A CONFERENCE about poverty and neglect in the Isle of Man raised more questions than it did answers.
That's according to John Knight, the chief executive of The Children's Centre, who organised the event.
Around 160 people attended the event including charity workers, social workers and students from the Isle of Man College.
Guest speakers at the event included Jo Thomas, the head of safeguarding for the Isle of Man Government, motivational speaker Richard McCann and Patrick Ayre who is a lecturer and author in children's welfare.
Jo Thomas gave a Manx perspective on how poverty and neglect affect children in care and told the audience that the two social issues are not necessarily linked.
She also gave statistical evidence of how many children in the Isle of Man are deemed "at risk" and how many are listed as suffering abuse or neglect.
Patrick Ayre gave a UK perspective on the issues focussing on the casual factors of neglect in a family setting.
Richard McCann spoke about his experiences of growing up with poverty and neglect following his mother's death.
The audience was then invited to take part in a debate with a panel of experts including Stephen Carse, the government’s economic adviser, Jed Bibby and Phil Drowley from the Isle of Man Constabulary and Revered Bill Platt from Broadway Baptist Church.
John Knight said: "As we anticipated the conference produced more questions than answers - but the number of people who attended clearly illustrated the level of interest in giving more consideration to both issues.
"The conference was a good starting point to what we hope will be a continuing debate about the issues of poverty and neglect.
"There were several key areas of concern which emerged from the conference. The availability and pricing of alcohol was viewed by many delegates as a major contributor to poverty on the Island, and perhaps neglect. Housing standards, and particularly the lack of enforcement around minimum standards and control among private sector landlords, was also cited as major causal factor.
"The debate also raised concerns about the need to retain focus and funding for early intervention with vulnerable children and families. Several delegates took the view that this is being damaged by decreasing resources in the current financial climate. Linked to this was the view that short term planning is a concern as government are pressured to look at and manage the here and now rather than invest in preventative action which has the potential to save funding and prevent social hardship."
Mr Knight also explained that a general view emerged from the conference which was that a relatively low level of investment could help save the Isle of Man significant expenditure in the future and significantly support and help the more vulnerable members of the Island community.
Also see: Conference to determine if poverty and neglect are issues for the Island
