[Utah] Child advocates see poverty rise

from The Deseret News

Group is tracking nearly 30 bills that directly impact children

By Angie Welling
Deseret Morning News

As Utah budget-makers consider their priorities over the next two weeks, advocates for children hope they take note of one vital fact: 12.5 percent of the state's children lived in poverty in 2003, an increase of more than 10,000 from the previous year.

That fact, and others in the annual Utah KIDS COUNT released Thursday, are effective tools to guide policy decisions now being made on Utah's Capitol Hill.

"The budget is the ultimate policy document. It's hard to find either a tax issue or a budget issue that doesn't somehow relate back to the well-being of kids," said Karen Crompton, executive director of Voices for Utah Children, which put together the 2006 KIDS COUNT. "The intent (of the book) is, as always, to help inform the public debate about how can we best meet the needs of children in our state," Crompton said.

Each area of analysis, from health to safety to education, is impacted by children's economic security, said Terry Haven, Voices' KIDS COUNT director.

"Any program or policy that's going to lift children or families out of poverty is going to have a positive effect on the indicators," Haven said.

This year's book notes some positive data, such as fewer children reporting use of drugs and alcohol and fewer pregnancies for girls between 10 and 14 years old. However, the rates of sexually transmitted diseases in teenagers, particularly chlamydia and gonorrhea, saw a huge increase. Of particular concern is that of the 1,286 chlamydia cases in 2005; only 260 of those were males.

"What that's telling us is the males are not going to be tested, which means that they can pass it along to more and more females," Haven said.

Violent crime among juveniles also dropped, but the number of substance abuse offenses went up from 2003 to 2004.

Other areas related to the well-being of children remained essentially unchanged, such as in the areas of prenatal care, low-birth-weight babies and infant mortality. That, Haven said, "is a good and a bad thing. It would be nice if we were making some headway on some of these things."

She was heartened, however, by the finding that, for the first time in her 10-year history with KIDS COUNT, the number of substantiated cases of child abuse and neglect decreased by about 200 children.

Which isn't a lot, Haven acknowledged, but is still encouraging. "If you look at significance, it's probably not a huge number. But to me, it was really important."

Voices for Utah Children is tracking nearly 30 bills that directly impact Utah children, including one that would allow children aging out of foster care to continue to be eligible for Medicaid until they turned 21 and another that would raise the asset test for Medicaid eligibility.

The group also wholeheartedly supports HB107, sponsored by Rep. Kory Holdaway, R-Taylorsville, which would establish a voluntary full-day kindergarten program for low-income or underserved children.

"It is designed to close a gap that has been identified within our state," Holdaway said Thursday. "I see this as a preventative measure."

The creation of all-day kindergarten programs is recommended in a section new to KIDS COUNT this year assessing the school readiness of Utah children. Early childhood programs, such as the federally funded Head Start program, allow children to begin school mentally and physically ready to learn.