Report Offers Good News, Bad News on Health and Welfare of Nation's Children
Categories: In The News, Daycare & Education, Research Reveals Tweens, Research Reveals Teens
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More kids are staying in school, according to the report. Credit: Getty Images
That's part of the good news and bad news coming out of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, as it released its annual KIDS COUNT Data Book July 27.
First, the bad news: Researchers for the foundation found 18 percent of America's children lived in poverty in 2008. That's at least a million more than in the year 2000, and the number is probably actually higher. In a press statement, foundation officials say upcoming census figures will probably hike the number up to 20 percent.
"We won't be able to assess the full impact of the economic downturn on children and families for a number of years," Laura Beavers, national KIDS COUNT coordinator at the foundation, says in the statement. "The economic data that the Census Bureau will release later this year will give a better picture of family economic well-being in the recession. However, even data from 2008 that was collected before the recession took hold shows economic conditions were worsening for kids."
Now, the good news: Teenagers are staying in school. In 2008, more teens were either in school or had earned a high school diploma (or an equivalent) than their counterparts eight years earlier. These numbers reflected students in all racial and ethnic groups.
The teen birth rate also fell -- from 48 births per 1,000 girls in 2000 to 43 births per 1,000 in 2008. The lowest rate in the 21st century so far was 40 births per 1,000 in 2005.
Taking into account all the factors that affect young people, the best places for kids these days are Oregon, New York, Maryland, North Carolina, Illinois and Wyoming.
Montana, South Dakota, Maine, Alaska and Hawaii ranked at the bottom.
Fact sheets with breakdowns on the data for each of the 50 states are available on the foundation's website.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation is a private charitable organization designed to promote public policies regarding human service reforms that help vulnerable children and families. Its annual data book often is cited by policymakers and advocates on issues affecting kids, families and communities.
"Our KIDS COUNT project has made significant strides in tracking results and compiling data on children and families during the past two decades," Patrick T. McCarthy, the president and CEO of the Casey foundation, says in the press statement. "But the reality is that we can only go so far without needed improvements to our data collection systems. None of us has a good grasp on the conditions facing America's children because state and federal agencies collect data too infrequently, and often do not measure what really matters for kids."
Foundation officials make four recommendations in the report.
1. Expand the National Survey of Children's Health. This survey was conducted in 2007 and is not scheduled again until 2011. As a result, foundation officials say, it's not possible to fully gauge the effects of the economic crisis on children.
2. Change the way we measure poverty. The lack of a modern poverty measure has created a serious gap in the knowledge about how children are faring, officials say.
The current poverty measure is based on spending patterns typical of the 1950s and doesn't capture non-cash benefits such as food stamps and child care.
3. Increase the sample size of the American Community Survey. The survey could be an even more valuable tool to gauge child well-being measures if the sample size were increased to provide more precise data for urban neighborhoods and sparsely populated rural communities, foundation officials say.
4. Keep better vital records. Over the past few years, significant gaps and delays in compiling key data on health have occurred, foundation officials say. This has resulted from years of underinvestment at the National Center for Health Statistics and difficulty implementing recent changes to birth and death certificates.
To correct these lags, the foundation recommends Congress make a one-time appropriation of $30 million to help states transition to the new forms, modernize the Vital Statistics system and then provide additional funds to support this key data stream.
Related: Amazing Kid: Teen Helps Break the Chains of Poverty Through Literacy
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Colleen 7-28-2010 @ 4:35PM
How in the heck is Oregon on here? The teachers are being fired left and right, and health-wise, I don't think they're faring much better because there are a lot of smokers in Oregon.
