North Carolina children are twice as likely to experience neglect as physical and sexual abuse, and poverty is a major risk factor, child welfare advocates say.
But the solutions are not simple.
As of 2022, more than 400,000 North Carolina children under the age of 18 live below the federal poverty line, or about 17%, according to the U.S. Census. About a third were under the age of 6, which state and federal data show is a group at higher risk for abuse, neglect and related fatalities.
NC Child, a nonprofit child advocacy organization, estimates the number of poor or low-income children may be closer to 43% of the state’s population, since the federal poverty threshold is based on outdated measures from the 1960s. The National Center for Children in Poverty cites research that shows children and families needs at least twice the current poverty threshold to meet your basic needs.
The 2024 federal poverty limit for a family of three is about $12.41 per hour for one working parent.
However, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s minimum wage calculator shows $36.68 per hour will meet basic needs from a single working father with a son in North Carolina. Two working parents with one child can survive on $20.53 an hour each, it shows.
That’s well above what the average worker earns in most North Carolina counties. In 2023, only four North Carolina Counties Reported Higher Hourly Wages than the national average of $33.35 per hour, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.
About 63% of the state’s children living below the federal poverty limit are black or Hispanic, and most live in rural counties, NC Child reported.
The difficulty of not having adequate food, housing and other basic resources can cause toxic stress, worsening domestic violence and child neglect, as well as harming cognitive development, experts say. Parents involved in the criminal justice system, who abuse alcohol or drugs, or who struggle with serious mental health issues can also leave children facing poverty and stress.
Child welfare officials and advocates, citing a landmark study on adverse childhood experiencesthey say North Carolina won’t make significant progress without better addressing poverty.
Poverty is part of a larger problem
But livelihood programs are not enough, because most children are not placed in foster homes because their families are poor, said Emily Putnam-Hornstein, a professor at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Social Work and the study’s principal investigator. Lives cut short project.
“Poverty is a very constant scenario, but when children are removed, it is always because (there is) either poverty plus a serious substance use disorder on the part of the parents, poverty plus serious family violence and domestic violence, or poverty plus a very serious parental mental health disorder,” Putnam-Hornstein said.
“If we don’t diagnose the root cause and the right problem, then we are potentially approaching it the wrong way,” she added.
In 2023, the state legislature approved spending $835 million on programs that child welfare advocates and North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services officials say could affect the behavioral health crisis which began with the 2020 pandemic and continues to fuel depression and anxiety, isolation, anger, substance abuse, and post-traumatic stress disorders.
The funding includes $80 million for better access to mental health and substance use services for children and families, $130 million to expand the state’s behavioral health crisis response system, and $100 million to expand services for people in the criminal justice system, including reentry programs. that address substance use, mental health, and family issues that contribute to child abuse and neglect.
It also funded pilot programs aimed at the state’s opioid epidemic and more community services that keep children at home.
The money starts to solve problems that cost taxpayers more in the long run, said Sharon Hirsch, president and CEO of the Positive Childhood Alliance of North Carolina.
More than $4,000 per minute is spent now to address future consequences of abuse and neglect, from health care to criminal justice and lost workplace productivity, she said. The NC Budget and Tax Center reported a similar finding in 2017.
“We know that if we spent more money on prevention, we could prevent a range of problems and help more children grow up safe, nourished and loved, gaining positive experiences that we know will make a difference to their health and ours. bottom line as a society moving forward,” Hirsch said.
More funding to reduce child abuse and neglect
The latest spending and the state’s updated early childhood action plan, which emphasizes food security, access to child care and better wages for child care workers, are steps forward for families, Hirsch said.
“Anything we can do to help families put food on the table, pay for diapers, pay rent, make it easier for them to get to and from work, have access to jobs with living wages, always results in reductions in child maltreatment, because families’ financial stress is a big risk factor,” Hirsch said.
Child advocacy groups are now urging the state to increase the $7.25 per hour minimum wage, established in 2009, and to implement other programs and changes that could help families across the state, including:
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Replacing the expansion of the federal child tax credit which reduced child poverty by 40% during the pandemic, but has expired. The nonpartisan NC Budget and Tax Center recommended giving parents a tax credit of $1,900 for each child under age 6 and $1,600 for each child older.
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More child care subsidies for families. The News & Observer reported the loss of $1.3 billion in federal COVID money in June could close a third of the state’s daycare centers or force parents to pay even more. More than 60,000 families now use the state service child care subsidies, NC Child reported. About Another 30,000 are on the waiting list.
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Support for Governor Roy Cooper proposed budget of US$745 million for early childhood initiatives, including subsidies to provide more child care subsidies for families and support child care centers, Smart Start, and preschool programs that provide early childhood education and care for preschool-aged children.
Every $1,000 invested in public benefits, whether for medical care, housing, food or child care, causes a 7.7% reduction in child deaths, a 4.3% reduction in reports of abuse and neglect, and a reduction in 2.1% in foster care placements, the Positive Childhood Alliance NC was completed in a report based on research studies from the University of Chicago.
Investing in children and families is “a recognized strategy for preventing child maltreatment,” said Kella Hatcher, executive director of the North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force.
