A searing New York Times examination of one homeless girl’s life in New York City is calling national attention to poverty and homelessness and their long-term impact on children. As author Andrea Elliott writes:

One in five American children is now living in poverty, giving the United States the highest child poverty rate of any developed nation except for Romania.

This bodes poorly for the future. Decades of research have shown the staggering societal costs of children in poverty. They grow up with less education and lower earning power. They are more likely to have drug addiction, psychological trauma and disease, or wind up in prison.

The five-part series delves into the conditions faced by 11-year-old Dasani, her seven brothers and sisters and her troubled parents, all living in a single room in a decaying family shelter in Brooklyn. Dasani and her siblings are among more than 22,000 homeless children living in New York City.

In California, more than 220,000 public school students were homeless in 2011. About 23 percent of California’s children live below the federal poverty level, echoing national trends. However, families can earn well above the poverty level and still struggle to make ends meet. In 2012, about 58% of California’s public school students qualified for free or reduced price school meals, a program for low-income children.

More information on child poverty and homelessness can be found at kidsdata.org:

Homeless Public School Students (California Only)
Student Eligibility to Receive Free or Reduced Price School Meals

Children in Poverty (Regions of 65,000+ Residents)
Children in Poverty (3-Year Estimates for Regions of 20,000+ Residents)
by Race/Ethnicity
Children in Poverty (5-Year Estimates for Regions of 10,000+ Residents)

Children in Poverty – Supplemental Poverty Measure (State & U.S. Only)
by Race/Ethnicity

Children Living Above and Below the Poverty Level (Regions of 65,000+ Residents)
Children Living Above and Below the Poverty Level (3-Year Estimates for Regions of 20,000+ Residents)
by Family Type
Children Living Above and Below the Poverty Level (5-Year Estimates for Regions of 10,000+ Residents)

Median Family Income (Regions of 65,000+ Residents)
Median Family Income (3-Year Estimates for Regions of 20,000+ Residents)
Median Family Income (5-Year Estimates for Regions of 10,000+ Residents)

Income Needed for Self-Sufficiency Standard, by Household Type
Families Living Below the Self-Sufficiency Standard

Posted by Barbara Feder Ostrov

If you’re in the Washington, DC area, this Congressional briefing is well worth attending. Here are the details:

Measuring the Well-Being of Our Children

Wed., Dec. 11
8:30am – 10am EDT

B-338 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, District of Columbia 20515

Join Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), and the Congressional Children’s Caucus, in cooperation with First Focus and the Foundation for Child Development (FCD), to explore the 2013 FCD Child Well-Being Index (CWI).

The CWI tracks 28 Key Indicators of the quality-of-life of America’s children across seven Domains: Family Economic Well-Being, Safe/Risky Behavior, Social Relationships, Emotional/Spiritual Well-Being, Community Engagement, Educational Attainment, and Health. The panel will discuss comprehensive long-term trends since 1975 and Congress’ role in improving the well-being of children.

Opening Remarks

• Mark Bogosian, Communications and Program Officer, Foundation for Child Development

Presenter

• Kenneth C. Land, John Franklin Crowell Professor of Sociology and Faculty Director, Center for Population, Health, and Aging, Duke University

Panelists

• Liz Ryan, President and Chief Executive Officer, Campaign for Youth Justice
• Dave Schrandt, Homeless Liaison, Cypress-Fairbanks School District, Texas
• Bruce Lesley, President, First Focus

To RSVP, click here.

As always, kidsdata.org is here to keep you posted on the latest data on the health and well being of California’s children. To learn more about using kidsdata.org’s state and national legislative mapping tools, click here. Learn more about our new features here.

RELATED CONTENT:

The New Kidsdata: Using Legislative Maps

Big Changes to Kidsdata.org

Posted by kidsdata.org

After a major upgrade to kidsdata.org, including redesigned maps, it’s a great time to take a fresh look at our legislative mapping tool.

While data sets collected specifically by legislative district are limited, kidsdata.org’s legislative mapping tool makes it easy to overlay legislative district boundaries on maps that show data collected by cities, counties or school districts. These overlays make it easier to see what’s happening in your federal or state legislative district.

It takes less than a minute to create your legislative data map. Here’s a step-by-step guide.

How to Overlay Legislative District Boundaries:

1. Find data of interest to you. Once you are on an indicator page, such as the one below, select the Map tab, and click the “edit” link next to Legislative Boundaries.

2. Next, select your district type (Assembly, State Senate, or U.S. Congressional districts) under “Show Legislative Boundaries.” Don’t know your district? Hit the “What’s My District?” link.

3. Then, select the districts you’d like to see on the map. You can select as many districts as you want, or, click “Check All” to view all districts. When you’re finished customizing, click “Submit” to build your legislative data map.

4. View your map! You also can click “Download & Other Tools” to copy or embed your customized map, or generate a PDF topic overview including the map.

If you have questions on how to use this legislative map tool or other aspects of kidsdata.org, please post your question on our blog or contact us directly at [email protected].

