23 percent of NC children live in poverty, WITN (8.17.11)
Nearly a quarter of North Carolina’s children are living in poverty. A new child welfare survey says the state ranks 38th in the nation for its child poverty percentage with 23 percent.
A national study on child well-being to be published Wednesday finds that child poverty increased in 38 states from 2000 to 2009.
The research by the Annie E. Casey Foundation finds that 14.7 million children, 20 percent, were poor in 2009. That represents a 2.5 million increase from 2000, when 17 percent of the nation’s youth lived in low-income homes.
Nevada had the highest rate of children whose parents are unemployed and underemployed. The state is also home to the most children affected by foreclosures. Thirteen percent of all Silver State babies, toddlers and teenagers have been kicked out of their homes because of an unpaid mortgage, the study found.
In the foundation’s first examination of the impact of the recession on the nation’s children, the researchers concluded that low-income children will likely suffer academically, economically and socially long after their parents have recovered.