National Kids Count survey finds higher infant

While infant mortality rates fell nationwide in the first years of the century, they were rising in Kansas.

So was the proportion of Kansas households where neither parent managed to hold a full-time job for a whole year.

Overall, among all states, Kansas dropped from 12th place last year to 16th place this year on 10 measures of children's well-being, according to the newly published 2007 KIDS COUNT Data Book.

Nevertheless, Kansas ranked among the nation's best on four measures, according to the data book. It had relatively fewer teenagers who'd dropped out of high school, and fewer teens 16 to 19 who neither attend school nor work.

The national KIDS COUNT report has been issued annually since 1990 by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Kansas KIDS COUNT, which provides county-level measures, was launched two years later. Kansas KIDS COUNT results were published by Kansas Action for Children, a Topeka-based advocacy group, in April.

This year's national report shows infant mortality increasing from 6.8 per 1,000 live births in 2000 to 7.2 in 2004. The state fell from 22nd to 29th in the nation.

"Despite solid performance on several indicators this year, the growing number of infants that don't reach their first birthday in Kansas may be cause for concern," said KAC President Gary Brunk.

"The trend is inching upward. It's something to pay close attention to in coming years."

The picture on a given measure sometimes is mixed. This is the case, for example, with parental employment. Here, Kansas did well compared with many states -- but more poorly than in past years.

That is, more Kansas children lived in households where one or both parents were out of a job sometime in 2005 than were in 2000 -- 28 percent compared with 22 percent -- yet the state still finished ahead of 44 others on this measure.

Kansas also does well in having a relatively low percentage of single-parent households. There, it's ahead of 42 other states.

And it's ahead of 41 in two categories related to teenagers. It has a relatively low percentage of high school dropouts and of teenagers 16 to 19 who are neither working nor going to school.

The proportion of high school dropouts relative to students who stayed in school went from 10 percent to 6 percent between 2000 and 2005 -- a 40 percent gain.

Even better is that 27 percent fewer teens died because of homicide, suicide or car crashes in 2004 than died in 2000.

In 2004, 57 Kansas teens per 100,000 dies of those causes, compared with 78 per 100,000 four years earlier.

"With the recent passage of legislation in Kansas requiring children 14 to 17 to wear seat belts regardless of their location in the vehicle," said Brunk, "we're optimistic that this positive trend will continue in coming years."

Editor's Note: KIDS COUNT is a national and state-by-state effort of the Annie E. Casey Foundation to track the status of children in the U.S. By providing policymakers and citizens with benchmarks of child well-being, KIDS COUNT seeks to enrich local, state, and national discussions concerning ways to secure better futures for all children. For the 15th year, Kansas Action for Children serves as the state's KIDS COUNT partner.