The Un/Deserving Child: A Qualitative Study of the Discursive Welfare Rationales of a Philanthropic Foundation for Children Living in Extreme Poverty Situations

Abstract

Child poverty remains a complex social problem in Western societies. In the context of the complex historical transformation of the institutional welfare state framework in Belgium, we discuss a qualitative study on the welfare rationales of a philanthropic foundation for children in extreme poverty situations. Our exploration of the perspectives of the foundation's social partners and administrators shows how a discursive distinction between un/deserving children can be at stake in anti-poverty strategies. Based on our findings, we tease out whether the foundation might metaphorically function as grit in the machine of public actors in the welfare state system.