Something Has to Give : With the Plight of Children Worsening, It’s Time for Action

The news that came in from the FBI last weekend about declines in violent crime in Orange County and the nation were encouraging. However, lest any complacency set in about the overall health of the social fabric, it is worth reflecting also on the local Conditions of Children report that was released only two days earlier.

That report, put together by the Orange County Partnership for Children, a coalition of nonprofit and government agencies, found a startling descent into poverty for children in the county between 1990 and 1994. Overall, the report discerned that in such areas as teen pregnancies, single parents, child support, school crowding, use of drugs and alcohol and violent behavior, children are worse off than they were at the beginning of the decade.

To balance these grim findings, there were some encouraging points. For example, more women are receiving early prenatal care, infant mortality is down, and more kindergarten-age children are receiving immunizations. But if medical care has improved, it is cause for alarm that for too many of the children in the county, the umbrella of protection and nurturing has broken. These findings tend to validate the concerns of many ordinary citizens that in society today there is a crisis.

This is especially disheartening in Orange County, which is, after all, an affluent area. But as The Times outlined in a series of articles late last year, the overall number of have-nots has worsened in the county. Moreover, while many residents say it is the job of charities, not the government, to help the poor, too few give money to help. The recession and bankruptcy also have contributed to some of these problems.

Some of the solutions remain the same. For example, more affordable housing is needed in a county where rents are high. About 200,000 of the county’s 2.5 million people were found to live below the federal poverty line. There are beds for fewer than one in every 12 homeless people.

But what to do? If people want less government and expect more from private giving, something has to give. Clearly, the county is going to have to make some choices about budgetary priorities as it emerges from bankruptcy in order to address the slippage in the welfare of children. The degree to which society meets their needs or fails to do so is a measure of the health of contemporary civilization.

The new president of United Way of Orange County, Maria Chavez-Wilcox, observes that the report was itself an example of good coordination between agencies. Such cooperation ought to be an inspiration to find creative solutions for the problems themselves.