Posted by kidsdata.org

At a time when concerns are rising nationwide about the high cost of child care, the California Child Care Resource & Referral Network today released new data about the cost, availability, and need for child care in the state’s 58 counties.

Among the data highlights:

• 2012 data show there are just over 1 million licensed child care spaces available for an estimated 4.2 million children ages 0-12 whose parents are in the workforce. That means three of four children who may need care do not have a licensed child care space. Click here to see how many licensed child care slots there are in your county.

• The average cost in California for full-time infant care in a child care center is $11,461 (click here to see data for your county), according to 2012 data. Nationally, California ranks sixth as the least affordable state for center-based infant care, according to an analysis by the advocacy group Child Care Aware.

• The supply of licensed child care slots in California rose by 22 percent between 2000 and 2008, but has been declining since then.

You can find more data for your county via these links:

Annual Cost of Child Care, by Age Group and Type of Facility

Availability of Child Care for Potential Demand

Availability of Child Care, by Facility’s Schedule and Type of Facility

Number of Child Care Slots in Licensed Facilities, by Type of Facility

Number of Licensed Child Care Facilities, by Type of Facility

Parent Requests for Child Care, by Age

Parent Requests for Evening/Weekend/Overnight Child Care

Posted by Barbara Feder Ostrov

With a new look and many improvements, kidsdata.org now makes it easier than ever to find and use data about the health and well being of California children.

Read on to see what’s new:

Need to customize your tables, charts and maps by location, year, age, ethnicity or other category?

All locations now are listed next to each graph, so you can immediately select the regions of interest to you. Options for changing the years, demographic groups, etc. also are located right above every graph, so it’s quick and easy to tailor your data display to meet your needs.

Want to view your data in various formats?

All of our data charting and mapping tools have been significantly enhanced. Click on the images below to check them out:

Bar Graphs:

Trend Graphs:

Maps:

Pie Graphs:

Would you like to receive occasional updates on data that interests you?
Sign up here for our customized E-Alerts.

Interested in being notified about occasional webinars on how to make the most out of the new kidsdata.org?
Send us an email and we’ll add your name to the list.

Have other questions or want to provide feedback about the new kidsdata.org?
Post a question on our “Ask a Data Question” page, contact us at [email protected], or see our Help page.

Posted by kidsdata.org

October is Bullying Prevention Month, a time to remember that everyone can have a voice in raising awareness of bullying. Bullying Prevention Month was launched in 2006 by the PACER Center for children with disabilities, to encourage individuals to take an active role in the bullying prevention movement.

Bullying and harassment can have both short- and long-term effects on children and youth. Research shows that, in addition to the risk of physical injury, victims of bullying are at greater risk of depression, suicidal thoughts, and suicide attempts than other children and youth.

About 42% of 7th graders, 35% of 9th graders, and 28% of 11th graders in California reported being bullied or harassed at school at least once in the past year, according to 2008-10 data from kidsdata.org. Bullying and harassment at school have taken on new forms in recent years as more children and youth use social media. Recent deaths of teens in California and nationwide have prompted a national conversation on bullying, and a number of new bullying prevention efforts have emerged. In addition, federal lawmakers are considering anti-bullying legislation that would provide money to schools nationwide to improve learning conditions, increase opportunities for physical activity and nutrition education, prevent drug use and violence, and promote mental health.

When youth are bullied or harassed at school, the most common reason cited is because of race or national origin. Students who are gay, lesbian, or bisexual — or who are perceived to be – also are at particularly high risk of being bullied or harassed.

For more information about bullying in California, see these measures on kidsdata.org:

Any Reason for Bullying/Harassment, by Grade Level

by Gender and Grade Level
by Level of Connectedness to School
by Race/Ethnicity

Disability as Reason for Bullying/Harassment, by Grade Level

by Gender and Grade Level
by Level of Connectedness to School
by Race/Ethnicity

         Gender as Reason for Bullying/Harassment, by Grade Level

by Gender and Grade Level
by Level of Connectedness to School
by Race/Ethnicity

         Race or National Origin as Reason for Bullying/Harassment, by Grade Level

by Gender and Grade Level
by Level of Connectedness to School
by Race/Ethnicity

         Religion as Reason for Bullying/Harassment, by Grade Level

by Gender and Grade Level
by Level of Connectedness to School
by Race/Ethnicity

         Sexual Orientation as Reason for Bullying/Harassment, by Grade Level

by Gender and Grade Level
by Level of Connectedness to School
by Race/Ethnicity

Posted by Suny Um

California’s child population is shrinking, but until now, it has been challenging to understand the complexity of how that demographic shift is playing out in the state’s 58 counties.

A new analysis by University of Southern California demographer Dowell Myers shows that the state’s population of children younger age 10 years old declined by 3.4% between 2000 and 2010. While the child population in some counties grew 20% or more, a few counties lost more than 15% of their children under age 10.

