Advertisement The 2008 Kids Count study says Wisconsin ranks 12th among the states for child well-being, the same as last year but down from the beginning of this decade when it was listed in the top five.
"Wisconsin still ranks among the best in the country. However, I think there are many places where there could be improvement in the state," said Laura Beavers, one of the authors of the report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation in Washington, D.C.
New Hampshire ranked highest, followed by Minnesota and Massachusetts. Mississippi was last, behind New Mexico (48th) and Louisiana (49th).
Among the 10 indicators, Wisconsin ranked highest in a category that looks at stable parental employment, tying for seventh with five other states. Nationally, 33 percent of children live in homes where no parent has full-time, year-round employment. The figure is 28 percent in Wisconsin. Children in these homes are more likely to lack health insurance and to live in poverty, the study says.
Of the 10 measures, Wisconsin fared worst in infant mortality and teen death rate, finishing 21st in each case.
For every 1,000 births in Wisconsin, 6.6 babies die in their first year. Beavers called the rate "disconcerting," especially since there have been no signs of improvement in recent years, she said.
The state's teen death rate decreased by 3 percent. It was one of three categories in which the state's statistics improved. The other two were the teen birth rate, which decreased by 14 percent, and the percentage of high school dropouts, which declined by 17 percent.
On the negative side, the percentage of state children living in poverty increased from 12 percent in 2000 to 15 percent in 2006. Wisconsin ranks 16th in the nation on this indicator.
This is particularly troubling because Wisconsin's economy was still pretty good in 2006, Beavers said. "There's been a much sharper downturn since then, so this gives you a little pause," she said.
The poverty line for a family of two adults and two children in 2006 was $20,444.
This year's study put a special focus on the country's juvenile justice system. It found that for every 100,000 youths ages 10-15 in Wisconsin, 132 are in custody. That's higher than the national rate of 125 per 100,000.
Minority juveniles are five times more likely to be in custody in Wisconsin then white juveniles, a ratio that exceeds the national figure of 3-to-1.
Jill Jacklitz, acting executive director of the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, said that while Wisconsin has long been one of the best places in the country for children to grow up, state residents can no longer take that status for granted.
"There are too many areas, such as child poverty and racial disparities in juvenile justice, in which we're not doing very well," she said.
2008 KIDS COUNT STUDY
The annual survey uses available data to measure the educational, social, economic, and physical well-being of children state-by-state. The 10 core measures are:
To read the full report, go to
www.aecf.org.
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