California Ranks Among 10 Worst States for Child Welfare

by Anna Challet
Posted Monday, July 08, 2013 9:03 AM
 
From New America Media:
 
California came in at 41st in a nationwide ranking of children’s well-being, according to a report released last week.
 
The state ranked just ahead of Texas, which finished in 42nd place. New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts earned the highest rankings, while Nevada, Mississippi, and New Mexico ranked lowest.
 
The report, released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation in partnership with Children Now, determined rankings by taking into account the state’s performance in 16 areas, including graduation rates, parental unemployment rates, and the percentage of children who are uninsured. California placed 41st in 2012 as well.
 
Jelena Hasbrouck, Children Now’s member recruitment manager, called the findings “alarming” and said they “signal a need for those in our state that want to improve children’s lives to collectively work together for greater impact.”

The state fared worst in children’s economic well-being, where it placed 46th in the nation. In recent years, California has worsened in all four areas that the study uses to determine economic well-being – the percentages of children living in poverty, children whose parents lack secure employment, children living in households with a high housing cost burden, and teens not enrolled in school who are unemployed.
 
Notably, over 50 percent of California’s children live in households with a high housing cost burden, compared to 40 percent of children nationally. Over 75 percent of children from low-income families in California live in households where housing costs exceed 30 percent of the family’s income.
 
Nearly one in four (23 percent) California kids lives in a family whose income is below the federal poverty level, up from 17 percent in 2007. Of those, 37 percent are American Indian, 34 percent are African American, 31 percent are Latino, 14 percent are Asian or Pacific Islander, and 10 percent are white. Seventeen percent are members of two or more races.