Charleston, WV- Report: Federal reductions to Medicaid and SNAP are creating new challenges for West Virginia families as the state shows little progress on key indicators of child well-being, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s latest Kids Count Data Book.
Kelly Allen, executive director of the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, said the state has been scaling back investments in Medicaid, public schools, child care and early education — areas where communities had previously seen improvement.
“There’s a really significant worry that we lose even that slight good momentum that we had in this report if lawmakers don’t double down in investing in these programs that we know help children and families thrive,” Allen said.
The report found uninsured rates for children in West Virginia continue to decline, and fewer children live in high-poverty neighborhoods. But the state is falling behind on education outcomes, reflecting a national trend of declining proficiency in grade-level reading and math.
Leslie Boissiere, vice president for external affairs at the Casey Foundation, said expanded federal child tax credits helped keep many families out of poverty. Their expiration, combined with rising costs, has left more households struggling to meet basic needs.
“In 2021, when Congress passed the expanded child tax credit, we saw a historic low rate of poverty for children. It declined to 5%,” Boissiere said. “The next year, when those child tax credits expired, it spiked again back up to 13%.”
Allen said changes to the data book’s structure — including a new comprehensive score — give states a clearer picture of how they are performing over time.
“For West Virginians, it’s kind of frustrating oftentimes to see ourselves ranked low against other states,” she said. “The new format I think is really helpful in allowing us to measure ourselves how we’re doing over time.”
West Virginia ranked 42nd in the nation for overall child well-being in the 2026 data book, compared with 41st in 2012.
