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2010 KIDS COUNT Report: NM Back in Bottom Five States in Child Well-Being

Persistent child poverty, high teen birth rate keep NM in bottom ten

ALBUQUERQUE—New Mexico’s national ranking slid to 46th in this year’s KIDS COUNT Data Book; down from last year’s 43rd. The report, released annually by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, ranks the states on ten indicators of child well-being, ranging from the prevalence of low birth-weight babies to child poverty and teen death rates. New Mexico has ranked in the bottom ten since the Casey Foundation began issuing the report in 1990, and more often than not in the bottom five.

“New Mexico has made some important investments in child well-being over the last eight years,” said Christine Hollis, who directs the KIDS COUNT program for New Mexico Voices for Children, “particularly with the launch of NM Pre-K and increased per-pupil expenditures in our K-12 system. But we still lag behind the rest of the nation when it comes to making kids, especially those from underserved populations, our top priority in budget and policy decisions. Until we do, New Mexico will be unable to achieve greater economic success,” she added.

“What’s even more sobering,” Hollis continued, “is that the economic data, which come from the 2008 American Community Survey, do not yet reflect the worst of the Great Recession. As we receive more data that reflect recent budget cuts in programs that serve children, the worse this picture will get.”

Of the ten indicators, New Mexico ranked lowest on the teen birth rate (49th in the nation), closely followed by teen death rate and the percent of children in single-parent families (both at 48th). Next are the percent of children in poverty, and percent of teens who are not in school and are not high school graduates (both at 47th). The one bright spot is the state’s infant mortality rate (13th in the nation); the only indicator for which New Mexico does better than the national average.

“If we break down some of these indicators by race and ethnicity,” said Hollis, “we can see that some of New Mexico’s children are not doing as well as others. For example, although, our overall teen birth rate is 66 per 1000 females (ages 15-19), among Hispanic teens the rates is approximately 80/1000. Native American youth have the highest rates of mortality from motor vehicle accidents and suicide.

“Our child poverty rate – which is almost 25 percent – is probably the most telling factor,” said Eric Griego, Executive Director of NM Voices for Children. “Child poverty is a very accurate predictor of school success, which in turn affects graduation rates, incarceration rates, and the state’s overall economic well-being,”

Although New Mexico’s overall poverty rate for children under age 18 is 24 percent, the situation is worse for children of color – with 40 percent of Native American children in poverty, 30 percent of Hispanic children, and 25 percent of African American children. Nationally, greater percentages of Native American, African American, and Hispanic children live without securely employed parents than Asian and non-Hispanic white peers.

While things are likely to get worse before they get better, some changes on the horizon offer potential for improvement.

“First, the state needs to commit to implementing the federal health reform,” said Griego. “Also, we need to act on the nationally-accepted fact that high quality early childhood programs improve outcomes for children from birth into adulthood. We would be seeing far fewer of these disturbing statistics year after year if we invested earlier and more seriously in our kids.”

The entire report is available online at www.aecf.org <http://www.aecf.org> . More information and other reliable data regarding child well-being are available on the New Mexico Data Center page at http://datacenter.kidscount.org/nm.

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