Georgia still failing its kids, says report

By Craig Schneider

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia once again stands among the 10 worst states for the care of its children, and some worry that the state has become complacent about its poor performance in such areas as infant mortality, child deaths and low birth-weight babies.

The state lags behind the national average on every one of the 10 measures in the 2010 Kids Count data book, a compilation of state and federal information that will be released today.

Georgia ranked 42nd in the nation for infant mortality; 43rd for children living in a single-parent home; and 45th for teens not in school and not working, according to the report, which is compiled by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Georgia received an overall ranking of 42nd in the study, the same as the prior year. Georgia has failed to break out of the 10 worst states for seven of the past eight years. New Hampshire ranked in the No. 1 spot; Mississippi brought up the rear.

The state's troubles with poverty and education continue to hurt its children, but worse, the continued difficulties have led some advocates to suspect that many in the state have given up on doing better, said Taifa Butler, spokeswoman for the Atlanta-based Family Connection Partnership, which worked with the foundation to produce the report.

Some people see these issues as pertaining to someone else's children, she said. "Some people just throw up their hands and say, ‘Oh, well,' " she said.

But she believes these concerns could eventually affect the entire state.

"This is about the health of our children and teens, and if they're not healthy now, what does the health of our state look like down the line?" Butler said.

The figures in the report are for 2008 and do not reflect the recession that began late that year. Poor economic conditions likely would exacerbate problems facing Georgia's children.

Some gains from prior years are already slipping, according to the report.

The number of teen deaths has risen every year from 2004 to 2007, the last year of data in the report. The teen death rate had dropped in 2004 to 68 deaths for every 100,000 Georgia teens. But that number increased to 73 per 100,000 in 2007.

The report noted that virtually all of these deaths are preventable. Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of violent teen death, the report said.

Georgia also saw an increase in births to teen mothers in 2007, revealing further slippage in an area that had improved during several years.

"Teen childbearing is strongly associated with poverty, low birth weight, infant mortality, poor health and school dropout," said Family Connection executive director Gaye Smith.

The Kids Count report revealed some improvement in certain areas. The state's dropout rate decreased about 50 percent from 2000 to 2008, to 8 percent. But the report noted that it still exceeds the national average of 6 percent. The authors of the report credited the increased use of graduation coaches in schools and strong efforts to enhance opportunities for technical education and work-ready programs.