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Katie 7-28-2010 @ 4:45PM
Good God Colleen! You're Right! Those nasty evil doer's "The Smokers:" are making it difficult for children all around them. They probably seek children out at the park and on playgrounds so they can blow smoke into their faces. Yes, it is the smokers that caused your transmission to fall off your car! It is the smokers that caused global warming! It's the smokers who are firing all those teachers in Oregon! Of course, those evil, nasty smokers are also paying hefty, HEFTY taxes on their smokes and that money goes right into the state coffers for use in any program they deem necessary. Of course, Oregon can be as stupid as Washington State. Washington has taxed the cigarettes so much that a pack costs almost $10.00! Then, when they needed more money, they taxed the cigarettes more. THEN, the state made it impossible to smoke anywhere! Then they wondered why their revenues dropped! So as the "do-gooders" stood around and nodded their heads when the taxes on cigarettes were increased, the quit nodding their heads when the state made it impossible to smoke anywhere, so smokers have gone elsewhere to buy, the state still needed money, so now they're raising the taxes on bottled water, candy, and chips! They ain't nodding now because one of the freedoms they took for granted was being taxed! Well, there you have it...Evil Smokers!!! We're responsible for the weather too!
sdshell140 7-28-2010 @ 5:49PM
I was also wondering how Oregon is best for kids. We have class sizes of 40+, teachers are being laid off, head start is being cut, and health care is a joke. Look again, Oregon should never have made this list!
Lindsey 7-28-2010 @ 7:21PM
Neither should New York -- everything you say about Oregon is happening in NY. The "Fat Tax" on sodas and soft drinks, high cigarette tax so it costs $15 a pack, a governor that's threatening to shut down the state, kids still on a waiting list for entrance to public school even AFTER the school year begins, high tuition and fee's for state universities, cutting of social welfare programs, etc. I can't imagine the other states if this is considered one of the best!
Ralphie Boy 7-28-2010 @ 8:01PM
Colleen, the coordinator for the group has the last name of Beavers. So, maybe she is a graduate of Oregon State and couldn't resist entering Oregon? Yes, I'm joking.
J L Barnes 7-28-2010 @ 4:22PM
How could things be getting better? We have a man in office and his cronies that are running up the debt so they can buy votes from the illegals they refuse to stop.
If we let him get away with it there will be no jobs for our children, no health care, an education system that indoctrinates them in the glories of socialist marxism and the total erosion of our rights. God is being banished by the politically correct left.
If we they are lucky enough to survive all this they will probably not survive nuclear attacks by North Korea and Iran because like all other threats to our nation obama does nothing.
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Katie 7-28-2010 @ 4:36PM
What the @#$ are you talking about??? The man in the White House has nothing to do with the mess the Republican cronies left this country in! The Presidency is just a "figurehead" It's the Congress that passes idiotic laws that help protect their fat republican asses!
DJ 7-28-2010 @ 4:46PM
Mr. J.L. Barnes needs to take some U S History, Political, and Common Sense classes as the so-called information in your comments do not reflect the truth or the facts. The debt was put in place by the Bush era and while everyone screams about the deficit, they don't understand it at all. And on that subject, if you look at the Bush tax cuts to the wealthy and what allowing them to expire at the end of the year would do for the deficit, you'd be singing a different tune.
It is low-information voters like you that make it worse for all of us. You need to be a part of the solution and not part of the problem.
There are plenty of fact-checking web sites that you could go to. If you are living on less than $100,000.00 a year, you really need the facts about the shenanigans of each party and see what and who is doing for us the middle class. Since Mr. Obama was elected, those sour grapes GOP's have tried to stop or water down anything good.
How about just watching the news on the tv each evening or learning about the bills before the Congress (Senate and House of Representatives) or figuring out the path each action means when it reaches us.
You cannot learn about real problems like immigration, etc. from someone sitting on the next bar stool. Accomplish something for once in your life and learn something helpful and truthful. It only takes a free membership card to your local library.
fred jackson 7-28-2010 @ 5:34PM
I think you need to pull your head out of the sand and check off what has been accomplished so far. Except for us natives you are all ailians
Mary Ann 7-28-2010 @ 6:11PM
Wrong!!! Bushes admin caused the deficit. Bush put us into 2 wars. The money was not there. Our current Pres. is doing the best he can with what he has. Bush bailed out wallstreet banksters and they got thier bonuses on our dollar. Bush destroyed the middle class jobs and we all are suffering from it. Stop watching the Fox News for Dummies channel and learn some facts.
