WV KIDS IN POVERTY RISING - Kids Count Says Increase Staggering

(01/25/2005)
Kids Count, an independent West Virginia watch group, will be releasing a disturbing new statistic about children in poverty in the Mountain State.

The number of children in poverty has been decreasing since 1989, but now Kid's Count says the percentage has risen to almost 30-percent for children under five.

Margie Hale, director of the Kids Count fund, says the new statistic is staggering.

Hale says the information should be of great concern for every West Virginian.

The number of kids 18 and younger who lived in poverty back in 1989 was 31-percent, but during the past 15 years the rate shrunk all the way to 26-percent.

25-percent of West Virginia's children have not been properly vaccinated and only 8.2 percent of daycare center's are licensed, according to the latest information from Kids Count.

Kids Count will be releasing details on the state of West Virginia's children in a few weeks.