African-American and Hispanic Children Even Worse Off

By Fred Kammer, S.J.

In its report released July 28, 2009, the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 20th annual KIDS COUNT Data Book reveals once again the serious plight of children in the five Gulf South states. Together, Mississippi (50th), Louisiana (49th), and Alabama (48th) ranked last in the ratings, and both Florida (36th) and Texas (34th) were in the bottom third of U.S. states in the condition of their children.

The report utilizes ten “indicators” to measure a range of health, social, familial, and economic factors that reflect trends in child well-being from infancy to teenage years. The 2009 KIDS COUNT National Fact Sheet indicated:

• Six areas of improvement: infant mortality rate, child death rate, teen death rate, teen birth rate, high school dropout rate, and rate of teens not in school and not working;
• Four areas have worsened: low-birthweight babies, children living in families where no parent has full-time year-round employment, children in poverty, and children in single parent families.

While slight improvements since 2000 were reported nationally, the improvements lagged behind those reported in the late 1990s.  The report also is based on data for the years 2007 and 2006 and thus do not show the impact of the current economic crisis.  The indicators also vary by state and by various racial and ethnic groups (see below).  An extensive on-line database is available which includes data at the state, county, and municipal levels.

In terms of the five Gulf South states, reports and comments by KIDS COUNT state coordinators indicate serious problems continuing in the so-called “sun belt,” even in Texas and Florida.

Alabama

Ranking 48th overall, Alabama improved on four of ten measures since 2000, including the infant mortality rate, high school dropout rate, teen birth rate, and the percent of teens not attending school and not working.  On five other measures—low-birthweight babies, teen deaths, children living in families where no parent has full-time, year-round employment, percent of children in poverty, and percent of children in single-parent families—conditions worsened for Alabama children.  There was no change in the rate of children’s deaths.

Linda Tilly, executive director of VOICES for Alabama’s Children, noted that “Alabama’s rate of improvement in child well-being over the past 15 years puts us in the top 20 states in the country. If we can continue this rate of improvement we should eventually be able to leap over some other states in the relative rankings.”  The VOICES press release also noted, that in the context of worsening economic indicators nationally, “In Alabama, the percentage of children living in poverty increased from 21 percent in 2000 to 24 percent in 2007.”  Those numbers no doubt have worsened in the past two years.  See Alabama KIDS COUNT media release.
 
Florida

The KIDS COUNT report for Florida, ranked 36th among the states, indicates progress on six measures: child death rate, teen death rate, teen birth rate, percent of children living in families where no parent has full-time, year-round employment, percent of children in poverty, and, especially, percent of teens who are high-school dropouts.  The percent of children in single-parent families remained unchanged.  Factors worsening were the percent of low-birthrate babies, infant mortality, and, especially, the percent of teens not attending school and not working.

Florida KIDS COUNT is based at the Center for the Study of Children’s Futures at the University of South Florida which reports that 678,038 Florida children live in poverty.   They underscored in their press release before the national KIDS COUNT report the importance of fully counting everyone in the 2010 census, improving data collection on children and families, and the need to revise the poverty standard being used in the U.S. See Florida KIDS COUNT.

Louisiana

Louisiana, ranked 49th overall and 49th on six of the ten indicators, saw improvement on four indicators (child death rate, teen birth rate, percent of teens who are high school dropouts, and percent of teens not in school and not working.  There was no change in the percent of children living in poverty, the second-highest in the U.S. at 27%.  Five indicators reported worsening results: percent of low-birthweight babies, infant mortality, teen deaths, children living in families where no parent has full-time, year-round employment, and children in single-parent families.

Agenda for Children, the KIDS COUNT coordinator for Louisiana, emphasized that Louisiana either worsened or remained the same on the three indicators that affect a child’s economic well-being: “These trends are especially concerning because this data is based on information collected in 2007, before the effects of our current economic crisis were fully felt in Louisiana.” See Louisiana KIDS COUNT Data Book.

Mississippi

Ranking 50th overall and 50th on six separate indicators, Mississippi nevertheless saw improvement in performance on six measures: infant mortality, child deaths, teen deaths, the teen birth rate, percent of teens not in school or working, and, especially, the percent of teen high school dropouts (reduced from 15% to 8% since 2000).  On four indicators conditions worsened for Mississippi children: percent of low-birthweight babies, percent of children living in families where no parent has full-time, year-round employment, percent of children in poverty (now 29%), and percent of children in single-parent families (44%).

The Social Science Research Center at Mississippi State University, in its capacity as Mississippi KIDS COUNT coordinator, noted the importance of these indicators to child development: “Children who grow up in environments that are healthy, safe, educational, and economically secure have the best opportunity for optimal development, which allows them, as adults, to fully participate in society and contribute to the economy that we all depend on.” They noted the encouraging signs in child death rate, reduced dropouts, and other factors.  However, they quoted with approval the remarks of Dr. J. Edward Hill, Past President of the AMA: “Until we in Mississippi …[are] willing to make the necessary investment and sacrifices in education and health to improve the overall well-being of all our citizens, we will remain last.” See Mississippi KIDS COUNT Data Book.

Texas

Ranked 34th overall, Texas saw improvements in five areas and worsening in five others.  Improvements were in: child deaths, teen deaths, teen birth rate, the percent of teen dropouts, and the percent of teens not in school or working.  Worse, though, were: low-birthweight babies, infant mortality, and the three economic factors (percent of children living in families where no parent has full-time, year-round employment, children in poverty, and children in single-parent families).

The Center for Public Policy Priorities, in its capacity as the Texas KIDS COUNT coordinator, reported, “The economic expansion in 2007 left Texas children behind.  That year, the number of Texas children living in poverty increased to 1.5 million, or nearly one of every four children in the state.”  KIDS COUNT Director Dr. Frances Deviney wrote, “The question remains: will Texas continue to be one of the worst states for child outcomes, or will we make the necessary investments in public structures that encourage child health and economic security? As a Texan, I’ve never liked being the worst in anything.  That’s not who we want to be.” See Texas KIDS COUNT Data Book.

African American and Hispanic Poor Children

If the overall picture of children in the United States and in the Gulf South raises alarms among observers, how much more should the state of our children of color?  To take a single indicator from the KIDS COUNT data—child poverty—the following charts show the percentage of children in each racial and ethnic group living in poverty and the number of such children in each state.  These figures are even more sobering.  In the U.S., the overall picture of child poverty looks like this:

Seeing the picture of child poverty at the state level also can highlight the impact of regional factors and sectional history (slavery, legal segregation, de facto segregation, discrimination) on the poverty of minority children**:

*Totals exceed the five larger racial and ethnic group numbers because only persons selecting a single category were counted in the individual categories, not those who may have designated more than one, e.g. Black and Hispanic.  The totals, however, are of all poor children.
**Reliable statistics on all five of the larger racial and ethnic groups reported nationally were not available in KIDS COUNT for each of the Gulf States; where not reliable, they are not included.

If the well-being of our children determines the future of our country and our region, then policy-makers and citizens alike have much about which to be concerned.  To follow the logic of Doctors Hill and Deviney, above, we need to be making much greater investments in the health, education, and economic and social well-being of our children to create a future society that reflects the common good and Christ’s preferential love for the poor and vulnerable.