By JOSEPH FITZGERALD

WOONSOCKET — The city ranks third in the state for children under the age of 18 living in extreme poverty and fourth for young children under the age of six living in extreme poverty, according to the latest data from Rhode Island Kids Count.
According to the group’s 2009 Rhode Island Kids Count Factbook released Monday,  40,468, or 17.5 percent, of Rhode Island’s 231,579 children live below the federal poverty threshold of $16,705 for a family of three and $21,027 for a family of four.

The worse news is that almost half of low-income children in the state live in extreme poverty. Families with incomes below 50 percent of the federal poverty threshold are considered to be in extreme poverty. In 2008, the extreme poverty level was $8,673 for a family of three with two children and $10,917 for a family of four with two children.
According to the Kids Count data, of the 40,468 children living below the poverty threshold in Rhode Island in 2007, 44 percent lived in extreme poverty. In total, an estimated 7.6 percent (17,697) of all children in Rhode Island lived in extreme poverty. This is an increase from the previous year when 6.5 percent of Rhode Island children lived in extreme poverty.
“This (number of children in extreme poverty) is the big thing that we heard today and it’s disappointing,” Henry Shelton, coordinator of the George Wiley Center, said in reaction to the new poverty statistics.
Information in the factbook, which provides a yearly statistical portrait of the status of the state’s children, is presented for the state of Rhode Island, each city and town and an aggregate of the six cities in which 15 percent or more of all children under the age of 18 live in poverty. These six core cities are Central Falls, Newport, Pawtucket, Providence, West Warwick and Woonsocket. The factbook examines 63 indicators in five areas that affect the lives of children, including family and community, economic well being,  health, safety and education.
“Right now, as we speak, 44 percent of the state’s low-income children are living in extreme poverty,” Shelton said. “Rhode Island is quickly moving in the direction - probably by next year - where we’re going to see 50 percent of the state’s low-income children living in extreme poverty.”
The most recent data on child poverty in Woonsocket is from Census 2000. At that time, there were 11,155 children under the age of 18 residing in Woonsocket, a 5 percent  increase from the 1990 decennial census. The 2000 Census data indicate that 31.8 percent (3,494) of all children in Woonsocket under the age of 18 live below the federal poverty threshold ($21,027 for a family of four in 2007).
According to the same data, 2,061, or 18.8 percent, of all Woonsocket children under age 18 are living in extreme poverty, which is the third highest rate in that category in the state, eclipsed by Central Falls, Providence, Newport.
About 35 percent (1,361) of all children in Woonsocket under the age of 6 are living below poverty, while 19.9 (772) of all city children under the age of 6 are living in extreme poverty.Central Falls, Pawtucket, Providence and Newport all had higher percentages.
For Shelton and other activists at the Pawtucket-based George Wiley Center, a statewide antipoverty and advocacy group, the new data is sobering.
“The children of this state haven’t seen a cost of living increase by the state since 1989, which is why we were recently protesting for changes to be made to the Rhode Island Food Stamp program,” Shelton said.
Shelton’s group is demanding easier access to food stamps, including having the state human services office in Providence open on Saturdays as well as employ more state workers to meet the growing demand of people in need of food stamps. The advocates assert that the program - financed by the federal government and administered by the state - is understaffed and requires people to fill out a 28-page application.
“There needs to be at least 40 more state workers doing food stamps becase we’re claiming that over 50,000 more people are now eligible to take part in the program,” he said. “These people aren’t getting those benefits because the state doesn’t want to give them, but because there are too many obstacles.”
In Woonsocket in 2007, 84 percent of income-eligible children were receiving Food Stamp benefits, compared with 77 percent in the state as a whole, and 42 percent of eligible low-income children were participating in the School Breakfast Program, compared with 29 percent in the state as a whole.
For more than a decade, Woonsocket has consistently had one of the highest rates of indicated investigations of abuse and neglect in the state, and that statistic did not change in the 2009 Rhode Island Kids Count Factbook.
While the child abuse and neglect rate improved slightly between 2007 and 2008, Woonsocket continues to have the highest rate of child abuse and neglect in the state.
In 2008, Woonsocket’s child abuse and neglect rate of 17.7 indicated child abuse and neglect investigations per every 1,000 children was still the highest in the state and more than double the state rate of 7.7 indicated investigations per 1,000 children. The rate for 2008 was, however, an improvement from the 2007 rate of 19.1 indicated cases per 1,000 children. The 2006 rate was 21.4 indicated cases per 1,000 children
The infant mortality rate in Woonsocket between 2003 and 2007 was 6.4 infant deaths per every 1,000 live births, compared to the state rate of 6.2 per 1,000 live births. Woonsocket’s current rate is almost double the 1997-2001 Woonsocket infant mortality rate of 4.4 infant deaths per 1,000 live births.
The factbook data shows that while Woonsocket has better rates of prenatal care access than in the past, several early health indicators continue to lag behind the rest of the state. 
While more women in Woonsocket are receiving timely prenatal care than a decade ago, the most recent data from 2003 to 2007 indicates that Woonsocket has the third highest rate of delayed prenatal care in the state (at a rate of 15.4 percent, compared to 12.1 percent for the state as a whole). Early prenatal care is important to identify and treat health problems and influence health behaviors that can compromise fetal development, infant health and maternal health. 
The Woonsocket teen birth rate for older teens (18 and 19) was the second highest in the state at 113.1 births per every 1,000 girls ages 18-19, more than double the state rate of 43.2 births per every 1,000 girls ages 18-19. Woonsocket’s teen birth rate for minor teens ages 15-17 has decreased from 45.0 per 1,000 teen girls ages 15-17 five years ago, to 35.4 births per every 1,000 girls ages 15-17 in the most recent data from 2002-2006. However, Woonsocket has the third highest rate of teen births in the state for younger teens and the rate is almost double the state rate of 19.1 births per every 1,000 girls ages 15-17.