Children sense when their parents don’t have enough money for food. Because inflation is all their parents are talking about right now. For example here in the mother-baby social room of the Diakonie in the 15th district, says director Teresa Bodner. “Women come to us with their energy bills and ask how to do it? What do we do? Our job here is then to put you in touch with the right people.”
Admission stop at Caritas
Baby food is available in the facility’s shop for a third to half the price of normal supermarkets. Since the sharp increase in inflation, it has become apparent “that women are of course increasingly asking for products that are free, because having children, especially newborns – and perhaps not being from here also comes with it – that the initial equipment is very is expensive.”
Caritas also noticed the same increase in people seeking help in their food distribution points in Vienna. According to Secretary General Anna Parr, the limits are being reached, “where the quantities are increasing massively, the need is increasing. And in the meantime we also had to impose a freeze on admissions in Vienna. The need exceeds the supply. I will say this in no uncertain terms: we are running out of food.”
Child poverty as a vicious circle
Every fourth child in Austria lives in poverty. According to the NGOs, half of children with other nationalities are affected by poverty, said Maria Katharina Moser, director of the Diakonie. “Child poverty is a vicious circle of existential financial difficulties, educational disadvantage and serious health problems.”
Child poverty must therefore be fought preventively and sustainably. At the moment inflation is faster than supports. “We need an end to the watering can and a really very targeted surcharge for the poorest 35 percent of households in Austria,” says Parr. And a legally anchored shutdown of heating and electricity in winter.
Call for child protection
Erich Fenninger from Volkshilfe called for basic child security in “Vienna Today”. “All children who live in Austria should be supported, for example with 200 euros and the children who grow up in households affected by poverty, for example with a household income of less than 20,000 euros, so that they get more. It is not understandable that the children should be held responsible for the parents affected by poverty.”
A potential electricity price cap is viewed positively while waiting. According to the Diakonie, financial measures against child poverty are also economically sensible. “Everything we invest in children so that they have a good start in life and are as unburdened as possible by poverty, it pays off. This saves social benefits and health expenses later on.”