Every Fourth Child ... Still

In 1986 WRAL produced a documentary on child poverty called "Every Fourth Child". The title reflected that one out of every four children in our state were living in poverty. Today the child poverty rate in North Carolina is about the same. To find out why, the WRAL Documentary Unit went back and revisited some of the people profiled in the original "Every Fourth Child" documentary.

Posted 2:23 p.m. Jan 5, 2014 — Updated 9:25 p.m. Jan 16, 2014

In 1986 WRAL produced a documentary on child poverty called “Every Fourth Child." The title reflected that one out of every four children in our state were living in poverty. Today the child poverty rate in North Carolina is about the same. To find out why, the WRAL Documentary Unit went back and revisited some of the people profiled in the original “Every Fourth Child” documentary. The result is a new WRAL Documentary called “Every Fourth Child…Still” that reveals the cyclical nature of poverty and why it is such a difficult problem to solve.

The original “Every Fourth Child” profiled two sisters and their six children living in poverty in rural Halifax County. It also profiled a community activist there and included insight from a poverty expert at the Harvard School of Public Health. “Every Fourth Child…Still” returns to Halifax County to profile one of the sisters and one of her grown daughters who now has children of her own. The program also revisits the community activist and poverty expert interviewed in the original documentary and profiles a new family living in poverty in the Triangle area to show that poverty can be found in our own communities.

“Every Fourth Child…Still” is hosted by WRAL News anchor and reporter Kelcey Carlson.

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