Report - Safety for children in county declines

The safety and well-being of children in Cape Girardeau County declined in 2002 according to the annual Kids Count report released today by the St. Louis-based child advocacy group Citizens for Missouri's Children.

While the county's overall ranking among Missouri's 114 counties improved from 41st in 2001 to 36th in 2002, the county went downhill in eight of the 10 statistical indicators used in the report, including low birth weight infants, infant mortality, child abuse/neglect, births to teenagers and violent deaths among 15- through 19-year-olds.

"It should be a concern that outcomes are moving in a bad direction," said Ruth Ehresman, policy director with CMC. "But overall, Cape County still ranks higher than most counties in Missouri. I don't see any red flags, all of the changes were within five percent or so from last year."

The report also stated that among the 16,097 children living in Cape Girardeau County in 2002, 11.4 percent lived in poverty, 17.3 percent lived in single-parent homes, 17.6 percent received food stamps and 27.5 percent were enrolled in Medicaid.

Missouri's Kids Count project began in 1993 and is part of a network of states that produce the annual reports, which are funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Children's Trust Fund.

Small changes

Charlotte Craig, director of the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center, said although the percentages and rates fluctuated drastically between the base year of 1996 and 2002, the actual number of incidents in each category underwent relatively small changes.

"I don't feel there's any one area more significant than another on the 2002 report because the changes are so small," Craig said. "Categorically, we're still better than the state in each indicator."

Both Craig and Ehresman said in looking at the report for Cape Girardeau County, their biggest concern was the increase in child abuse/neglect cases from 109 between 1992 and 1996 to 567 between 1997 and 2001.

Ehresman said that data represents the number of cases Cape Girardeau County Division of Family Services found probable cause to investigate and also those families that were assessed and received services from DFS.

"I think it may be that in recent years more professional people, such as doctors and teachers, have become better at identifying signs of abuse and now more reports are being made," Ehresman said. "Also, DFS implemented a new system of response in 1997 that may have led to increased reports."

The new system allows DFS to perform family assessments, rather full-blown investigations, on accusations of less-serious child abuse.

Ehresman said the new system have affected the child abuse/neglect statistics in Scott County, where the number skyrocketed from 81 cases between 1992 and 1996 to 571 between 1997 and 2001.

Scott County, ranked 88th this year, improved in three categories but exceeded the overall state average in the number of births to teenagers, high school dropouts, child abuse/neglect, child deaths, infant mortality, low birth weight babies, births to mothers without high school diplomas and the number of students enrolled in free/reduced lunch programs.

Ehresman said she and other child advocates are very fearful that other counties may experience similar declines due to the impact the impending state budget crisis may have on Missouri children and their families.

The impact is already obvious in Scott County, where a cut in state funding will force the health department to eliminate the Healthy Birth Outcomes program, an outreach program that works with pregnant mothers whose babies may be at-risk.

"Infant mortality and low birth weight babies are two of our biggest concerns here in Scott County," said Barry Cook, director of the county health department. "HBO is one of our highest priority programs, but with the state budget crunch, it's going to be canceled."

Bollinger County ranked 98th among the 114 counties and city of St. Louis included in this year's Kids Count.

The county saw major declines in the categories of child abuse/neglect and violent deaths among 15- through 19-year-olds between the base year of 1996 and 2002.

According to the report, within Bollinger County's population of 3,100 children, there were 124 cases of child abuse/neglect between 1997-2001, up from 12 between 1992- 1996. There were eight violent deaths among ages 15 to 19 between 1997 and 2001, up from one from 1992-1996.

Perry County, ranked 73rd in 2002, declined in six categories but saw improvements in child deaths, the number of births to teenagers, violent deaths among ages 15 to 19 and the number of children placed in foster care.

However, Perry County was still far above the state rate of 75.9 violent deaths among children ages 15 to 19 with a rate of 108.9 deaths between 1997 and 2002.

The rates are determined through using the aggregate number of deaths between 1997 and 2001 per 100,000 children. Perry County had seven violent deaths among ages 15 to 19 out of its total population of 4,715 children.

The county was also above state averages in the categories of infant mortality, annual high school dropouts and births to teenagers.

cclark@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128

COUNTING CHILDREN'S NEEDS

Cape Girardeau County fared better than most state counties in the survey, although areas for improvement were cited. The statistics are aggregates from data collected between 1997 and 2001.

Students enrolled in free/reduced lunch programs

Cape Girardeau County -- 29.5 percent

Missouri -- 36.7 percent

Births to mothers without high school diplomas

Cape Girardeau County -- 12.4 percent

Missouri -- 18.9 percent

Low birth weight infants

Cape Girardeau County -- 7 percent

Missouri -- 7.7 percent

Infant mortality

Cape Girardeau County -- 30

Missouri -- 2,818

Child deaths (ages 1-14)

Cape Girardeau County -- 14

Missouri -- 1,389

Child abuse/neglect

Cape Girardeau County -- 567

Missouri -- 64,886

Out-of-home placement entries

Cape Girardeau County -- 85

Missouri -- 7,682

High school dropouts

Cape Girardeau County -- 4.7 percent

Missouri -- 4.3 percent

Birth to teens (ages 15-19)

Cape Girardeau County -- 112

Missouri -- 9,308

Violent deaths, ages 15-19

Cape Girardeau County -- 9

Missouri -- 1,550

Source: Kids Count 2002 report