The last two decades have seen increased acknowledgement of the importance of issues surrounding child poverty, vulnerability and well-being and the need for a special focus within the development and poverty reduction debate to address these issues. Child poverty is widely recognised to have far-reaching short-term and long-term adverse impacts on income, education, health and other areas of well-being. With social protection having established itself as a core function of development policy, it is increasingly being considered as an integral part of the response to child poverty and vulnerability in low- and middle-income countries.