The majority of youngsters in the United States reside in households with lower than US$2 each day, classifying them as impoverished and disadvantaged (Vulnerable populations: Who are they, 2006). Children from economically impoverished homes face challenges in survivability, wellness, schooling, and accessibility to resources. The majority of youngsters in the United States face two or several kinds of deprivation of basic necessities and services (Effects of Child Abuse and Neglect for Children and Adolescents, 2014). Children and adolescents from low-income families are more likely to remain impoverished throughout adulthood, putting them in danger of generational deprivation. Color, nationality, religion, gender, and characteristics such as money, medical insurance, and the unavailability of a regular care provider all contribute to these families’ vulnerability (Understanding Vulnerability, 2014). Their wellness and medical care issues are intertwined with socioeconomic concerns like homelessness, unemployment, and insufficient schooling. Adolescents and younger persons can suffer various negative repercussions as a result of family fragility (Peek, 2008). This article offers an overall view of the potential social, health, and educational impacts of household vulnerability on toddlers and youthful individuals, as well as the difficulties and incentives that professionals face when working with disadvantaged young kids and youthful individuals, as well as the methodologies that professionals employ when working with disadvantaged youthful individuals.
Social impacts
As a consequence of family vulnerability, children and adolescents are more susceptible to have unstable or disordered relationship issues with their parents (Manami Ochi et al., 2019). Children’s parent attachment patterns are critical for a youngster’s primary cognitive and interpersonal growth. The parent, who should be the primary provider of stability, security, and pleasure for youngsters with unstable relationships, are unable to provide for them. The absence of the stability and assistance of a parent, children, and adolescents may feel it challenging to believe others in times of hardship, leading to chronic feelings of rage. Unstable relationships disrupt child’s natural developing processes, affecting their capacity to converse and connect with others, as well as create constructive friendships throughout their lives. Furthermore, problems in social relationships may be a forerunner to problems in love relationships.
Psychological impacts
Children living in vulnerable families lead to a number of negative repercussions, such as poor self-esteem, which increases the likelihood of psychological illnesses, suicides, and inadequate scholastic accomplishment (Poorgholami et al., 2015, Hedayati et al., 2012 & Mann et al., 2004). Poor self-esteem may impact how family vulnerability affects a child’s health; youngsters residing in vulnerable families may believe they are useless, resulting in reduced self-care measures. Numerous continuous research has shown that poor children’s self-esteem has harmful implications (Donnellan et al., 2011, Sowislo & Orth, 2012, Orth et al., 2014, Steiger et al., 2014, Nguyen et al., 2019). For example, toddlers and youngsters with reduced self-esteem and confidence are more susceptible to suffer from psychological illnesses such as distress, stress, and suicide attempt, which may be induced by seeking comfort from peers, receiving pessimistic comments from peers to validate their pessimistic personality, and musing on negative aspects of individuality (Overholser et al., 1995 & McGee et al., 2002).
Educational impacts
There is a solid link between family vulnerability, child learning issues, and/or inadequate scholastic accomplishment. As a result of a family’s vulnerability in the earliest stages of childhood can have a significant impact on child growth, particularly in the critical aspects of communication and languages. These children and youngsters have reduced confidence which hinders them from exposing themselves to opportunities. Children’s self-esteem and apparent abilities are required for them to take chances in their studies and to recover from failures or hardship. Children who have poor self-esteem or poor courage mistrust their potential to achieve, rendering them reluctant to participate in education or undertake good scholastic development chances (Students Experiencing Low Self-esteem or Low Perceptions of Competence, 2018). Also, these children and youngsters lack proper communication skills, which reduces their confidence leading them to self-isolate from other community members.
The challenges and rewards of the practitioner’s role when working with vulnerable children/ young people.
Being subjected to such very emotional events can result in empathy exhaustion. It can be tough to stay uninfluenced by upsetting circumstances, mainly if the practitioner is dealing with them on a regular routine. Depersonalization, psychological weariness, and other more immediately recognizable symptoms such as migraines may occur in these practitioners.
