KIDS COUNT data book e Annie E. Casey Foundation 2012 state trends in child well-being [...]... given equal weight in the overall index For a detailed description of the methodology used to calculate the index, visit datacenter kidscount.org/databook /2012 The Annie E Casey Foundation | aecf.org 2012 kids count data book Understanding the Revised Index Figure 2 New KIDS COUNT Index Economic Well- Being ––Children living in ––Children in poverty households with a high housing cost burden ––Children... Foundation | aecf.org 9 Index A New kids count Index Since 1990, KIDS COUNT has ranked states annually on   overall child well-being using an index of 10 indicators Over   time, we changed some of the indicators to replace weaker measures with stronger ones, but the overall scope of the list remained consistent During the two decades that we have produced the KIDS COUNT Data Book, research on child... changes in the well-being of children Assessing trends by looking at changes over a longer period of time is more reliable State-level data for past years are available at the KIDS COUNT Data Center (datacenter kidscount.org) The KIDS COUNT Data Book utilizes rates and percentages because that is the best way to compare states to one another and to assess changes over time within a state However, our focus... Survey 24 The Annie E Casey Foundation | aecf.org 2012 kids count data book A Better Measure of Poverty and the Role of the Social Safety Net The revamped KIDS COUNT Data Book continues to use the official federal poverty measure for state-level child poverty rates However, this statistic measures only the cash income available to families, without accounting for many safety net supports that a family... child well-being indicators for the 50 largest cities (including the District of Columbia) are available at the KIDS COUNT Data Center Additionally, the Data Center contains some data for children and families residing in the U.S Virgin Islands The Annie E Casey Foundation | aecf.org 2012 kids count data book What’s Excluded We excluded a wide range of additional variables from our new child well-being... that were too closely related were replaced with indicators that tracked different critical areas of child well-being (For a more thorough description of the KIDS COUNT index review and revision process, please visit datacenter.kidscount.org/databook /2012. ) health and education outcomes as well as risk and protective factors, such as economic well-being, family structure and community context The index... ended up in roughly the same place in the rankings as they did last year Note that data for indicators included in the previous index but not in the new one are still available at the KIDS COUNT Data Center (datacenter kidscount.org) 15 Trends Status of Children The following pages present a detailed portrait of the well-being of America’s children At the national level, this year’s Data Book presents... high-poverty areas 2006–10 2000 11% 9% 22% Teens who abuse alcohol or drugs 18 2009 2005 2008–09 2005–06 7% 8% -13% Teen births per 1,000 2009 2005 39 40 -3% The Annie E Casey Foundation | aecf.org 2012 kids count data book Figure 4 National Key Indicators by Race and Hispanic Origin ECONOMIC well-being Overall Trends in Child Well-Being Comparing the data from pre- and postrecession time frames reveals... bottom 25 across all four domains,   the remaining states were somewhat mixed   For all states, the index illuminates bright spots and room for improvement The Annie E Casey Foundation | aecf.org 2012 kids count data book IW TC EM Overall Child Well-Being by State AM We derive a composite index of overall child well-being for each state   HN by combining data across the four domains: (1) Economic Well-Being,... AK DE WV FL VA GA TX TN KY SC OK NC MS South State trends in child well-being The Annie E Casey Foundation | aecf.org MD LA View an interactive version   on the Data Center at:   datacenter/kidscount.org/ databook /2012/ 21 CS Economic Well-Being Domain Rank North Dakota Nebraska Iowa South Dakota Wyoming New Hampshire Minnesota Kansas Virginia Connecticut Massachusetts Vermont Utah Maryland Wisconsin . the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2012 KIDS COUNT Outreach Partners, please visit datacenter.kidscount.org/ DataBook /2012/ OutreachPartners.aspx. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS CONTENTS . still face serious fiscal challenges. 2012 KIDS COUNT DATA BOOK 6 The Annie E. Casey Foundation | aecf.org 2012 kids count data book A Mixed Picture for