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Georgia 2007 KIDS COUNT Key Findings
Georgia
ranks 41st in the nation,
according to the 2007 KIDS COUNT Data Book--a state-by-state study
on the well-being of America's children published by the Annie E.
Casey Foundation. While this ranking is an improvement from last
year's ranking (44th), Georgia remains in the bottom 10 of 50 states,
as it has for more than 15 years.
Georgia
ranks in the bottom 10 in six categories:
47th in high school dropouts; 45th in teens not attending school
and not working; 43rd in low-birthweight babies, in teen births,
and in children in single-parent families; and 42nd in infant mortality
rate, which has remained stagnant since 2000.
Child
poverty is on the rise in Georgia. The
number of children under age 18 who lived in poverty between 2000
and 2005 has increased by 11 percent. In 2005, 20 percent of children
lived in poverty, compared to 19 percent nationally. Georgia's ranking
is 36th in the nation for this measure.
Georgia's
child population is growing more diverse.
Between 2000 and 2005, the number of children in Georgia under age
18 increased 8 percent, from 2.2 to 2.3 million. The population
of white children increased 2 percent and black children increased
8 percent; the population of Asian and multiracial children each
increased 28 percent; and the Hispanic/Latino child population increased
58 percent. The number of children in immigrant families increased
47 percent.
Georgia
has the third-highest percentage of high-school dropouts in the
country.
The high-school dropout rate of teens ages 16 to 19 decreased to
10 percent between 2000 and 2005 in Georgia, improving the state's
dropout rate by 38 percent.
The
rate of low-birthweight babies remains among the worst in the nation.
The number of babies born weighing less than 5.5 pounds in Georgia
increased 8 percent from 2000 to 2004. At 9.3 per 1,000 babies,
this rate is among the highest in America. Black infants (14 percent)
are twice as likely to be born at a low birthweight as white (7
percent) or Hispanic infants (6 percent) in Georgia.
More
than one-third of Georgia's children lack parents with secure employment.
Though one of Georgia's highest rankings at 26th, there were 789,000
children (34 percent) living in families where no parent has full-time,
year-round employment in 2005.
More
than 24,000 Georgia children are in need of a permanent family.
In 2004, 24,368 Georgians under the age of 18 lived in foster care
at some point during the year, a rate of 10 per 1,000 children.
The Georgia rate mirrored the national rate. The 2007 Essay discusses
the need for all children in care to develop strong, lasting family
connections.
How
can Georgia make greater improvements in indicators of child well-being?
- Evaluation
data has shown that in counties where Family Connection county
collaboratives focused on reducing teen pregnancy, the rate of
teen pregnancy declined faster than in counties that did not focus
on teen pregnancy reduction. Thus, focusing on improving a particular
indicator at the local level appears to have impact. More than
100 counties in Georgia address teen pregnancy in their strategic
plans.
- Work
toward achieving a 10-percent
improvement in indicators, for example by reducing one
infant death per county or having 34 more students per county
complete high school.
- Link
data outcomes with decision-making in terms of policies, budget,
and/or priorities.
- Sustain investments
in proven practices. Public/private investments in education are
moving high school dropout, low test scores, and poor attendance
from being solely a school issue to being community-based issues.
Private companies and foundations are investing in proven practices
from school within a school, to mentoring, to graduation coaching.
Pre-kindergarten programs and other early care and education efforts
have been proven to make a difference in later educational success.
- Fund local efforts
to improve outcomes; target programs or promote policies that
appear to be achieving results (e.g., home visitation, performance
learning centers, early intervention, and juvenile diversion).
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