Kids Count report claims Missouri ranks 31st overall

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The state of Missouri may rank 31st nationally when it comes to the well-being of its children, but a host of measures show their lives improved slightly through the 1990s.

The Kids Count report, an annual national report of childhood well-being, which was being released Wednesday, it showed Missouri tied the national rate in five of the 10 categories used to measure success between 1990 and 2000.

The national data lags behind state reports. Missouri, for instance, released its 2001 data in January. Kids Count does provide an easy-to-use comparison of states with one another and with the nation as a whole in 10 categories, officials said.

Cande Iveson, senior policy analyst for Citizens for Missouri's Children, a St. Louis nonprofit group that prepared the statewide Kids Count report, said the report emphasizes how vulnerable children are to a sluggish economy and possible cuts in social services.

"The message of this book really is how hard it is for low income families to put it together and keep it together," Iveson said Tuesday.

Statewide, between 1990 and 2000, improvements were reported in eight of the 10 categories. They include: infant mortality; child deaths; teen deaths; teen births; teen high school dropouts; teens not attending school and not working; children living with parents who don't have full-time year-round work; and children living in poverty.

Missouri saw a 5 percent increase in the number of single-parent families over the decade. It also saw a slight increase -- from 7.1 percent in 1990 to 7.6 percent in 2000 -- in the number of low birth-weight babies. Compared to the national snapshot, however, Missouri was below the national average in two categories. Teens ages 16-19 not attending school and not working was 7 percent statewide, 1 percent below the national rate.

Missouri also was slightly below the national rate when it came to children living with parents who do not have full-time, year-round work (23 percent Missouri, 24 percent nationwide).

Missouri was above the national average in three categories: number of infant deaths, teen deaths and teen birth rate.

In 2000, there were 51 deaths for every 100,000 teens ages 15-19 nationally. That figure was 74 for Missouri.

Iveson said the majority of teen deaths in Missouri result from wrecks. She pointed to 2001, when 365 teens died statewide. Fifty-five percent of those resulted from a motor vehicle accident; 22 percent homicide; 13 percent suicide.

"We're probably never going to get across to teens that they can have accidents, too," Iveson said.

Changes in 2001 to state driving laws to restrict teenage driving hopefully will help lower that rate, she said.

The report, based on government data, found that between 1990 and 2000, Missouri tied the national average in:

Low birth-weight babies, 7.6 percent.

Births to teenagers, 27 percent.

Teenage high school dropouts (age 16-19), 9 percent.

Children living in poverty, 17 percent.

Single-parent families, 28 percent.

"I really think we could do better by our kids," Iveson said. "We're riding the wave, but we're not putting a lot of effort into rowing Missouri's boat."

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On the Net

Kids Count report: www.kidscount.org