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Latest “Kids Count” Shows Increasing Poverty Rate in DC
18th of January 2008
One in three children in the District continues to live in poverty, and there has been a slight increase in the city’s overall poverty rate, according to the D.C. Kids Count Collaborative. Read more about this in a Washington Post article of January 18.
A bleak picture of the state of children and families in the city is given in a Jan. 18 Washington Post story titled “One-Third of Children in Poverty, Report Says” by Yolanda Woodlee:
One in three children in the District continues to live in poverty, and there has been a slight increase in the city’s overall poverty rate, according to the D.C. Kids Count Collaborative, whose leaders warned of tragic consequences unless parents get help in coping with stress. The group’s 14th annual fact book, released yesterday, shows a mixed picture — entrenched poverty alongside some positive shifts — as it details the conditions in which many D.C. children live.
More than one-third of African American children still live below the federal poverty level, the report says, and more than half of the children live in homes with single mothers. Infant mortality increased in 2005, the highest level since 2000. From 2005 to 2006, child-abuse cases increased 6 percent but neglect complaints decreased. The number of young adults ages 19 to 21 in foster care rose to 12 percent in 2006 from 8 percent in 2003, the report notes. It also indicates that the number of juveniles referred to D.C. Superior Court increased in 2006 after having held steady in 2005.