Re: "Child poverty a B.C. disgrace," Nov. 29.

I also am appalled that 21 per cent of children in this country live in poverty.

We must realize that children do not live in isolation. They have parents either living or deceased but the children didn't arrive here by themselves, nor do they live alone.

Families still exist, altough they are different from those of some years ago. We now have a record number of single-parent families, mostly headed by women. A huge part of the reason children live in poverty is their single mothers are usually at the bottom of the heap of the working poor.

This society will not support these mothers. Instead, society takes away quality child care, increases housing costs, does not punish delinquent fathers for failing to support their offspring, and blames mothers for their situation.

When we change our attitude about the financial deficit for women in general, and bring their wages up to par with what men earn for the same work, we will see a marked decrease in children living in poverty. Yes, governments need to make commitments, but until the mean-spirited attitude about single women raising children changes, we will never see significant change in poverty levels….