Georgia Ranks Higher in Kids Count Report

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According to the newest, “Kids Count Report,” Georgia made impressive gains in some areas, and loses in others. 

Every year, the Annie E. Casey foundation puts out the Kids Count Data Book, a 50-state report-card, so to speak, on overall child well-being. They’ve clustered indicators into four domains: economic well being, education, health and family and community. Georgia ranked 37 overall this year, a big jump up from previous years.. 

“We actually had our highest count ever since it came out 23 years ago. We always consistently ranked in bottom 10 with other southern states.”

Gaye Smith is Executive Director of The Georgia Family Connection Partnership, the Kids Count grantee in Georgia. The state’s highest ranking she says was in health, which could be attributed partly to more children having access to healthcare. 

“We increased the number of children with Peachcare and Medicaid as a safety net which gave them a way to get the preventative health care and dental care to help get health care they needed.”

The state also made overall gains in education, but lost rankings in areas of poverty and economic well being.

Listen to the story on pba.org.

Read the 2012 KIDS COUNT Data Book.

For interactive statewide data, visit Georgia KIDS COUNT at gafcp.org/kidscount.

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