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[Tegna Media]
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<p>Texas has a lot to brag about: It&rsquo;s a leader in job growth, energy production and building.</p>
<p>It&rsquo;s also near the top of another list, but it&rsquo;s not something you&rsquo;ll likely see shared often on social media: child poverty.</p>
<p>Texas ranks 43rd in the country to be a kid, based on economic well-being, health and education, according to the Annie Casey Foundation, a private charitable watchdog organization.</p>
<p>In Travis County, U.S. Census numbers show child poverty has increased nearly each year since 2000.</p>
<p>In 2014, the county added an additional 9,860 children in poverty, totaling 64,000. About one in four children live in poverty in Texas&mdash;a staggering statistic that dates back to 1989. Today, that&rsquo;s 1.7 million Texas children.</p>
<p>One of those children includes 13-year-old Paige Rogers, who lives in a group home run by the Foundation for the Homeless in north Austin. She has four siblings, ranging from 3 months old to 14 years old.</p>
<p>Just like many eighth graders, she has big dreams of becoming an artist or working with animals, but she talks a lot about getting a job for someone so young.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I thought about working at, like, computer tech places and stuff,&rdquo; Paige said, holding a crayon while coloring. &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s be honest, with a career, you get paid more rather than getting paid minimum wage at an ordinary job.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Her mom, Kayla Dixon, works nights at a nursing home. Her dad, Jared Dixon, works during the day at a call center. They moved to Austin about six months ago from Lubbock in search of a better life.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We probably bring together, like, $800 between the both of us,&rdquo; said Dixon.</p>
<p>Before finding the group home, they slept in hotels and eventually their SUV.</p>
<p>&ldquo;You keep on waiting on a time to get a place, but you know you don&rsquo;t have a place to go to like everybody else does,&rdquo; said Paige.</p>
<p>Most families, like Paige&rsquo;s, move to Austin looking for a job. Unemployment is low in Texas and its lawmakers, especially its former governor, enjoy reminding the rest of the country.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.kens5.com/story/news/investigations/2015/12/13/state-our-children/76959510/">MORE&gt;&gt;</a></p>