Gregg County child poverty rate worse than state’s, survey says

GREGG COUNTY — More than 25 percent of Texas children live in poverty — and living conditions for children in Gregg and most surrounding counties are even worse.

According to new 2010 data released this past week, thousands of area children are impoverished, with no health insurance, and relying on government assistance for food.

Across the state, 39 percent of Texas mothers received no, or very late, prenatal care. Again, rates were higher in most East Texas counties.

The latest Kids Count survey showing climbing poverty rates and low rates of care came as no surprise to Ed Banos, president and CEO of Longview-based Good Shepherd Health System.

“We see it all the time in our hospitals,” he said. “We see a lot of low-income mothers who haven’t been able to get good prenatal care, which puts their health and the health of the baby at risk.”

Despite its growing economy, Gregg County’s rate of child poverty topped the statewide rate with just shy of 30 percent of children 17 and younger in poverty. The region’s highest rate, however, was 35 percent, in Marion County. Panola County had the area’s lowest child poverty rate, at 20 percent — the only area county with a rate below the state average of 25.7 percent.

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