Kids count: Florida ranks low in child wellbeing

July 31--SEBRING -- Florida ranks 47th in child health, 44th in child economic wellbeing, 35th in the family and community category, and 30th in education. That's according to the 2016 Annie E. Casey Foundation's Child Well Being rankings.

Highlands County may be doing worse.

"We do see a lot of parents who lack secure employment," said Mary Plankenhorn, director of Champion for Children Advocacy Center in Sebring. "We deal with that on a regular basis. And we're looking at ways to improve that. Education and child care are the best ways."

The Annie E. Casey Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to building better futures for disadvantaged American children. Nationally, the foundation has seen improvements: "The past few years have brought some positive developments for families and children. Economic growth has been steady, with nearly 13 million new jobs created since the end of the recession.

"More children have health insurance," the foundation's annual study said. "The high school graduation rate is rising, and fewer teens are abusing drugs and alcohol. Births to teenage mothers continue to decline and are at a record low. These improvements in the well-being of young people are due in part to federal, state and local policies that are helping prepare the next generation for the future."

Some of those positive economic factors have yet to reach Highlands County: the June unemployment rate is 6.8 percent, compared with 4.9 percent in Florida and 5.1 percent nationally. The 2015 Highlands County census estimates 18.4 percent of the population 25 or older still don't have high school diplomas. As the foundation reported, Highlands County births to teen mothers have declined from 77.5 per 1,000 in 1995 to 35 in 2015, but the Florida average is 20.

"We do not see a lot of a lot children without insurance," Plankenhorn said. The rate of uninsured has fallen nationally since the Affordable Care Act was fully implemented in 2014, but 25.1 percent of Highlands County households don't have health insurance, the 2015 census said.

Local kids lack supervision, Plankenhorn said. Summer camps help, "But we have more kids than we can get into care. There are families that can't make it happen for a range of reasons." Some kids lack the transportation to get to places like the YMCA and the Boys and Girls Club.

In 2014, 72 percent of students were economically disadvantaged, according to statistics given to teachers last week by Andrew Lethbridge, Highlands County School District's human resources director. That number rose to 75 percent in 2015. From 2012 to 2016, the county's ranking versus the 67 Florida school districts went from 53rd to 65th. That means this school district is the third poorest in the state.

Countyhealthrankings.org said 33 percent of Highlands County children live in poverty, and not coincidentally, 38 percent grew up in single-parent households.

About 8.6 Highlands County babies per 1,000 are born weighing less than 2,500 grams -- due in part to a lack of prenatal care -- compared to 7.6 for the rest of Florida, according to the Department of Health.

Plankenhorn sees a bright spot: "We have found more children not using drugs."

There is another bright spot. Last week, the Agency for Health Care Administration announced the state percentage for preventive dental scores for children has doubled. Recipients can learn more about dental services for children and find a local dentist at ahca.myflorida.com/MedicaidDental.

However, a man who has worked with children more than four decades doesn't think the economic wellbeing of children is getting better.

"I think it's gotten worse," said Kevin Roberts, former Highlands County human services director and now the chief executive officer of the Champion for Children's Foundation. "We have better communications. We have collaboration with different agencies. We have new resources. We work with the parents that are struggling. We have a safe house for women. We have greater level of resources to help families in need.

"But we have more demands for services. It seems like there's a steady greater level of poverty," Roberts said. "Thirty-eight to 40 percent of children are raised in a single parent-family. It's been established over the years that two incomes are better, that two parents are better to work on behalf of children.

"We have more delinquent behavior, truancies or runaways," Roberts said. In Highlands County, 368 delinquent teens were referred to the courts in 2014.

The county has a higher incidence of births out of wedlock, Roberts said. "I read somewhere -- it was a couple of years ago so I can't cite the source -- that if students can finish high school and wait to get married before they have children, they can greatly reduce the possibility of living in poverty and being dependent on community resources. And I think it's probably is true."

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