Seasoned child welfare officials cringe over statistics that show one of four Pasco children doesn't get enough to eat, often has no shoes and seldom gets dental treatment.

Because of cutbacks in government programs, only one in three children born into poverty will receive basic aid for dependent children, but the amount those few get is at an all-time low.

The average number of poor children waiting for day-care openings is 300. For every 10 children in a subsidized program, another six are waiting to get in, partly because there are only three publicly financed centers in Pasco. And most private centers are unwilling to take in subsidized children.