Kids Count Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Child Care Access A Barrier To Improving Child Well-Being In W.Va.

West Virginia ranked 42nd in the nation for child well-being in this year’s KIDS COUNT Data Book from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Each year, the foundation chooses a specific hurdle to improving child well-being, and this year’s focus is the state of child care.

West Virginia ranked 42nd in the nation for child well-being in this year’s KIDS COUNT Data Book from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

The data book is a 50-state report of analyzing how children and families are faring. The analysis is based on metrics, such as education, health, family and community.

Tricia Kingery, executive director of West Virginia Kids Count, said the biggest factor in the state’s ranking is its economic outlook.

“The underlying factor as to why we’re 36th in economic well-being, 47th in education, 39th in health, and 34th in family and community is the economic landscape of our state,” Kingery said. “We have to invest in working families. And that does mean jobs. It does mean benefits, it does mean child care.”

Each year, the foundation chooses a specific hurdle to improving child well-being, and this year’s focus is the state of child care.

Tiffany Gale, owner and director of Miss Tiffany’s Early Childhood Education House in Weirton, as well as the family child care chair for the West Virginia Association for Young Children, said a lack of accessible and affordable child care is holding back West Virginia.

“It is such a huge issue not only for child care in general, but also for business and economic development and for workforce participation,” Gale said. “Families cannot get to work without access to child care, and businesses cannot thrive without workers and workers need child care.”

Gale said there isn’t enough child care in the state of West Virginia to support the businesses that already exist, nor to support the businesses that are coming. Gale and Kingery both said many people who want to work cannot because they do not have reliable child care.

Beyond the immediate impact to the workforce, Gale said there is also a long-term impact from the lack of access to child care.

“Early childhood education is extremely important, because 80 percent of brain growth happens before kindergarten,” she said. “We can change the trajectory of a child’s life, and really the trajectory of communities in the first five years of care.”

West Virginia Kids Count plans to publish a more detailed, county by county report of child well-being in the fall.

Annual Report Finds W.Va. Improved on Most Markers of Child Well-Being

Over the past 30 years, the annual Kids County Data Book has been tracking things like low birth-weight babies, children in poverty and young children not in school. Researchers track if states do better, worse or the same among 16 markers of health, education, economic well-being and family life.

The new report, released this week, found that from 2016 to 2017, West Virginia improved on 10 of the 16 markers and did worse on 6. Nationally, America saw improvements on 11 of the 16 markers.

But the databook also points to places that need continued improvement. One in six American kids grow up in poverty and there’s been virtually no change to that statistic since the databook was first published in 1990. 2017 was also the first year since 2010 that saw an increase in uninsured kids — although that rate continued to decline in West Virginia from 5 to 3 percent.

Babies born with a low birth weight also increased at both the national and state level — the third increase in three years.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from Marshall Health and Charleston Area Medical Center.

Report: More than 1 in 4 W.Va. Kids Living in Poverty

A new report says more than one in four West Virginiachildren are living in poverty.

The annual KIDS Count report says the number of children living in poverty grew from 87,000 in 2008 to 100,000 in 2013, an increase of nearly 15 percent.

The report says 38 percent of children, or 144,000, were living in families whose parents lacked secure employment in 2013, compared to 32 percent in 2008.

Several other child well-being indicators improved during the same period. The death rate for children and teens declined from 36 per 100,000 to 34. The teen birth rate fell from 47 per 1,000 to 40.

Overall, the report ranks West Virginia 43rd for child well-being, down from 37th in 2014.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation released the report on Tuesday.

Study: 25 Percent of Pregnant W.Va. Women Smoke

More than 25 percent of pregnant women in West Virginia from 2008 to 2011 said they smoked during their pregnancy.

Federal data and a state health organization say pregnant West Virginia women continue to smoke at the highest recorded rates in the nation.

The Charleston Daily Mail reports that West Virginia Kids Count released the data this week. Kids Count is a nonprofit organization that advocates for children.

The organization cites information collected by the state. Information collected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows the problem could be even more pervasive in West Virginia.

In every year but one from 2000 to 2011, more than a quarter of West Virginia mothers surveyed said they smoked in the last three months of their pregnancy.

Report: Well-Being of W.Va. Children Improves

A private foundation says the well-being of West Virginia’s children has improved over the past two decades. But there are still problem areas.

A report released today by the Annie E. Casey Foundation ranks West Virginia 37th in the nation in children’s well-being.

The report is based on 16 indicators, including children without health insurance and proficiency in math and reading.

West Virginia is ranked 28th in economic well-being, 33rd in family and community, 35th in health and 46th in education.

The report is part of the foundation’s KIDS COUNT project.

Study Finds W.Va. Kids Fare Poorly Compared to Nation

A private foundation says the well-being of West Virginia’s white children is the worst in the country, while black children in the state fare slightly above the national average.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation released the findings Tuesday as part of its Kids Count project.

The report found West Virginia has the lowest score for the overall well-being of white children. Black children ranked 25th out of 50.

The report is based on 12 indicators, among them normal birth weights, preschool enrollment, living conditions and proficiency on math and reading tests.

Officials say the report should serve as a benchmark for local policy, funding and business decisions.