MISSOURI, ILLINOIS SCORE LOW IN TAKING CARE OF CHILDREN

Asked to inventory the resources of Missouri, people immediately list such things as plentiful timber regions, abundant mineral deposits, rich farm land and access to major rivers, among other things. In fact, the most valuable resource this state, and any state, has is its people. And in taking care of the next generation of this resource, Missouri has shown itself to be below par. Illinois has done even worse. While we understand some reasons the dismal statistics are as they are, we can't in any rational way -- not to mention a human way -- shrug off the implications of being so wasteful with what is so valuable.

The Kids Count Data Book is an annual measuring stick for the progress (and lack of progress) states make in providing for their children's health, safety and education. Compiling and crunching government statistics, this survey weighs a variety of indicators ranging from mortality rates to numbers of children in single-parent homes. What it shows this year is that Missouri ranks 34th in the national composite of these indicators (up from 36th a year ago) and Illinois ranks 39th (the same as last year). The usual states (New Hampshire, North Dakota, Vermont) top this list for child well-being, and Missouri and Illinois find themselves, unfortunately and perpetually, in the bottom third. The question begs: Why?

There are some historical reasons. In Missouri, there are two large metropolitan areas whose urban problems (not unique from those of other major cities) help swell some statistics counted in this survey. Obviously, the number of teens killed violently in urban St. Louis surpasses the numbers recorded in Fargo or Montpelier. Further, there are parts of Missouri, particularly in the Bootheel, where poverty has deep roots and momentum in changing that is hard to attain. (Most of the states that rank lowest are southern ones, including some that abut the lower reaches of Missouri; cycles of poverty that contribute to this may extend back to the Civil War.) Similar historical factors hold true for Illinois, where Chicago ranks high in the number of severely distressed neighborhoods (along with some other medium-sized cities) and where many rural counties (especially in the extreme southern part) have seen generations of indigence.

Though Missouri inched upward in its composite ranking from last year, the state continues to see a downward trend with most indicators. In the period between 1985-91, the latter year being the most recent supplied for the Kids Count review, Missouri sadly outdistanced the national trend in percent of low birth-weight babies (11 percent to the bad), percent of births to single teens (32 percent worse than 1985) and teen violent death rate (32 percent worse). In Illinois, the teen violent crime arrest rate was 71 percent higher than it was in 1985, and the teen violent death rate was 42 percent higher.

What are the answers? They aren't exactly elusive, nor are they exactly easy to make work. Education is required to make neo-natal care a reality, but plenty of programs exist to get the word out to even the least advantaged of our citizens. The same can be said for programs that try to grab at-risk students and hold them in the education system; adding more bureaucracy and more expense is not the solution to raising graduation rates. Crime remains a slippery problem at numerous levels, yet in this case the nation's leaders would do well to concentrate first on how to reverse the trend of so many young people dying in violent environments.

Finally, so much of the plight of young people can be expressed under a broad umbrella called "personal responsibility." Will a pregnant woman take advantage of available knowledge and resources to protect her unborn child? Will a teen abstain from sex? Will a parent grab a job training opportunity and work to lift a family out of poverty? Will a young person reject the option of solving a problem with a handgun? These are circumstances that contribute to the grim accounting in this survey, and they are hard to legislate.

We lament the low standing of Missouri and Illinois in such a national ranking. We lament further the sad loss of valuable resources -- our young people -- to situations that are historically hard to turn around and realistically out of the control of many of those directly affected.