Tulsa World: Children faring worse in state

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Children faring worse in state
An annual report on children shows Oklahoma lagging behind the rest of the U.S.

By MIKE AVERILL World Staff Writer
Published: 7/29/2009 2:25 AM
Last Modified: 7/29/2009 3:32 AM

Oklahoma dropped to 44th nationally in child well-being, according to a national report that ranks states on 10 health indicators.

The state ranked 43rd last year, 42nd in 2007 and 38th in 2003, according to the 2009 Kids Count Data Book, released annually by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

The study found that Oklahoma improved on three of the indicators and worsened on six.

The state also fares worse than the national average on all but one indicator. The percentage of low-birthweight babies is on par with the national average of 8.3 percent.

The biggest improvements were in high school dropout rates — falling to 8 percent from 14 percent — and the number of teenagers who are not in school and not working — to 9 percent from 11 percent.

The percentage of poor children in Oklahoma increased to 22 percent in 2007 from 19 percent in 2000.

The child death rate — meaning the number of deaths per 100,000 children ages 1 to 14 — rose from 25 in 2000 to 29 in 2006.

The national average was 19 in 2006.

Desiree Doherty, executive director of the Parent Child Center, said, "It is so disheartening to see Oklahoma rank even lower yet again, but when I stop to think about the fact that we're the only state in the nation where the physical health of its residents declined in the last decade, have one of the highest rates of mental illness and the largest rate of women in prison, I guess I should not be surprised.

"It causes me to think about how much more there is to do and how much more needs to be invested in making sure kids have what they need," Doherty said.

Although the number of confirmed cases of child abuse and neglect is not one of the 10 key indicators, the report shows a 1.3 percent decrease in that area.

Anne Roberts, executive director of the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy, said the study is a good news, bad news situation.

"The good news is the area of child welfare, where the rates of child abuse have gone down for three years in a row," she said. "That's a testament that we are really paying attention to that area."

"The bad news, unfortunately, is teen pregnancy rates are going back up," Roberts said.

According to the report, teenage pregnancies have increased nearly 3 percent during the last three years.

"Everyone knows the outcome of teen pregnancy: girls drop out of school, they have no job skills or parenting skills," Roberts said.

"Their kids grow up in poverty and the cycle continues," she said. "Teen pregnancy is an issue we have to tackle so our kids get good job skills and can become successful, compassionate adults."

The reports lists New Hampshire, Minnesota and Utah as the highest-ranking states and Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi as the lowest-ranking states.

Biggest improvements

43 percent: decrease in teenagers who are high school dropouts

18 percent: decrease in teenagers not attending school and not working

6 percent: decrease in infant mortality rate (deaths per 1,000 live births)

Biggest declines

16 percent: increase in child death rate (deaths per 100,000 children ages 1 to 14)

16 percent: increase in percent of children in poverty, defined as income of less than $21,027 for a family of two adults and two children.

Changes are from 2000 to 2007

Mike Averill 581-8489
mike.averill@tulsaworld.com By MIKE AVERILL World Staff Writer

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Some reader comments for this story were copied from "Oklahoma drops to 44th in annual child health study," which was published on 7/28/2009.

