HOW WE SEE IT: State Needs To Do Better For Children

NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — The 2010 Kids Count Data Book, an annual ranking of the states on the well-being of children, was released this week.

Uh oh. For Arkansas and the rest of the South, that usually means bad news. This year is no different.

The 2010 Kids Count rankings - compiled by the Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation - are based on 10 equally weighted criteria covering education, health and the economy. Overall, Arkansas came out No. 48 in the country - one place lower than last year.

Ouch. Only perennial bottomdwellers Louisiana (No. 49) and Mississippi (No. 50) ranked worse.

A closer look at the data used to arrive at these rankings offers some glimmers of encouragement for Arkansas. Based on statistics from 2007 and 2008 - the most recent data available from the U.S.

Census - Arkansas’ infant mortality rate, child death rate, teen death rate and teen birth rate have all decreased since 2000.

Nevertheless, we still have much work to do to catch up with national averages in these categories. In 2007, for example, Arkansas’ teen death rate was 93 per 100,000 teens ages 15 to 19, compared to the national average of 62.

In other categories, such as percentage of low-birthweight babies and percentage of children living in single-parent families, Arkansas regressed over the past decade.

Organizing these data and rankings is a useful exercise, and we thank the Annie E. Casey Foundation for doing it. Even if it’s painful to hear, it’s also helpful to know how we’re doing in relation to the rest of the country.

The question, of course, is what to do about it. How does Arkansas move up the rankings rather than down?

There is no simple answer. The well-being of children is a reflection of a state’s overall quality of life. Many factors play into that.

Happily, Arkansas has taken some steps recently that we hope will make a difference for kids. The implementation of a statewide trauma system should significantly reduce the number of fatalities on our highways, and therefore reduce Arkansas’ teen death rate. Auto accidents are the leading cause of teenage deaths.

Improving in other categories highlighted by the Kids Count survey is more complicated. How, for example, do we change Arkansas’ percentage of children living in singleparent families (36 percent in 2008, compared to a national average of 32 percent)?

The Kids Count Data Book’s findings should linger in the minds of all those who call themselves policy makers or leaders in our state. Arkansas must be known as a place that knows how to take care of its children if it wants to achieve respect on a national scale. The status quo just won’t do.