Up to 100,000 Northern Ireland children are living in poverty, a new report revealed today.
And nearly half of them are trapped in conditions so dire that they are missing out on the basic essentials, according to children's charity Barnardo's.
It has urged both the new Stormont Executive and Westminster to intervene in a bid to give these youngsters a decent chance in life.
Lynda Wilson, director of Barnardo's Northern Ireland said: "The UK government can do many things for children in relation to tax and benefits that can help poor families.
"But devolved administrations can also do a lot with local initiatives such as undertaking a review of how we support second earners to return to work. Even families with one wage earner can be living in poverty."
As well as the 100,000 living in officially defined levels of poverty, around 44,000 children and young people are missing out on items which will have a devastating effect on them, the charity said.
Some 47 per cent of children in poverty in Northern Ireland come from a household with at least one parent in a job.
Poor wages, with 160,000 workers receiving less than stg£6.50 an hour, has made the proportion of low-paid full-time workers higher than in the rest of the UK.
The children most likely to be oppressed include those from families affected by disability, lone parents and ethnic minorities.