Alabama ranked 45th in annual survey of child well-being
An annual report released Wednesday ranked Alabama’s 45th nationally in child well-being. While this is one spot higher than the year before, analysts observed Alabama’s improvement is largely the result of other states showing poorer outcomes as opposed to Alabama’s child well-being improving.
The study from the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2023 Kids Count Data Book ranked each state by analyzing 4 data categories including economic well-being, education, health, and family and community. Each category contains 4 indicators, defining 16 indicators in total.
Other states with the lowest child’s well-being include Mississippi, Louisiana and New Mexico.
The strongest category for Alabama was education at 39th. The weakest was health and family and community which were tied at 45th.
Alabama’s ranked in the top percentile for two indicators, including third for the percentage of high school students not graduating on time (9%), and ranked 15th in the rate of children without health insurance (5%).
Alabama ranked in the bottom five of three indicators including low birth-weight babies (10.4%), child and teen deaths per 100,000 (44%) and teen births (23 per 1,000 births).
Out of the total 16 indicators of children’s wellbeing, Alabama saw a decrease in eight, an increase in five, and no change in three compared to last year’s data.
Rhonda Mann is the Executive Director of VOICES for Alabama’s Children, a nonprofit organization that provides the research for Alabama’s Kids Count Data. Mann and VOICES attribute the national decrease of children’s well-being to COVID-19. Their 2022 Data Book focused on that factor.
Even though Mann was disappointed in Alabama’s national rankings, she said the focus should be on improving Alabama’s numbers rather than comparing the state to others.
“That’s the problem with rankings. You can move up and improve how you do compared with other states, but not actually move the needle to improve child well-being,” Mann said.
One key improving Alabama’s ranking, according to Mann, is increasing accessibility to child care.
“Child care is the workforce behind the workforce. If we don’t have child care, parents are going to have difficulty going to work and that’s going to impact employers,” Mann said.
Despite the results of this year’s report, Mann remained optimistic.
“Everyone should be interested, concerned, but understand what the data is saying. We’re not failing. We just have a lot of work to do,” Mann said.
Alabama’s prison population sees troubling growth in latest DOJ report
For the first time in nearly a decade, U.S. prison populations are trending up. Alabama's numbers are a part of troubling gains across the Gulf South.
A narrowing Republican presidential field will debate in Tuscaloosa Wednesday
Four candidates will be on stage at the University of Alabama for their last scheduled meeting before the Iowa caucuses kick off the presidential nominating season next month. Former President Donald Trump, the race’s clear front-runner, will not be among them.
Place, Erased: A virtual listening session with the Gulf States Newsroom; RSVP now
Join us as we listen to the recent series about towns transformed by major environmental shifts and talk with the reporters about what they learned.
Tuberville is ending blockade of most military nominees
Tuberville’s blockade of military promotions was over a dispute about a Pentagon abortion policy. The Alabama Republican said Tuesday he’s “not going to hold the promotions of these people any longer.”
Man featured in ‘S-Town’ podcast shot and killed by police during standoff, authorities say
Joseph Tyler Goodson was shot by officers after he barricaded himself inside a home and “brandished a gun" at officers early Sunday, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said. Bibb County Coroner Patrick Turner said that Goodson was pronounced “brain dead” Tuesday night at a hospital.
The next Republican debate is in Alabama, the state that gave the GOP a road map to Donald Trump
The state that propelled George Wallace, a Democrat and four-term governor, into national politics is now dominated by Republicans loyal to Donald Trump, another figure who leans heavily on grievance and white identity politics.
