Poverty rates leap for Ohio Children

[Rick Rowlands]

Maybe people could "get on their feet" a bit easier if they weren't having so many children while in poverty.  Children are expensive!

[irishbobcat]

WHile the Neo-Cons on this board continue to cheerlead for the rich to get richer......

the poor get poorer........

thank you local neo-cons for your lack of compassion and support for the poor.......

Poverty rates leap for Ohio By  Rita Price
The Columbus Dispatch Saturday August 6, 2011 6:24 AM

According to a report from the Children's Defense Fund-Ohio, 31 Ohio counties — more than a third of the state total — had child-poverty rates of 25 percent or higher in 2009.

That's a jump from 15 counties in 2008, according to U.S. census estimates compiled by the child-advocacy organization.

Renuka Mayadev, executive director of the group, said the spike shows how the recession has battered families.

"It's remarkable that there's that much of a difference in just one year," she said. "People need to pay attention to this. The data catches up with the times."

In Franklin County, 26.2 percent of children were living in poverty, up from 20 percent the previous year. Child-poverty estimates were highest in the state's Appalachian counties, topping out at 36.5 percent in Jackson County, according to the report.

Central Ohio's Delaware County had the lowest percentage, with 6.4 percent of children living in poverty in 2009. According to the Census Bureau, a family of two with an annual household income below about $14,500 was living in poverty that year; for a family of four, the line was about $22,000.

In Ohio, 21.6 percent of children were living in poverty.

Local agencies that work to help struggling families say it's tough to be optimistic when there's no turnaround in sight. Good-paying jobs are the issue, said Pam McCarthy, executive director of Central Community House on E. Main Street.

"We've always been a nation that, if you had the will — the will to work — it would be OK," she said. "That's just not the American way anymore. People don't have that kind of control."

Rising child-poverty rates are especially ominous because early deprivation can have long-lasting effects, said Amy Swanson, executive director of Voices for Ohio's Children. "Kids are the poorest Ohioans. And let's face it: Those early years are the most critical for development."& amp; amp; lt; /p>

Hayden Shelby, a researcher at the Children's Defense Fund-Ohio who worked on the report, said she was so surprised by the increase that she had trouble believing the numbers. The data were compiled as part of Ohio's "KIDS COUNT: 2010 Data Book," an annual report of child well-being sponsored by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

"You just saw all these counties fall over the edge," Shelby said.

The data underscore the need for governments to spend wisely on children, Mayadev said. " Everybody's so focused on Wall Street right now. Meanwhile, every 34 seconds a child is born into poverty."

McCarthy said the numbers are difficult even for advocates to ponder.

"It's very humbling," she said. "It's harder and harder to help people get on their feet. It just feels like such a long-term condition."