COMPREHENSIVE ANNUAL REPORT SHOWS HOW MISSOURI'S CHILDREN ARE DOING COMPARED TO KIDS IN OTHER STATES

The Annie E. Casey Foundation today released the 2020 edition of the KIDS COUNT® Data Book, an annually published resource that tracks child well-being nationally and state by state and ranks the states by how well they are doing by their children. In this year's report, Missouri ranks 30th among U.S. states.

The report is based on the latest available data for 16 key indicators tracked longitudinally and collected and analyzed prior to the COVID-19 crisis. For the 2020 report, those data are 2018, so the COVID-19 impact will become more evident over time. While the newly released data on the well-being of Missouri's children reflect generally positive results, fallout from the pandemic is likely and the 2020 Missouri Kids Count release will serve as a baseline for tracking how new policies impact our state's children.

"Working to keep kids healthy and safe has never been more essential," said Lisa Hamilton, president and CEO of the Casey Foundation. "Having consistent, reliable data to guide our decisions will be critical as we continue seeking to ensure the well-being of children, families and communities throughout this challenging time and beyond."

"The Family and Community Trust (FACT) is grateful for the dedication shown by both Missouri's child- and family-serving agencies and the FACT Community Partnerships as well as  other child advocates and providers who have collaborated to respond to the needs of our state's children during these unprecedented times of school closures, families experiencing job losses, and disruptions to programs serving children at risk of food insecurity," said William Dent, Executive Director of the Family and Community Trust.

The 2020 Data Book shows improvement nationally on 11 indicators in the KIDS COUNT Index; three indicators stayed the same and two worsened. In Missouri 7 of 8 statewide outcomes improved in 2018 compared to 2010.  All economic well-being indicators, except for child homelessness, improved over time. While children from most racial groups experienced positive changes on outcome measures over time, significant disparities continue to exist, especially between Black/African American and white children and youth. With the combination of COVID-19 and the renewed national attention on racial equality, data impacts are likely.

The 2020 KIDS COUNT® Data Book may be accessed at aecf.org. Additional information is available at aecf.org/databook. Tools to create maps and graphs illustrating the data may be found at the KIDS COUNT Data Center (datacenter.kidscount.org).