Here are the counties with the biggest declines in child population between 2000 and 2010:

Sierra (-24.5%)
Los Angeles (-16.9%)
Plumas (-15%)
Lassen (-14.1%)
San Benito (-13.4%)

Here are the top gainers in child population in the same decade:

Madera County (18.9%)
Kern County (20.6%)
Alpine County (22.8%)
Riverside County (26.2%)
Placer County (27.7%)

Why is the number of kids in a county important? As Myers suggests in a study commissioned by the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health, kids born in 2015 will bear double the economic burden of supporting the state’s economy compared to their peers born in 1985. By 2030, children are expected to comprise just 21% of California’s population, down from 33% in 1970, even as the population of aging Baby Boomers expands.

Want to learn more about child population and other demographic trends in your California county? Click here.

Related Indicators on Kidsdata.org:

Child Population
by Age and Gender
by Race/Ethnicity
by City, School District and County (65,000 Residents or More)
by City, School District and County (20,000 Residents or More)
by City, School District and County (10,000 Residents or More)

Posted by Barbara Feder Ostrov

We’re excited to partner with Fostering Media Connections (FMC), a media and advocacy group that focuses on the needs of children and youth in foster care.

FMC’s new online publication, The Chronicle of Social Change, has added a new biweekly feature highlighting data about California’s children from kidsdata.org. For example, a recent feature spotlighted California’s 27% decline in the rate of substantiated child abuse or neglect cases between 2002 and 2012.

The Chronicle of Social Change covers juvenile justice, child welfare and other fields related to youth and families.

For more information about children in California’s foster care and child welfare systems, check out these kidsdata.org indicators:

First Entries into Foster Care
by Age
by Race/Ethnicity
by Reason for Removal
by Type of Placement

Number of Children in Foster Care
by Age
by Race/Ethnicity
by Type of Placement

Length of Time from Foster Care to Adoption

Median Number of Months in Foster Care

Placement Distances from Home

Placement Stability, by Number of Placements

Re-entries into Foster Care

Exit Status After One Year in Foster Care

Exit Status After Four Years in Foster Care

Child Abuse and Neglect Reports
by Age
by Race/Ethnicity
by Type of Abuse

Substantiated Cases of Child Abuse and Neglect
by Age
by Race/Ethnicity
by Type of Abuse

Posted by Barbara Feder Ostrov

As we mark Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, it’s important to remember that cancer remains the leading cause of death by disease for children under the age of 15, even as medical advances have improved cancer treatment.

It’s estimated that more than 1,100 children ages 0-14 are diagnosed with cancer each year in California. Youth ages 15-19 generally have higher rates of cancer diagnoses than children up to 14.

White children tend to have the highest rate of cancer diagnoses among all ethnic groups with available data, but they also have higher survival rates than African American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian/Pacific Islander, and Latino children once diagnosed.

Fortunately, most children diagnosed with cancer survive into adulthood. In particular, rates of survival for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common childhood cancer, improved between 1990 and 2005.

For more information about cancer in California children, see these measures on kidsdata.org:

Childhood Cancer Diagnoses

• by Age

• by Race/Ethnicity and Age

• by Type of Cancer and Age

Net Five-Year Cancer Survival Rate, by Type of Cancer

• by Race/Ethnicity

Posted by Amy Lam

Children breathe more air per pound of body weight than adults.

That’s just one of the eye-opening facts in a new Riverside Press-Enterprise series on air pollution and its effects on health in Southern California’s heavily industrialized Inland Empire.

This in-depth series of articles, photos, videos and interactive graphics was supported by a grant from the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health Journalism Fund, awarded by The California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowships at the USC Annenberg School of Journalism.

In the series, reporter David Danelski examines how the region’s air pollution, among the nation’s worst, harms children’s health and development:

The science documenting the harm of air pollution is vast.
It’s not just lungs that are affected. Like a Trojan horse, pollution carried inside the body in the simple, constant and necessary act of breathing is penetrating natural defenses and triggering an array of consequences.
In children, pollution can sabotage the biochemistry vital to the development of growing organs. In the womb, pollution is a suspected factor in miscarriage, birth defects and autism. And in a child’s formative years, breathing difficulties can develop and other diseases may take root in the brain and elsewhere.
Learning deficits have been found in children living in polluted areas. And new research finds that pregnant women exposed to certain pollution are more likely to have children who become obese, a condition with its own disease complications.

Children hurt by air pollution can face chronic illnesses, such as asthma, and a shorter lifespan than their own genes might have predicted.

For more information on air quality in your California county, check out these kidsdata.org indicators:

Air Quality: Days with Ozone Levels Above Regulatory Standard

Air Quality: Annual Average Particulate Matter Concentration

Related:
Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health Journalism Fund: Reporting on How The Affordable Care Act Affects California Children with Special Health Care Needs

PHOTO: Credit: Stan Lim, Riverside Press-Enterprise

Posted by Barbara Feder Ostrov