When social service agency directors heard the child poverty rate in Rockford was worse than Chicago, they weren't surprised.

"It validated concerns we've already identified in the families and chldren that we work with," Kathy Reese said.

Reese is a director at Lutheran Social Services. Her agency assists with foster care and adoptions. She thinks there isn't one solution to fix child poverty, but there is one piece of legislation the agency supports that could help reduce it.

Social service workers are taking pictures to put on flyers to take to Springfield next week. There, they will rally with other agencies for a state income tax. They want it to increase from 3% to 5%. This idea was voted down last year by lawmakers, but will come up again this year.

Reese says jobs would also be key to fixing the child poverty issue.

"When you look at children, when services are cut especially that impact children, you see the repercussions for generations," Reese said.

Jobs are also something Linda Niemiec with Crusader Clinic agrees would help the child poverty issue. There, the clinic is seeing more families need care who have lost jobs and benefits.

"We take a pulse of the healthcare needs of our community and we recognize the needs of young children so we're being proactive," Niemiec said.

She also says Crusader recently got federal stimulus money and grant money to build it's new location in Loves Park because of the growing demand for it's services. And that's one way they are trying to help serve children living in poverty.

Social service directors hope the study proves slashing social service programs would only make the siutation worse.

Some agency directors said there isn't one cause to this problem, rather a cycle that spreads down from job losses, to stress at home, and then leading to children not being able to concentrate in the classroom. Then, because of the continuing financial hardships Rockford is seeing, some families are in a world of hurt.

The law also increases corporate income tax from 4.8% to 5%. Plus, it provides tax relief to lower income families. That statewide rally is scheduled for Wednesday in Springfield.