	Report Comment ForWhatIt'sWorth, (7/28/2009 9:44:34 PM) And many will still claim we'll be "worse off" with socialized healthcare. At least then our declining health would be much less expensive...
	Report Comment Bud Green, No (7/28/2009 10:12:30 PM) Well, at least we'll have the 10 commandments at the Capitol, church lady Sally praying for things to get better and Inhofe denying that anything is wrong.
	Report Comment Ayo, T-Town (7/28/2009 10:49:58 PM) LOL, Bud Green, you beat me to it. That's exactly what I was thinking. Well there you have it: “It is so disheartening to see Oklahoma rank even lower yet again, but when I stop to think about the fact that we’re the only state in the nation where the physical health of its residents declined in the last decade, have one of the highest rates of mental illness and the largest rate of women in prison, I guess I should not be surprised." "Teen pregnancies increasing". One of the most religious states in the union......well, okay, one of the states with the most churches, and here we are with a high teen pregnancy rate. I just shake my head. The church goes lambast Planned Parenthood, and do everything possible to hinder having the choice for abortion. I guess the southern political tenet is working out well since the lowest ranking states are all moral majority states.
	Report Comment tfromtulsa, Tulsa (7/28/2009 11:28:34 PM) Right, Ayo, blame the high teen pregnancy rate on religion. Maybe you can give us the source for your "facts".
	Report Comment Loki, Broken Arrow (7/29/2009 12:11:43 AM) Documented results from private sector competition in health care. Judging from spittle content of "birther" conspiracists, Oklahoma's mental health standing is going to plummet as well.
	Report Comment Ayo, T-Town (7/29/2009 12:13:47 AM) Maybe you can give us the source for your "facts". * Promotion of abstinance only. * Anti-sex education * Anti-Planned Parenthood
	Report Comment Ayo, T-Town (7/29/2009 12:16:24 AM) The religiouscrats fight anything and everything that would promote easy access to birth control. Hey tfromtulsa, have you heard of a girl named Bristol Palin? Yeah lady, abstinance works.
	Report Comment cholzer, sperry (7/29/2009 7:38:01 AM) My daughter and I have just spent the worse two weeks of our lives trying to get help for her newborn son. He could not hold anything down and both his doctor, his doctor's nurses and the emergency room told us we were over reacting and one doctor (actually the one in this story) implied it was a 'social problem.' Only after going to St Francis did we get a proper diagnosis and after two days of stablizing him for dyhydration was he given surgery to correct the condition. St Francis told us he was the worse case of dyhydration they had ever seen. He is fine now but if we had listen to the doctors and believed we were just over reaction, instead of taking home a healthy baby we would have been planning a funeral. Do we wonder why our state is number 44?
	Report Comment flyingnurse, (7/29/2009 9:18:26 AM) How interesting that people would rather throw stones than begin to deal with the problem. I'm a flight nurse in rural Oklahoma and see the root causes of many of these problems on a daily basis. 1. Poorly maintained, narrow rural roads. 2. Parents who cannot seem to put seat belts on their kids, OHP could write A LOT of tickets for this! 3. Communities run by a few "old-timers" or a core group of folks who want nothing to change. When there are no decent jobs, nothing to do but screw, get a new tattoo or piercing, no wonder we have a teen pregnancy rate like we do! 4. Child poverty is related to the above...How about developing some decent paying industrial jobs? Not everyone in the United States needs to be a computer-savvy techno-geek. I live and work in the Oklahoma oil patch, with some of the hardest working people I have ever met. Why can't we build stuff here? What about a nuclear power plant in Cushing? How about a spark plug factory in Drumright? Is it time to begin to BUILD things here? 5. Stop blaming the religious right? I am the religious right! I make it to church most Sundays, raise 2 respectful, well-educated homeschool kids, work full time and go to school as well. I also have some realistic goals, notions and expectations of how to make middle America good again. Perhaps if a few more folks went to church on Sunday, they's be less likely to drink themselvs to oblivion on Saturday night, and more likely to be ready to go to work on Monday morning. Hey politicians...WAKE UP! We want normal things.. build stuff with steel made in Sand Springs, make power in Oklahoma! Wind energy is nice, but how about something that will make jobs for many years? Just my thoughts!
	Report Comment lynn213220, Broken Arrow (7/29/2009 12:29:17 PM) cholzer, I agree with on that. When my son was 5 weeks old we took him to the ER in Poteau( we were visiting family) because he was pale and throwing up real bad. They kept trying to tell me he had the flu. I said bull and brought him home and took him to his ped. and he said he would have to be running a fever to have the flu at 5 weeks old. He ended up diagnosing him with pyloric stenois and he needed surgery to correct it. If I would have listened to those docs in Poteau he would have died from dehydration.
	Report Comment Bedazzled, (7/29/2009 2:04:52 PM) The Republican GOP Administration only seems to care about the unborn child but not after birth.
	Report Comment tfromtulsa, Tulsa (7/29/2009 2:43:04 PM) Ayo - Rational thought doesn't seem to be one of your strong suits.
	Report Comment CWG, Tulsa (7/29/2009 4:49:16 PM) More people than admitted voted for Obama.
	Report Comment cholzer, sperry (7/29/2009 8:45:56 PM) Lynn That is exactly my grandson's condition.
	Report Comment Incredulous, (7/30/2009 8:24:59 AM) Well, at least we tax the groceries the children eat.

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