Kris 7-28-2010 @ 4:55PM
The author of this article misinterpreted the info. The 5 states that he lists at the top and the bottom are not accurate! If you look at the individual state data, New Hampshire scores first. Maine is 14th, not in the bottom last. And Oregon and NY are NOT in the top 10. This gives journalists a bad name.
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B 7-28-2010 @ 5:32PM
The debt was NOT created by the BUSH admin. Who gave all the idiots out there sub prime loans for nothing down, and then let them refinance everytime they wanted a new toy. Clintons admin was responsible for the bad sub-prime lending. All Obama has done is made it worse, by giving more bad loans.
You need to get it right DJ. Dont be blinded. Bush might not have been perfect but you cant blame are debt on him. The war in Iraq costs nothing compared to all the morons forclosing on there loans. Obama is a very, very scary individual, he was a key player in the Clinton White Water scandal where most of the witnesses went missing or mysteriously died. He doesn't have any USA flags in any of his offices. He still has not provided a valid birth certificate. Don't even start on the health care plan he doesn't even understand.
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jenn 7-31-2010 @ 9:16PM
actually the bush admin. was responsible for the debt as well as the wall street idiots whom the bush admin. helped make their billions....do some actual research instead of regurgitating what everyone else writes....
Seriously 7-28-2010 @ 6:30PM
Perssonally, I would be happy to live anywhere in Hawaii. Even in a tent on the beach!
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Kalyn Denae 7-28-2010 @ 8:02PM
@Katie:
Hmmm.....you seem like you either need a cigarette or a nicotine patch. Or a Midol. Chill, lady. It's bad for your health, and second-hand smoke is even worse, since the people around you DON'T HAVE A FILTER LIKE YOU DO. Don't attack someone because they dislike something that has been proven to cause severe, if not fatal, health problems.
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Beth 7-28-2010 @ 6:36PM
The states referenced in this article are completely incorrect- they don't match up with what is listed on the fact sheets linked in the article. Minnesota is the #2 state in the nation (according to its fact sheet), and it doesn't appear in the article. The #1 state is New Hampshire, and the #50 state is Mississippi.
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Janet Anderson 7-28-2010 @ 6:44PM
This article was very poorly researched. The five states that you name a best are the five states that IMPROVED the most and all of them had a LONG way to go. The same is true of the five states you names as worst. Those were the five states that SLIPPED since the late report.
The Kids Count report released on July 27, 2010 gave these five states as BEST for kids in the order named: New Hampshire, Minnesota, Vermont, Utah, Massachusetts.
The five worst for kids were: #50 Mississippi, 49 Louisiana, 48 Arkansas, 47Alabama, New Mexico 46, and South Carolina 45.
You need to read the information on which you base your articles closely enough to get it correct.
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Ed Sweeney 7-28-2010 @ 7:26PM
Why would our politicians care about chrildren, they don't VOTE.
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Jeremy 7-28-2010 @ 7:13PM
Having grown up in Maine I'm glad to see it's finally come out against the state's propaganda. They always sell it here like Maine is a great place to raise kids; YEAH RIGHT! With NO job market, lots of terrible school districts and a population that outright berates kids for wanting to be something other than a housewife or fisherman, this is no place to grow up.
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Kris 7-29-2010 @ 1:05PM
Maine actually scored as number 15. The author of the article messed up on the states he listed as the top 5 and bottom 5. I can't believe he hasn't corrected it yet! I grew up in Maine and love it. Also love raising my kids here. We have great jobs, beautiful home, good schools...can't ask for more.