Listening to children on poverty

AS a society, we have stigmatised poverty to a point where nobody likes to admit they're poor - so says the man behind the BBC TV documentary programme Poor Kids, which has stirred up a debate about the subject across Scotland.

In his blog on the BBC website, Jezza Neumann writes:

By making 'Poor Kids' through the eyes of the children, we could uncover a tough subject through a section of society who rarely gets their say.


Before we even set about finding children, we drew up an extensive protocol on how we would operate with the children's best interests in mind.


I guess the true test of how well we succeeded was when the children watched the film and whether they saw it as an accurate representation of their lives, and they seemed to.


All too often in life children aren't given a voice or the chance to be heard. And all too often adults listen, but they don't really. I'm a dad, so I know, as I'm just as guilty.


Once we'd settled on which children to follow, it was a fascinating journey.


The most important part of the filming process was to gain a bond with the children. After a while children often open up to us because we are a grown-up figure who listens but never judges.

Read more here.