The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced this week a set of guidelines that require health insurance plans to provide preventive health care services to women at no additional cost (i.e., without the need for co-payments, co-insurance, or deductibles). The guidelines, developed by the nonpartisan Institute of Medicine, will take effect in January 2013 for most insurance plans, according to an article in the New York Times.

Among the covered services are FDA-approved contraception methods, breastfeeding support, and counseling for domestic violence victims. Providing these, and other, preventative services to women at no additional cost is one way HHS aims to prevent teen and unintended pregnancies (the latter of which accounts for 35% of U.S. pregnancies, according to the National Survey of Family Growth).
Kidsdata.org offers data that relate to many of these issues, including:

• Teen births: In 2007, there were 37 births for every 1,000 teens ages 15-19 in California. Find data for your county. See more information about teen births.
• Breastfeeding: 2009 data show that 52% of California infants were breastfed exclusively in the hospital after birth, but percentages vary widely by county, from 14% to 86%. Find data for your county. See more information about breastfeeding.
• And domestic violence: In 2008, over 160,000 Californians placed calls for assistance with domestic violence. Find data for your county. See more information about dating and domestic violence.

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Watch this video about the Top 5 Reasons to Use Kidsdata.org

In any line of work on behalf of kids, kidsdata.org can be an invaluable resource for grant writing, program planning, community assessments, communications and advocacy work, policymaking, and many other in initiatives. Earlier this summer, we blogged about the Top 5 Reasons to Use Kidsdata.org. In case you missed them, here they are again:

1. Kidsdata helps you use resources more efficiently by bringing together more than 35 trusted public data sources into one, free public service.
2. Find and compare local data — for every city, county, and school district in California.
3. Customize data for regions or demographic groups, and find the data display (map, bar graph, table, etc.) that works best for you.
4. Share data instantly via social media, e-mail, or by downloading into Word, Powerpoint, or Excel.
5. Stay up-to-date on new data for the children you serve via customized e-mail alerts, Kidsdata Advisory newsletters, Facebook and Twitter.

Learn how others have used kidsdata.org on our Kidsdata In Action page.

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We finish this summer’s countdown of the top 5 reasons to use kidsdata.org with reason #5 — stay informed on the child health topics that matter to you.

Kidsdata.org offers several options to keep you up to date on child health and well being:

• Sign up for e-mail alerts to receive notifications from kidsdata.org when data of interest to you are updated. Only interested in child abuse data? Or only data for Los Angeles County? E-alerts are tailored just for you.

• In addition to e-alerts, you can sign up for our regular Kidsdata Advisory e-mail newsletter, for timely data summaries about children’s health issues and news about enhancements to the site.

• And, if you’re a social media buff, you can follow us on Twitter, or “like” kidsdata.org on Facebook for daily facts and highlights of key child health issues.

• Last, but certainly not least, you can sign up to receive updates from this blog! Using the sign up box in the right column of this page, you can receive an e-mail every time we add a new post.

With all these ways to stay informed about how the kids in your community are faring, rest assured you’ll have the data you need for all your work on behalf of kids.

Posted by Felicity Simmons

According to a Wall Street Journal article citing 2010 Census data, the percentage of the U.S. population under age 18 is the smallest it ever has been, at 24%. This percentage is slightly lower than it was about 10 years ago (26% in 1990), but almost half of what it was at the turn of the last century (40% in 1900). See an interactive map of all states>>

In addition, 2010 Census data indicate that the child population is becoming more racially and ethnically diverse. The number of children of color in the U.S. has grown since 2000, while the number of non-Hispanic white children has declined. Currently, children of color make up almost half (46%) of the national child population; non-Hispanic white children still comprise the majority (54%).

In California, unlike the nation, the total number of children rose slightly over the past decade. The state has almost 10 million kids, comprising 26% of the total population, according to 2009 data. In comparison to national figures, children of color make up a larger percentage of the child population in California (about 70%). Specifically, the racial/ethnic make-up of the state’s child population is about 49% Hispanic/Latino, 31% Caucasian/White, 10% Asian/Pacific Islander, 6% African American/Black, 4% from multiracial backgrounds, and less than 1% Native American. Consistent with national trends, the number of children of color in California has grown since 2000, while the number of Caucasian children has declined. Find data for your county>>

Also see kidsdata.org’s Research & Links section for websites and reports with more information on demographic issues, including race/ethnicity, and how that relates to child well being, such as this article from the American Academy of Pediatrics, “Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Health and Health Care of Children” (2010).

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