One in Three Virginia Children Live in or Near Poverty

Virginia is among the more wealth states in America.  Yet, a new study released by the University of Virginia indicates that 1 in 3 Virginia children either are living in poverty or close to poverty the level.  The response of the Virginia GOP?  Block Medicaid expansion and continue to oppose spending on programs that help the poor and less fortune even as Virginia Republican's cannot prostitute themselves enough to Christofascists by claiming that they revere Christian values.  The hypocrisy is nearly complete, but sadly that is what should expect from both today's Virginia GOP and Virginia Christofascists.  Their agenda is about as far away for the theme of the Gospel message as one can get.  Indeed, as I have noted many times before, they make the Pharisees of the Bible look like wonderful, generous people in comparison.  Here are some highlights from the report's findings:

Child poverty in Virginia is of concern, not only for its current effects, but also for its future consequences. Today’s poor children are likely to have lower educational attainment, lower projected lifetimes earnings, and generally poorer health outcomes as adults—negative outcomes affecting not only these individuals, but also the vitality of the Commonwealth. This report provides a fresh perspective on childhood poverty and family structure in the Commonwealth by using the Virginia Poverty Measure and focusing on three questions:

1. How prevalent is childhood poverty in Virginia?
2. How does family structure relate to childhood poverty?
3. Are current poverty amelioration strategies — particularly those promoting marriage — sufficient given what we know about childhood poverty?

Nearly one in three Virginia children lives in economic distress —  either in poverty or near poverty.   The immediate consequences of poverty, such as inadequate nutrition, persistent anxiety, and impairments to intellectual and emotional development, affect the daily lives of too many children.

Equally troubling, the legacy of poverty follows poor children into adulthood in the form of lower educational attainment, lower projected lifetime earnings,  and higher likelihood of certain health problems, among other negative outcomes.

Because children are dependent on those who raise them, strategies to address child poverty typically begin with families.  In particular, the marital status of parents has been identified and emphasized as significant in ameliorating childhood  poverty.

While  children in single and cohabiting parent families make up one half of all children in and near poverty,  the other one half of all poor and near poor children lives with married parents.

While marriage promotion may play a role in anti-poverty policy, it fails to address the needs of children in poor married parent families.   Initiatives aimed at providing a secure financial foundation for all children should include strategies that  would benefit children in all family structures.  Such proposed strategies include better child support enforcement, childcare subsidies for poor working  parents, and universal pre-kindergarten.

There is more in the study, but the take away is that the Chrisofascist/GOP obsession (here in Virginia, The heinous Family Foundation is a prime example) with promoting marriage as a magic cure all missing roughly half of Virginia's poor and near poor children. Worse yet, the types of programs that would help these children and their families are typically anathema to the Virginia GOP.