This is the second Children’s Rights Alliance’s Child Poverty Monitor. The Monitor tracks government progress on reducing the number of children experiencing poverty, showcases best practice solutions and spotlights key areas of concern including on: food poverty, income inadequacy, family support and educational disadvantage. Child poverty is defined by the deprivation of essential resources for a minimum standard of living. This means that a child in poverty has limited or no access to the basic essentials which we would consider the minimum any citizen should have such as healthcare, housing, education, food. Long-term exposure to poverty and deprivation impacts on children’s outcomes across a number of domains including their physical and mental health, educational attainment and socio-emotional wellbeing, and can result in them having low self-esteem, which can lead to mental health difficulties in later life. The longer a child stays in a cycle of consistent poverty, the greater the negative impact on their sense of self, aspirations, ability to avail of opportunities and ability to realise their full potential. These outcomes are not inevitable and turning the tide on child poverty is possible with the right policy decisions.