Posted on 06/28/2006 4:21:58 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Poverty, especially deep poverty, is an increasing threat to the well-being of Wisconsin children, data released today by the Annie E. Casey Foundation show.
"From 2000 to 2004, the number of Wisconsin families that live on less than 50 percent of the federal poverty rate - or $7,835 for a family of three - nearly doubled. That's not good news," said Charity Eleson, executive director of the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group that tracks child welfare issues in the Badger state.
In 2000, 44,000 children in Wisconsin lived in deep poverty. By 2004, that number had increased to 84,000.
Based on the Casey Foundation data, which look at 10 key indicators, Wisconsin is still among the top tier of states in terms of child welfare. But it dropped three places since last year, from 10th to 13th place, slipping in six categories, improving in two and remaining constant in two.
Areas of improvement include drops in the state's infant mortality rates and in the teen birth rate. The child death rate (ages 1-14) remained constant, as did the number of children living in single-parent families. However, key quality of life indicators that have gotten worse for Wisconsin children include the percentage of low birth-weight babies, the teen death rate (ages 15-19), the percentage of teens who are high school dropouts, the percentage of teens who are neither working nor in school, the number of children living in families where no parent has full-time employment and the number of children living in poverty.
Most worrisome, Eleson said, is the continuing trend in Wisconsin toward more children living in poverty.
"The story that emerges again this year is that economic conditions for many children and their families are declining, especially at the deepest levels of poverty," she said.
Eleson noted that there had been steady improvements in child welfare during the 1990s, but that since 2000 general overall conditions have either been stagnant or are worsening.
"Economic instability has a profound ripple effect, and has an impact on health care, schools and a host of other community quality of life issues," Eleson said. She added that school performance often drops with increasing poverty rates.
Art Rainwater, Madison school superintendent, agreed that poverty among Madison school children has increased.
"There's not much question that the demographics of our schools here have changed pretty dramatically in less than a decade," Rainwater said. From 2000 to 2006, the number of children eligible for free or reduced-price meals provided by the Madison School District has increased from 27 percent to 38 percent, increasing from about 6,900 students to 9,400 students.
"With that kind of change, the prediction would be that school performance in every area might be expected to decline, but that hasn't happened," he said. "In fact, regardless of the demographics, we continue to improve. Graduation rates went from 83 percent in 2000 to over 86 percent in 2004. I'm not sure that people really realize what an accomplishment that is."
Top marks in the annual Kids Count survey go to a handful of New England states, and to Minnesota, ranked 4th, and Iowa, ranked 5th. Southern and southwestern states account for all 14 of the bottom-ranked states.
The Casey Foundation, a private charitable organization based in Baltimore whose primary mission is to improve the lives of children and families, provides the annual Kids Count data to help inform public discussion and decision-making. The Kids Count Data Book has been produced for 16 years.
Did anyone else have a similar "report" in their state news today? Doom and Gloom tends to run in cycles; if Wisconsin has more poor, illegitimate children, then I'm betting your state does, too!
This is what happens when you import 20 million poverty stricken immigrants from Mexico.
Well, looky here! Nearly 1/3 of the kids in the USA today are living in a single family home.
http://www.aecf.org/kidscount/sld/profile_results.jsp?r=1&d=1
You can look up your state stats at the link above, too.
What?? In the Socialist Workers Utopia of Wisconsin?? What happened??
Well, I've got a good 20K of them in my county (Dane), alone.
Beat me to it.
When no one verifies parents' incomes on those school forms for free lunches, it's no wonder the numbers are so large.
Surely, there's no correlation between the increase in illegals and the increase in poor kids.
Norplant in the cheese!
I'm surprised that the various welfare programs, food stamps, Section 8 housing, and EITC payments wouldn't result in a total (but non-cash) income of much more than that amount. Of course, if those items aren't counted, the 'income' figures can be made to look a lot worse than they otherwise would.
Exactly! (cf: NOLA).
Wisconsin gov't (the suckling teat if there ever was one!) is run by Madison and M'waukee liberals. The Madison crowd is in abject awe of the "progressive intelligence" of the UW faculty that they hang on every word.
Yet, wher is the Utopia of socialism? Why are there still CHILDREN (sniffle) living in poverty (sniffle, sniffle) in a State run by Democrats and their sychophants? Why?
Too many hippies, too little time, not enough ammunition.
No worries. This is nothing that a little more taxation can't fix.
correct.
nearly guaranteed way to not be poor:
1) don't get pregnant or get someone pregnant before being married.
2) finish High School.
3) don't abuse drugs/alcohol.
4) stay out of jail.
Ah-Ha! A Dr. Walter Williams fan I see? ;)
Some of them had just enough strength to crawl over and slash the tires of Republican campaign committee vans during the last election though.
Screw 'em. Let them turn to their DemonRAT politicians for help. (Hint: Kids, go over to their homes and demand some of the cash they have stashed in their freezers. Don't take "No" for an answer, they all have tons of the stuff.)
indeed a fan.
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