Some 80,000 Idaho children were living in poverty in 2014 -- and some 33,000 Idaho children were not in school in 2013 and 2014, according to a report released Tuesday.
Those are just a few of the statistics in Kids Count, an annual report card looking at issue facing America’s children.
"While many other states are making prudent investments in early learning, in Idaho we’re missing an opportunity to ensure our kids have a strong foundation and to save public dollars down the road," said Idaho Voices for Children Director Lauren Necochea.
The national Kids Count Data Book is published by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
While the data reveals a few bright spots, Idaho ranked 22nd in overall child well-being, officials said. Idaho dropped three spots from the previous year in education, moving down to 37th place, and ranked 30th in the nation for children's health. Idaho ranked a relatively high 14th place in economic well-being, because Kids Count revealed more children whose parents had secure employment.
The report also shows that close to one in five Idaho children are living under the poverty line, which makes their parents ineligible for assistance on our health insurance exchange. “When parents lack insurance, children are also less likely to have coverage. This puts further stress on family economics, which can be a source of toxic stress for children,” said Christine Tiddens, Policy Director of the Idaho Asset-Building Network. There are 78,000 Idahoans in the coverage gap and most have children in the home.
Among other statistics from this year's report:
Some 34,000 Idaho children without health insurance.
About 8,000 Idaho teens abuse alcohol or drugs
Approximately 108,000 Idaho children live in single-parent families.
Additional information is available at http://databook.kidscount.org, which also contains the most recent national, state and local data on hundreds of indicators of child well-being. The Data Center allows users to create rankings, maps and graphs for use in publications and on websites, and to view real-time information on mobile devices.
