INDIANAPOLIS (AP)
— Health and education are continuing to improve for children in Indiana,
but the state is still struggling with high rates of child poverty,
according to an annual national report released Tuesday.
Indiana ranked
32nd in the country for overall child well-being in this year's Kids Count
data book by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
The state fell
five spots from its ranking in the foundation's report last year. The
change reflects significant improvements in five other states, not
worsened conditions in Indiana, according to the Indiana Youth Institute,
which promotes healthy development of the state's children.
"You certainly
don't want to see the state you live in drop five spots in the ranking,"
said Glenn Augustine, interim CEO of the institute. "But that doesn't mean
you're not making progress in your state. ... It's important to see the
progress being made."
The institute
promotes healthy development of the state's children by providing tools
and information to the individuals, organizations and communities that
impact their well-being.
The report
measures the well-being of children in each state using four categories:
health, education, economics, and family and community. Indiana improved
in 11 out of 16 indicators in those groups.
More children in
Indiana have health insurance and healthy birth weights compared to
previous years, and fewer teens are giving birth or abusing drugs and
alcohol, the report found. The state still ranked 35th for its overall
health rating.
Marking its best
ranking yet in the annual report, Indiana inched up one spot to 25th for
overall education. The progress was partly due to improvements in
graduation rates, math scores and the gap in school performance between
the state's white and Hispanic students, according to the Indiana Youth
Institute.
About 22 percent
of Indiana children were living in poverty in 2013, the most recent year
for which data was available. That figure was the same as the previous
year, but the number of children living in high-poverty areas rose
slightly from 11 percent to 12 percent.
Indiana ranked
23rd for overall economic well-being, with 30 percent of parents lacking
secure employment in 2013. That's the same figure as 2012, but slightly
worse than 2008, when 28 percent of Indiana parents lacked secure
employment.
"It's
disheartening to see this trend get worse since the height of the
recession in 2008," Augustine said. "Historically, poverty lags behind
other indicators in a recovery that follows a major economic downturn, and
many Hoosier families are still struggling to provide basic living
expenses."