The foundation has released its annual KIDS COUNT data book, which evaluates the wellbeing of children in each state based on factors such as economic well-being, education, health, and family and community.
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“There are some bright spots for New Mexico in the Data Book this year”, said Veronica C. García, Ed.D., executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, which runs the state’s KIDS COUNT program. Pat McCrory and state lawmakers “continue to reject available federal money to close the health insurance coverage gap for parents, which would provide families with freedom from medical debt and the ability to address health issues that can keep them out of work”. We know the best possible thing kids can have is conversations with their parents.
Reacting to the Kids County report, NC Child said recent policy decisions and inadequate public investment are “perpetuating the status quo and are powerful barriers to advancement”. The Data Center allows users to create rankings, maps and graphs for use in publications and on websites, and to view real-time information on mobile devices.
Alabama had ranked 44 in 2014 and 45 in 2015. She also says Louisiana children rank 7th in preschool attendance and literacy has improved.
Zalkind says when you break down those numbers by race and ethnicity, you see that both black and Latino children are over represented in outcomes that are not as positive.
It ranks 38th in economic well-being, 27th in education, 16th in health and 37th in family and community.
OR is also doing better at making sure kids have healthcare coverage: the percent of children without health insurance fell by over 60 percent since 2008.
One of the areas with marked improvements was teen birth rates, which in 2008 was 49 per 1,000, and in 2014 was 29 per 1,000. The national average is 24 per 1,000, an all-time low.
Between 2008 and 2014, New Hampshire also saw a rise in the percentage of kids living in poverty, kids whose parents don’t have secure jobs, kids living in single-parent families and kids living in high-poverty areas, according to the report.
He said one in three children in the state live with families for whom housing is or almost is unaffordable.
Colorado consistently ranks at the top of national lists for livability, access to the great outdoors and for low adult obesity.
On a positive side, more children are graduating from high school on time, at 76 percent, a vast improvement from 67 percent in 2007, the data shows.
But the statistics in the economic well-being categories have gotten worse. From 2006 to 2010, only 9 percent of children lived in high-poverty areas.
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Vermont is tied with MA for the lowest rate of children without health insurance, at 2 percent. In North Carolina, NC Child helps assemble the data for the state.
