limited effectiveness if people don't believe in them due to their ambivalence and confusion about poverty. Because poor children are innocent and indisputably dependent on adult caretakers, they may be our route out of this malaise. Their circumstance and our aspirations as a nation to be just, fair, and progressive, force us to resolve the confusion, conflict and ambivalence that fuel ineffective and inhumane social welfare policies and practices.