BOLLINGER COUNTY RATED REGION'S SAFEST FOR KIDS

Four Southeast Missouri counties were ranked among the top 25 in the "Kids Count in Missouri" report released recently.

The counties were Bollinger, 19; Stoddard, 22; Ste. Genevieve, 23; and Perry, 25.

The report ranked the counties from one to 115 according to the well-being of children in those counties.

Osage County was ranked No. 1 and St. Louis City, considered a county by the report, was ranked No. 115.

Cape Girardeau County ranked No. 73.

Three Bootheel counties ranked near the bottom of the list -- Dunklin, 112; Mississippi, 113; and Pemiscot, 114.

Other area counties and their rankings were Scott, 85; Madison, 103; Butler, 104; New Madrid, 106.

Kids Count officials said there are some differences in respective counties that account for their ratings.

"A lot of factors are involved in determining these ratings," said Steve Lewis, who helped prepare the report.

These include adult unemployment rate and median income, child populations and percentages of total population, minority children and children in one-parent families.

In Cape Girardeau County, the report shows changes for the better in a number of categories.

A 33.5 percent improvement was noted in births to single teens, a 24 percent improvement was reported in out-of-home placements per 1,000 children, and improvements were reported in the infant mortality rate, and births to mothers without a high school degree.

Meanwhile, however, increases were noted in juvenile law violations per 1,000 children, high school completion rate, percentage of low birth weight infants and death rate ages, 1 to 14, per 100,000 children.

The medium household income decreased over the past three years 1.3 percent, to $26,757. The graduation rate for freshmen entering high school was reported at 73.6 percent, down from the 77 percent figure of three years ago.

There are 15,452 children in the county, 23.9 percent of the total population.

In Bollinger County, which was ranked 19th, only 2,861 children were reported, 26 percent of the population. Bollinger showed changes for the better in seven categories.

Increases however, were noted in juvenile law violations, violent deaths per 100,000 teens; high school dropout rates and death rate, ages 1 to 14, per 100,000 children.

SEMO RANKINGS

Bollinger County, 19

Stoddard County, 22

Ste. Genevieve County, 23

Perry County, 25

Iron County, 52

Cape County, 73

Wayne County, 83

Scott County, 85

St. Francois County, 90

Madison County, 103

Butler County, 104

New Madrid County, 106

Dunklin County, 112

Mississippi County, 113

Pemiscot County 114.