The high points for Florida: dramatic drops in teen births and children living in poverty, according to a national study.
By Associated Press
Published June 3, 2004
TALLAHASSEE - The percentages of teen girls having babies, children living in poverty and children dying before age 14 have all dropped significantly since the mid 1990s, according to a national study of child health and welfare indicators.
But Florida still ranks 34th out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia - the same as last year - in the annual Kids Count report on 10 indicators of child health and well-being to be released today by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
The report uses data from 2001 on a wide range of indicators to paint a statistical picture of how well children are doing in each state.
Taking a long view, the news is mostly very good for Florida.
The most dramatic change is in the birth rate for girls of ages 15-17. It was 36 per 100,000 in 1996 and dropped to 26 per 100,000 in 2001. That's a 28 percent decline.
And a figure of 24 percent of Florida children living in poverty in 1996 had dropped to 18 percent in 2001, a 25 percent improvement.
But both statistics reflect that the state still lags behind much of the rest of the country in measures of children's success. Nationally, there were 33 births per 100,000 girls ages 15 to 17 in 1996 and 25 per 100,000 in 2001. The national child poverty figures were 21 percent in 1996 and 16 percent in 2001.
The only measure where Florida ranks in the top half of states is in the teen death rate, where Florida is 24th.
In 1996, Florida had 54 deaths not due to illness per 100,000 teens of ages 15 to 19. The rate had improved to 51 per 100,000 by 2001.
In all, Florida saw improvement in eight of the 10 key indicators of child well-being tracked by the foundation. The percent of teens who are high school dropouts stayed the same over the five-year period at 12 percent. The only indicator that got worse was the percent of low-birth-weight babies, which rose from 7.9 percent in 1996 to 8.2 percent in 2001.
Researchers pointed to another disturbing trend: 14 percent of Floridians between 18 and 24 don't have jobs, aren't in school and don't have a college degree.
Nationally, most indicators also improved. The study linked some of the improvements to general economic growth in the late 1990s and improvement in government programs aimed at helping children.
A leading children's advocate said it was encouraging that Florida was moving toward national averages on a number of indicators.
But Roy Miller, president of the Children's Campaign Inc., said some children - those in foster care and the juvenile justice system - still are at risk for not successfully becoming adults.
"By not addressing the needs of the foster care kids we're creating in our society a permanent underclass," Miller said.
State Children and Families Secretary Jerry Regier pointed to other positive figures, including increases in adoptions and a drop in the number of children in state care.
"These are just a few examples of the recent progress made by the Department of Children and Families, but there is much more work to be done," Regier said.
