County Gets Mostly Good Marks for Children’s Care

A new study that paints a grim picture of the economic outlook of children in California shows that Ventura County youngsters continue to be healthier and better educated than their peers across the state.

In its annual county-by-county comparison, Oakland-based advocacy group Children Now ranks Ventura County above average in a range of areas surveyed to gauge the well-being of children statewide, including providing prenatal care, preventing teen births and preparing students for college.

But Children Now officials caution that those findings, like all the others incorporated in the study, deserve a hard look by community leaders and policy makers to ensure that the county maintains its standing as a good place for kids to live.

“People who live in Ventura County need to ask themselves some tough questions,” said Lois Salisbury, executive director of the advocacy group that today will release its annual report card.

“There’s little doubt that these data suggest that while your averages look great, they mask a lot of struggling families and kids who are living on the margin,” Salisbury added. “These families are very much a part of Ventura County, as they are a part of California.”

Indeed, taken as a whole Ventura County ranks better than average in many areas surveyed by the advocacy group.

The county has the state’s sixth highest median family income, about $59,000 a year, and last year had a lower unemployment rate, 6.5%, than the state average.

It also had the third lowest infant mortality of the state’s 58 counties, 5.8 per 1,000 births. And it ranked fifth best in providing prenatal care.

“There are very good correlations between good prenatal care and successful outcomes for children,” said Dr. Gary Feldman, county public health officer. “When you do things of a preventive nature, it’s so hard to find outcomes in health statistics. But I think all in this county have done a very good job in this area over the past five years, and we see the payoff in the numbers, and that’s thrilling.”

However, Ventura County perhaps is not doing as well as it should--given its relative affluence--to curb child abuse and keep students from dropping out of school.

While the report chronicles a decrease in the number of child abuse reports filed with the social services agency--71 per 1,000 in 1994 compared with 69 per 1,000 last year--Salisbury points out that the county ranks 17th in the state for such reports, leaving room for improvement.

Likewise, Ventura County’s student dropout rate, ranked 29th among the state’s 58 counties, also deserves a harder look in light of the area’s economic advantages. The dropout rate was 3.5% last school year compared with 3.1% the year before.

“It isn’t good to inch up even a little,” said county Supt. of Schools Charles Weis. “I would hope and expect that local boards of education and local administrators would take a look at that and see what could be done to keep kids in school.”

The Children Now study also ranked the county No. 1 in the state for keeping children out of foster care.

Last year, foster care placements totaled 601 cases or 3.3 per 1,000 children.

Children Now officials say the ranking is most likely a positive sign that points up a solid support system to help hold together families in crisis. But like all the information in the report, even it deserves a second look

“It could also mean you’re just lucky,” Salisbury said. “These things require being teased out and looked at very carefully. County officials would do well to establish baseline indicators and ask themselves from year to year, what are we doing to make things better.”

* STATEWIDE: Report paints a bleak picture for economic well-being of California’s children. A3