MISSOURI WATCH: DOES MISSOURI REALLY BELIEVE KIDS COUNT?

If you listen long enough to the speeches of public officials, the campaign promises of candidates for state and federal offices and anyone attempting to enlist you to join their cause, the subject will eventually get around to the urgency of paying closer attention to the needs of our children. Even self-obsessed political zealots will include children on their need-to-do lists, recognizing that today's youth will soon become society's rank-and-file Mr. and Mrs. Average Citizen, and every politician knows enough to pay attention to the generation that is less than a decade away from becoming bona fide voters and decision-makers.

It is obvious from statistics at hand that there is a great deal of difference between "paying closer attention" to children's needs and any actual effort being made to correct some very difficult -- and long-standing -- problems of society's youngest generation. If the lip-service given to this generation was somehow equaled by the actual expended effort, there would be far fewer problems facing today's kids than now exist in Missouri. Sad to say, the reality never equals the promises.

Anyone reading the just-released "Kids Count" annual report on the status of Missouri's children will no doubt wonder what has happened to all the plans citizens have been hearing for years about visionary programs to enhance the present and future conditions of Missouri's children. The report, compiled by the St. Louis-based Citizens for Missouri's Children, provides ample evidence that the promises we have been given in the past are still just promises, with only a smattering of improvement thrown in, oftentimes as a happy consequence of other programs and efforts. For example, the lost of some of the state's kids has improved because of a generally favorable economic climate, while the condition of still others has progressed because of lower crime rates or expanded medical coverage for families.

This is not to say that no progress has been made in enhancing the lives of young children in Missouri. Some of the indices have shown improvement, although in some it has been minuscule. But judge for yourself whether there has been remedial action taken in these areas:

-- Over the past seven years, three outcome measures have actually worsened, and one of these classifications is in violent deaths.

-- More than one-third of Missouri's school-age children live in families whose income were low enough to qualify for reduced-price lunch programs. The percentage today is higher than when the study first began in 1992.

-- The percent of low birth weight infants has increased steadily over the past 13 years, despite the fact that more women are getting prenatal care and having healthier pregnancies.

-- Nearly 5,400 children in our state have dangerously high levels of lead in their blood, while only one in ten kids in Missouri has been screened for lead poisoning. Missouri has the ninth highest lead poisoning risk in the U.S.

-- State statistics show that nearly 16,000 children last year were confirmed as abused or neglected. This is a total larger than the population of Rolla.

-- More than 6,000 children were removed from their homes and placed in foster homes, relative care or residential institutions in 1997.

-- The high school dropout rate has shown some improvement in recent years but last year there were more than 15,000 dropouts from public high schools in the state.

-- More than 10,000 teenage children in Missouri has babies last year.

-- The percentage of minority children in the state continues to increase, with evidence that kids in these families are more likely to be afflicted with physical, emotional and economic problems than their Caucasian peers. For example, minority children are two to three times as likely as Caucasian kids to have low birth weights, die in infancy or adolescence, be confirmed as abused or neglected, enter out-of-home placements such as foster care or become teen parents.

-- Missourians of every political persuasion should know their state ranks 41st nationally in annual school dropouts, 40 in violent teen deaths; has a mortality rate for minority children of 185 per 100,000; and currently has more than one-third of its students enrolled in the free/reduced price lunch program, representing an actual increase over the previous year. Seven counties and St. Louis city have more than 60 percent of all students living in families poor enough to qualify for the lunch program.

It would not be accurate to declare there are no enhanced youth programs in the state, but many of these have come from federally instigated efforts to improve the quality of life for the next generation. Programs undertaken by the Departments of Social Services and Elementary and Secondary Education have reported some successes, and these should not be minimized, but as the statistics above make very clear, there is a long distance ahead if Missouri is to improve services and enhance its standing with our neighboring states.

It is difficult to name more than a dozen or so officials in Jefferson City, save paid state employees, who can be labeled effective, consistent and progressive proponents of improved living conditions for children. There are constant needs in virtually every youth area, from welfare to education to mental health, that cry out for greater attention and improved remedies. If the state capital has as many proponents for better youth programs as it does for political and partisan schemes, we might see hope for future progress. Until that time, we can only wait for statistics to shame Missourians into demanding action instead of promises from their public officials.

~Jack Stapleton of Kennett is the editor of Missouri News and Editorial Service.