California’s children are more likely to have health care coverage, avoid teen pregnancy and live until adulthood, but many remain in poverty or with parents who lack secure jobs, according to a report released today.
That mixed assessment of the well-being of California’s youth means the Golden State ranks poorly when it comes to making programs more accessible to help children live better, said authors of a report for the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The private philanthropy based in Baltimore makes grants to respond to children’s poverty among other issues.
Researchers said in the annual Kids Count report that California made vast improvements in 2013 compared with 2008 in expanding health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act, reinstating the Black Infant Health program and improving enrollment in the CalFresh nutritional program.
But from 2010 through 2013, about 23 percent of children lived in poverty compared with 18 percent in 2008, while 34 percent in 2013 grew up in homes where employment is insecure compared with 32 percent in 2008. Those figures for California children nearly mirrored those nationwide, but they give California a ranking of 38 out of 50 in overall child well-being because the state has the resources to pull youth out of poverty, said Ted Lempert, president of Children Now, a statewide advocacy group.
“California has the world’s eighth-largest economy,” Lempert said in a statement. “We’re in a better position than most states to invest in kids, but support hasn’t kept up with pressures families have felt since the recession. We have more children living in poverty, and more parents lacking secure employment than we did in 2008. More must be done so all families can share in the economic recovery.”
This issue is acute in Lake County, where the child poverty rate is 33.7 percent according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture study based upon 2013 data. That ranks Lake County ahead of only Fresno (42.0 percent), Tulare (39.8), Trinity (34.6) and Merced (34.1) counties. The USDA counted 4,272 children in Lake County age 17 or younger as living in poverty.
According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, Lucerne Elementary School District has the greatest portion of school aged youths in poverty at 44.1 percent. The bureau estimated Konocti Unified School District at 35.9 percent.
Overall, the USDA lists Lake County as the sixth poorest county in California, ahead of Tulare, Fresno, Merced, Del Norte and Madera. Lake County has an general population poverty rate of 23.3 percent. Tulare is at 29.6 percent, based upon 2013 information.
The Kids Count report follows several others released earlier this summer with similar results. Last week, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health released a report that backed up those poverty rates by looking at food insecurity, which means a struggle to eat nutritious meals. Between 2002 and 2011, access to affordable foods continued to be limited for low-income households. That means 530,000 L.A. County households are not always able to afford enough food.
And the toll may be even higher in Silicon Valley. Even three minimum-wage jobs together would fall $10,000 short of what it takes to support a family of three in the valley, said Dana Bunnett, director of the San Jose-based advocacy group Kids In Common.
Health officials worry about those figures as well as the future. Most recently, the drought and gas prices have contributed to the higher cost of food.
“An inadequate food supply can have many negative effects on physical and mental well-being and can lead to adverse health effects across the entire lifespan,” Cynthia Harding, interim director of the Department of Public Health, said in a statement. “We encourage those in need to take advantage of the resources available, such as the CalFresh Program, offered through the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services.”
“Food insecurity is not hunger, but they are not receiving nutrients they need,” said Michael Flood, president of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. “Because they’re maximizing (their) food budgets, they may be buying rice and pasta but leaving out fresh fruits and vegetables, protein and dairy. What we see over and over again in these reports is where children are present, parents are heavily sacrificing themselves so that kids can eat. These adults are absolutely not eating.”
The solution is to guide more people into programs that are already in place but might be difficult to access, said Sharyn Church, of Children Now.
For example, many people don’t know that the state’s food stamp program is now called CalFresh, and those who qualify can apply through the county’s Department of Public Social Services. Officials with the department say 59 percent of those estimated to be eligible are receiving CalFresh food assistance. That could be higher, Church said.
“Our agenda is making sure that all kids have access to health and well-being programs,” Church said. “I think there are a lot of systems in place, but they’re all filled with bureaucracy, and many parents don’t know how to access them. We need to create policy to break them down.”
While some of the data may not be the latest available in the state, the Kids Count survey chose the most recent year for which all states had data.
Still, the report showed some bright spots, Church and others said. The most encouraging development the survey found was in health — a vast improvement that surveyors attribute to the state’s early and full embrace of the Affordable Care Act.
The percentage of California children without health insurance fell to 7 percent in 2013, a four percentage-point drop in five years. Likewise the rate of child and teen deaths fell, from 24 per 100,000 to 20.
Jessica Mindnich, Director of Research for Children’s Now, credits that to California embracing the federal Affordable Care Act and moving toward insuring all children.
She believes that education similarly will improve, with the state projecting it will reach pre-recession funding levels for schools soon. “I think we are well-positioned to see kids doing better five years down the road.”
Bunnett is not so sure. While many schools are doing well, “we have that tale of two cities in this county,” she said about the disparity in funding in Silicon Valley schools. “Kids who are low-income are concentrated in schools with the fewest resources,” she said. Many of the programs to help poor kids compete fell victim to budget cuts — summer school, after-school programs, music and arts.
Dave Faries, Lake County Record-Bee, and Sharon Noguchi, San Jose Mercury News contributed to this report
