According to the 2008 Kids Count Data Book rankings released a few weeks ago, Alabama ranks 47th out of the 50 states for child well-being. In the past seven reports, the state has been ranked 48th five times.
Although these statistics do not sound promising, the well-being of Alabama’s children is improving. The state consistently has a low ranking because it is not improving as fast as other states.
Kids Count, an organization sponsored by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, is a private charity that focuses on aiding at-risk children. For 19 years, the Kids Count Data Book has been published, evaluating each state in 10 various areas, from teens who are high school drop-outs to teen births.
“One of the reasons that we’re 47th in the nation in child well-being is because we don’t invest up front in prevention,” said Marian Loftin, director of the Alabama Department of Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention.
When the 2009 Education Budget was signed, the governor made a $300,000 cut for the Children’s Trust Fund of Alabama, overseen by the Alabama Department of Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention.
The CTF funds more than 220 child abuse programs and 180 organizations across Alabama and now will lose funding for approximately 1,000 families involved in those programs.
Loftin said the Education Trust Fund cut will greatly hurt the CTF.
“Instead of funding 220 programs this year, we will be funding a little over 150, which means some programs that were working, we won’t be able to help them, and we hope they’ll be able to find funding other places,” Loftin said. “Many of them won’t, and we’ll lose that program.”
Even though the state’s top priority is not funding for prevention programs, it has made advancements in other areas to better the rankings.
In May, the legislature gave $6.4 million to help fund Alabama’s Pre-K program, which is recognized by the National Institute for Early Education Research as one of two programs in the country that meet all 10 of its requirements.
The state has a shocking number of minors it sends to the Department of Youth Services prison, even when they commit nonviolent acts.
Lawmakers are working to change that fact; the legislature recently passed the Juvenile Justice Act of 2008, which makes a child less likely to be locked up for committing minor violations of the law.
Auburn University has a partnership with the Children’s Trust Fund and conducts research in many different areas. The CTF just completed its second year of research as part of a five-year grant with the University.
Francesca Adler-Baeder, associate professor of human development and family studies, is a principal investigator for Auburn’s partnership with the CTF.
“What we’re doing is collecting data from all of the programs and then looking at impact, like how many families and individuals are reached and then what the effects of participating in the programs are,” Adler-Baeder said.
One recent study from Auburn showed prevention programs across the state funded through the CTF create safer environments for children and promote stronger families.
Nearly 70 prevention programs are offered statewide, including school-based, non school-based/after-school and mentoring.
The programs promote overall well-being for children and improve school performance.
The CTF also funds programs for parents, including fatherhood, home visitation, respite care and parent education. Loftin said parenting problems are what cause most of the child neglect in the state.
“People have not had good parents, and they don’t know how to be good parents, which is why we fund so many parenting support programs,” Loftin said.
Melody Griffin, Auburn University CTF Project Manager, works with the University to compile statistics from various studies the Department of Human Development and Family Studies conducts.
“We are collecting data from the participants that are in the program to show how participation in the program has reduced their likelihood of either experiencing child abuse and neglect or being the one to abuse and neglect a child,” Griffin said.
