The Philippines has a young demographic, with children aged 0-17 comprising 33.62% of the projected total population for 2024. Despite the demographic transition shaped by declining fertility and mortality rates, Filipino children face significant challenges that hinder their development and contribution to the country’s human capital. This publication provides an overview of the current state and challenges faced by Filipino children and examines the relationship between public social expenditures (by national and local governments) and child poverty across the country’s 17 regions through panel regression analysis. The results show a weak inverse relationship between national government education spending and child poverty, while local government education spending exhibits a stronger negative association. Conversely, social welfare and health expenditures show unexpected positive relationships with child poverty, suggesting reactive spending patterns or implementation inefficiencies. Finally, the publication puts forward policy recommendations such as targeted social spending, strengthening early childhood education, passing the Magna Carta of Children, and improving support for children with disabilities, among others.