But I have to wonder: as these groups come forward demanding more money, is anybody — whether journalists or state agencies — investigating the services that are being provided, the mandates imposed on the providers, or the nuts and bolts of the organizations providing them?

Such stories typically evince no trace of skepticism about the claims of the providers and to be based wholly on the assumption that they’re selfless and doing all that can be done for all the right reasons.  Maybe they are, maybe they’re not, or maybe they’re good people caught in a corrupt system, but journalists seem seamlessly and maybe unconsciously to jump from the existence of a problem to the conclusion that more money is the answer.