Another challenge that the practitioners face while working with vulnerable children and young people is poor engagement. This is triggered by poor communication. Several studies identified communication difficulties caused by participants’ low comprehension of essential initiative features due to reduced development, linguistic, or literacy obstacles. Some of the practitioners emphasize the fundamental difficulty of simplifying complicated ideas so that they are approachable and understandable to vulnerable populations. The other challenge is a lack of trust from vulnerable people (Bulletins for Professionals, 2021). As a result, they fear to share information with the practitioners, which affects the practitioners to come up with various approaches to address their challenges. Trust between vulnerable populations and practitioners is an essential aspect as it fosters a better relationship between them. Whenever these populations provide more information, it assists the practitioners in offering better services.
Rewards
One of the rewards the practitioners get as a result of working closely with vulnerable children and young people is that they are able to create a healthy relationship with them. Owing to the enhanced relationship with the vulnerable population, they are able to explore the in-depth challenges that these populations may be going through. This makes it possible for them to put in place effective measures to help them cope with hardships that they may be experiencing. As a result, this population gains self-confidence, self-esteem and also feels proud of themselves. The other reward is that the practitioners are able to witness the young population changing. As a consequence of guiding and counseling vulnerable children and young people, they are able to gain self-worth and confidence. They are able to realize their skills and abilities, and they strive towards achieving their goals. They can learn to plan, strive, explore, investigate, and take challenges in both the good and bad ways and gain from their mistakes. The other reward is that these populations are able to gain self-care. They are able to realize themselves and identify opportunities, and put themselves forward to them rather than claiming that they can’t be able to undertake them or they do not qualify.
The types of strategies used by practitioners when working with vulnerable children/ young people.
One of the strategies utilized by practitioners while working with vulnerable children is the strength-based strategy. Several practitioners use a strengths-based approach, which is a comprehensive method of working that focuses on the vulnerable child’s abilities, talents, and skills. The focus is not on the child’s issues, and they are seen as more beyond their deficiencies. This strategy necessitates practitioners to identify and utilize a children’s specific capabilities, including talents, personal qualities, resources, beliefs, and aspirations. Practitioners can improve involvement and interaction with vulnerable children and households by using a strengths-based strategy.
There are numerous approaches for involving youngsters in play, inventiveness, and imagination, particularly interactive practices. The other strategies include play, inventiveness, and creativity can assist in involving youngsters for extended durations of time (Clark, 2011, Harris & Manatakis, 2013). These strategies can also provide vulnerable youngsters with more realistic chances to understand, articulate, and convey their thoughts, concepts, emotions, and desires (Clark, 2011). For instance, involving them in storytelling can assist involve vulnerable children and enable them to speak in a less threatening and healthier environment. The security provided by speaking under a different identity may be alluring to some, leading them to share their feelings, beliefs, and ideas with more remarkable candor.
The other strategy that practitioners can utilize is the provision of homework tasks. This strategy helps vulnerable children and young people further their understanding of the topics covered in the session they had with the practitioner. Also, the practitioners encourage the youngsters to take short notes on the various areas that they have covered to act as self-reminders and hang them on the walls or somewhere they can be easily visible to remind them of what they have discussed with the practitioners.
The physical surroundings can influence a vulnerable child’s capacity to interact in a variety of ways, which practitioners must address while aiming to connect and interact with children. The extent to which a youngster interacts can be influenced by whether the engagement happens in the children’s context or the practitioner’s environment. Practitioners and organizations should be cognizant of developing child-friendly surroundings in therapeutic settings to maximize the possibility of involvement (Clark, 2011). A variety of contextual adjustments might assist youngsters to feel more at ease. It is critical that these settings provide children with a sense of comfort, safety, and positivity.
Lastly, the practitioners utilize a time and patience strategy while working with vulnerable children and young people. Listening to and interacting with youngsters cannot be hastened (Clark, 2011). Adults who have had little or no experience speaking with youngsters may misjudge how long it takes youngsters to respond. Youngsters are less inclined to talk or participate if they feel hurried or compelled to talk. To genuinely interact and interact with youngsters, practitioners should be patient and devote more time than is customary (Clark, 2011). They also should offer youngsters enough opportunities to speak, including being content with pauses and enabling the youngster to communicate without interference.
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