W.Va.’s Complicated Picture on Children

Data is a tricky thing.
Sometimes it can present a complicated picture. That is the case with two WalletHub studies, one on “2024’s Best and Worst States to Have a Baby,” the other on “2024’s States with the Best and Worst Early Education Systems.”
For the latter, West Virginia is sixth-best in the country. Wonderful.
For the former, we are a wretched 45th.
For the study on babies, WalletHub looked at 31 measures of cost, health care accessibility and baby-friendliness.
West Virginia was 21st for cost, 38th for health care, 30th for baby-friendliness and 48th for family friendliness. The Mountain State has the fifth lowest hospital Cesarean-delivery charges and the lowest average annual infant-care costs. On the other hand, we’ve got the 48th worst infant mortality rate, the 48th worst number of pediatricians and family medicine physicians per capita and 49th lowest number of child-care centers per capita.
It’s a bleak picture.
But what happens when our babies reach the age for pre-K education?
There, we are eighth for access, 11th for quality and 20th for resources and economic support, in a study that accounted for 12 key metrics such as the share of school districts that offer a state pre-K program or the total reported spending per child enrolled in pre-K.
Experts discussing the studies came across as having lived for a long time in academia, and perhaps never visiting a place like West Virginia.
“The biggest mistake prospective parents make financially is to fail to plan financially before having children. Prospective parents should save up, and research costs of having children. Some prospective parents may need to find ways to create additional streams of income to support their children,” said Julia Kroeker, a professor at Florida SouthWestern State College.
She’s right, of course. But in a state with an economy like ours “planning” is almost a luxury for many families. That kind of lecture isn’t going to land.
More realistic ideas from the experts included examining parental leave laws, supporting infant and early child care establishments, and developing better access to quality healthcare and mental health services.
Once our babies hit the public school system, there is a different set of supports for them and their families. There we have lots of work to do, but are improving.
But, again, if we care about babies and families as much as we say we do, here, it’s time to take a hard look at why those early years are such a challenge, for so many — and why those challenges are leading many to go elsewhere to start their families.