Thursday's Internet Edition, August 28, 2008.
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Editor - An annual report that tracks key indicators of well being for children ranks Roane 31st among the state’s 55 counties.
The 2007 West Virginia Kids Count survey considered 11 indicators for Roane County covering the period from 2000 to 2005. The county showed a decline in six areas and improvement in five others.
Roane’s largest area of decline was reflected in births to unmarried teens, which jumped 62.2 percent from 5.8 to 9.4 percent.
The teen birth rate (ages 15-19 per 1,000 females) showed an increase of 37.6 percent. Births to mothers with less than a 12th-grade education rose 16.1 percent, which gave Roane its lowest ranking among state counties for any indicator, 52nd.
Roane’s other areas of decline were marked by increases in the teen injury death rate (15.9 percent), low birth-weight babies (10.8 percent) and the juvenile delinquency case rate (10.1 percent).
The county showed marked improvement in three indicators. The infant mortality rate jumped by 50.5 percent, the child death rate dropped by 46.7 percent and the percentage of eligible children served by Head Start increased by 47.6 percent.
Small gains were made in the number of high school dropouts (down 6 percent) and the number of children approved for free and reduced-price school meals (down 1.5 percent).
The overall ranking for Roane was an improvement over last year’s Kids Count survey, which ranked the county 37th. That survey used information from 1990-2004.
Roane’s 2007 ranking of 31st placed it ahead of neighboring counties Kanawha (42nd) and Calhoun (43rd). Jackson (16th), Wirt (25th) and Clay (26th) all were given higher rankings.
Pendleton County received the highest ranking while Lincoln County placed 55th.
In a similar ranking of states, West Virginia was 44th this year.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation launched kids Count as a nationwide project in 1989. It was founded on the idea that the more the public and policymakers know about the status and needs of children, the greater the chance those needs would be addressed.
This year’s Kids Count is the 15th annual profile of the condition of West Virginia children.
More information is available on the Web at wvkidscountfund.org.
