TERRE HAUTE —
Indiana ranks 31st in the nation in overall child well-being, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2012 KIDS COUNT Data Book.
The 23rd annual KIDS COUNT Data Book, released today, tracks the well-being of the nation’s children on a state-by-state basis. The Indiana Youth Institute compiles Hoosier statistics for the report.
The Data Book looks at how U.S. children are faring, assessing states based on 16 indictors of child well-being. The 16 indicators are organized into four domains — economic well-being, education, health, and family and community. The report also provides state rankings in each of the four domains.
“Our overall rank is pretty much holding steady,” said Bill Stanczykiewicz, president and CEO of Indiana Youth Institute. “We are always in the lower third of the rankings. If we improve in an area, then generally the nation as a whole is improving in that area.”
Stanczykiewicz said the best value of the data is not the overall state ranking, but in looking at one ranking at a time.
“Child poverty, sadly, has been the story in Indiana during the last decade,” Stanczykiewicz said, noting that the rising percentage can be traced to three factors of the past decade:
• An increase in children born into single-parent families
• The loss of manufacturing jobs
• The influx of immigrants, who often begin their residency on the low end of the economic ladder
On the positive side for Indiana, however, is the leveling out of the percentage of low birthweight babies born in the most recent five years reported.
Indiana ranked 24th among states for economic well-being of its children. The national trend is that 22 percent of children are living in poverty, and Indiana reflects that trend. That is a 29-percent increase since 2005 when only 17 percent of Hoosier children lived in poverty.
A look at six counties in the Wabash Valley shows that 27.5 percent of Vermillion County children younger than 18 live in poverty, while Vigo County has 27 percent of its kids living in poverty. Clay, Vermillion, Sullivan and Greene counties are close to the state average.
Data from 2011 on public school students receiving free or reduced-price lunches show that almost half of all school children in the Wabash Valley receive assistance. For 2011 in Vigo County, 51 percent of students were in the free or reduced-price lunch program, while Parke County had 54 percent of its students enrolled, and Clay County had 50 percent of its students receiving free or reduced lunch. Other counties are close behind — Vermillion had 48.9 percent, Sullivan had 48.2 percent, and Greene had 44.2 percent enrolled.
The state average of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch is 46.7 percent.
In another category, the state average for child abuse and neglect is 14.5 per 1,000 children younger than 18. Some area counties exceed that average. In Greene County, 23 of every 1,000 children are shown as abused or neglected. In Vermillion County, the per 1,000 rate is 19 of every 1,000. Other county rates are Sullivan at 17.7, Clay at 10.2, Parke at 9.5, and Vigo at 16.1
In education, Indiana ranked 36 of 50 states, while the health of children ranked 34th, and the family and community category ranked 31st.
Other data about Indiana, and the nation, can be found online at www.datacenter.kidscount.org.
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Study: Child poverty increasing in Indiana
Hoosier youth in bottom third of overall well-being
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