WalletHub has struck again, compiling a basket of indicators measuring the well being of poor children, including such factors as the percentage in foster care, the percentage in single-parent families, the percentage in below-poverty households, the percentage that are malnourished, the percentage experiencing food insecurity and the percentage that are homeless. By these measures, Virginia ranked 10th best in the country.Among the notable metrics: Virginia has the lowest number of children in foster care of all 50 states and Washington, D.C., and it has the third lowest number of maltreated children.
I would love to believe those figures are an accurate representation. However, recent scandals in the City of Richmond social services department suggest that the actual incidence of maltreatment may be under-reported and that the low number of foster children may be due to the incompetence of some social service agencies in placing children in foster homes. Richmond may be just one social services program, but it does cause one to question the numbers.
— JAB
