Report Offers Good News, Bad News on Health and Welfare of Nation's Children

Fewer kids are dying, but more of them are living in poverty.

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