North Carolina Declines in Study of Child Well-Being
Raleigh, NC, 06.27.2006
North Carolina declines in study of child well-being
Mike Baker
With more children sliding into poverty, North Carolina has dropped back into the 10 worst states for the well-being of youngsters, according to a nationwide assessment released Tuesday.
A quarter of all North Carolina children under the age of 6 lived below the poverty line in 2004, a 32 percent increase from four years ago, according to the Kids Count survey, an annual analysis compiled by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
“It’s very distressing to see the numbers on childhood poverty,’‘ said Elizabeth Hudgins, senior director for policy and research at Action for Children North Carolina, the local partner in the study. “We’re moving in the wrong direction.’‘
North Carolina ranked 41st in the nation, down from 40th in 2005, according to the study, which includes appraisals of family income, health and education. The state didn’t crack the top half of any of the 10 major indicators of child welfare.
Among seven secondary categories, the state earned only three scores in the nation’s top half two related to math testing, where fourth graders ranked 21st and eighth graders ranked 20th, and one related to the number of children in immigrant families, a category in which North Carolina ranked 24th overall.
Gov. Mike Easley’s office, which had yet to see the report Monday, released a statement underscoring his administration’s efforts to reform the state’s school system. The state ranked as low as 46th in the survey before Easley’s election, spokeswoman Sherri Johnson said.
“Research demonstrates that when we increase the education level of our population, we will decrease the number of families living in poverty,’‘ she said.
North Carolina did see drastic improvement in the number of teenagers dropping out of high school and having babies, following national trends.
But the other regressions also mirror results across the nation, just a few years after the study showed marked improvement for disadvantaged children. Hudgins attributed the setbacks to the downturn in the nation’s economy since 2000.
To combat childhood poverty, Hudgins endorsed an increase in the minimum wage and childcare subsidies.
North Carolina lawmakers are considering additional money for the state’s childcare support program, which subsidizes the care of nearly 100,000 children and has a backlog of 30,000 children.
The governor proposed $20 million to cover almost 3,000 more children in his budget.
The report also found that more than 60 percent of North Carolina’s young children have both parents in the workforce. The state’s median income of $43,000 still ranks 42nd in the nation and is more than $7,000 less than the national median.
“We’ve got parents working and doing everything they can for their kids, but we need to make sure we’re supporting those efforts,’‘ Hudgins said. ``Right now, parents are finding the cheapest possible alternative maybe patchwork care with a neighbor which may not be the ideal place.’‘
Childhood poverty has long been tied to lesser health, education and economic stability.
The list of states that ranked worse than North Carolina included New Mexico, Louisiana and Mississippi. New Hampshire, Vermont and Connecticut were the top three states.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
