From Susie Huhn

Executive Director 

 Arizona continues to be one of America’s most dangerous states for children, a recent study has confirmed. The Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Arizona Children’s Action Alliance released their annual comparison of conditions for children under the age of 19. Arizona was ranked 39th in terms of child health and safety. It ranked in the lower half of every indicator the study tracked.

 The results were particularly troubling in categories that connected two of our state’s more perplexing challenges: poverty and education.

 For example, when studying the percentage of children living with parents who did not hold fulltime jobs, Arizona ranked 33^rd among the 50 states.

•  The percentage of children below the poverty line placed Arizona 38th.
•  The percentage of 16-to-19-year-olds who are high school dropouts placed Arizona 44th.  
• The teen birth rate for girls 15-19 placed Arizona 45th.
•  The percentage of 16-to-19-year-olds who are neither working nor attending school placed Arizona 45th.
•  The percentage of children without health insurance placed Arizona 46th. 

 I don’t think any of these things surprise us. For many years, Arizona has ranked near the bottom of most national studies dealing with the health and well-being of kids. But this year’s study reminds us we all have plenty of work ahead of us.

 In case you are wondering, the three safest states for children were New Hampshire, Minnesota and Vermont. The three states ranking lowest were Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

 To read more about the 2010 Kids Count Data Book, go to http://datacenter.kidscount.org/databook/2010/?cmpid=18http://www.azchildren.org/