State Improving on Child Safety Issues, Study Finds

Although quality of life for many of its children remains far from ideal, California is doing better at guarding their safety, with declines in the number of child abuse cases, gun injuries and teen births, according to a new study by the advocacy group Children Now.

The California Report Card 2001 issued by the Oakland-based group compiled recent statistics in education, family economics and health and safety. It gave the state and each county a mixed progress report.

In Ventura County, for example, more than one-third of school-age children come from low-income families and one in six live in poverty, although the county’s median income tops $53,000 and ranks fifth in California.

The findings illustrate a growing challenge facing the county’s public schools and those across the state to ensure that all children receive an equal education regardless of economic background, child advocates say.

And it means policymakers--from state legislators to local school boards--must strive to increase access among low-income children to high-quality child care as well as preschool and after-school programs, said Amy Dominguez-Arms, vice president of Children Now.

“The point is that K-12 education isn’t going to accomplish what it wants to accomplish unless we address these other factors in children’s lives,” she said.

Elsewhere in the study, Ventura County stood out. It was ranked No. 1 in the state for expectant mothers who receive prenatal care in the first trimester. The countywide infant mortality rate has decreased during the last three years, from 7.5 per 1,000 in 1997 to five per 1,000 in 1999, the latest figures available.

The number of children in foster care, 4.2 per 1,000 in 2001, was well below the state average of 10.7 per capita, according to the report.

“That’s an indication that fewer children are in disruptive home lives that would require them to be transferred out,” Dominguez-Arms said.

Conversely, the county ranked 48th in the percentage of a family’s minimum-wage income needed to pay the rent. According to the report, 78% of a monthly minimum-wage paycheck would go to pay the average Ventura County rent of $811 for a two-bedroom apartment.

The county also was near the bottom of the list in terms of eligible families receiving Women, Infants and Children federal food subsidies, with only 56.1% of those eligible families receiving coupons, the report said.

Significant gains were made in Los Angeles County, whose large population drives many state trends. The numbers of Los Angeles County children in foster care dropped to 13.1 per 1,000 in 2001, from 18.7 in 1997. The number of gun injuries decreased to 282 in 1999 (the latest year for which data are available) from 415 in 1997, while 113 gun deaths were recorded in 1999 compared with 145 in 1997.

Los Angeles County also recorded sharp drops in child abuse cases, with 53.1 reports per 1,000 in 2000 compared with 71.2 reports in 1996. Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties all showed increases in the number of expectant mothers receiving prenatal care compared with past years.

Performance Tied to Economic Conditions

The stronger economy through the end of the year helped ease some social problems affecting children, while public and private programs also contributed to those improvements, the study suggested.

But it also indicated that shaky economic and social conditions continue to harm many of the state’s children and their school performance.

According to the annual study, about 47% of school-age children statewide live in families with low incomes (less than about $32,653 for a family of four), while 20% of children live in poor families (with incomes of less than $17,650 for a family of four.)

One out of every five California children (1.85 million) lacks health insurance, the seventh-highest uninsured rate among all states. Fewer than 40% of eligible children got free or reduced-cost school breakfasts. Subsidized after-school programs are available for less than half of all 5- to 14-year-olds in low-income families.

The study found a disturbing divergence in school resources across the state and even within counties. In Los Angeles County, only 75% of teachers are fully credentialed, compared with 91.8 in Ventura, 91.7% in Orange and 95% in San Diego counties. Within Los Angeles County, the study compared two elementary schools--Balboa Gifted Magnet in Van Nuys and West Vernon Avenue Elementary--which scored the highest and lowest on the state’s year 2000 Academic Performance Index: 100% of Balboa’s teachers were credentialed, compared with 44% at West Vernon; 79% of parents at Balboa had college degrees versus 17% at West Vernon; 15% of students qualified for free or subsidized lunches at Balboa, compared with 100% of students at West Vernon.

Child Care Costs Families More

One startling figure is that child care is now one of the largest family expenditures, with full-time toddler care costing more than 50% of the fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment in almost every county. In Los Angeles County, monthly child care costs for an infant in 2000 were $653, compared to an average monthly rent of $766. The numbers in Orange County were $720 for child care versus $891 for rent; in San Francisco $893 for child care, compared to $1,251 for rent.

“What it comes down to is that taking care of kids, our most precious resource, is one expense that we ask parents to foot most of the bill,” said Shelley Waters Boots, research director for the California Child Care Resource & Referral Network.

“It’s hard for middle-income families, but the trade-offs for low-income families--child care versus food, having a safe neighborhood to live in and taking care of health needs--are severe.”