Full Text:

ED INK: The Welfare Of Children

By the most commonly accepted measure of our well being, the quality of life

here in Connecticut should be unparalleled. The state ranks higher than all

others in per capita income. There are many measures of well being, however,

and none are more important than the welfare of our children. And in that

regard, the state still ranks near the top, but statistics compiled by Kids

Count, a project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, show a troubling trend.

The Kids Count survey assessed ten factors -- child poverty, single-parent

households, underemployment, teen delinquency, high-school dropouts, teen

pregnancy, teen deaths, child deaths, infant mortality and low birth-weight

babies -- and ranked the overall welfare of children in Connecticut 12th in

the nation. That sounds pretty good until you consider that a similar survey

done in 1990, the state was ranked second. In these ten areas of critical

importance to the welfare of children, Connecticut has done some serious

backsliding in the past decade.

The 17 percent of the state's children who are living in poverty still

compares favorably to 20 percent nationwide, yet in the 10-year period between

1985 and 1996 the number of children in Connecticut living below the poverty

line increased by 42 percent -- this at a time when the national rate dropped

by five percent. The rising number of single-parent families and the declining

number of well-paying manufacturing jobs in the state have provided a

socio-economic punch that has sent many families reeling, and nearly one child

in five is suffering because of it.

Connecticut's overall affluence has created a strong service economy, and

there is a surplus of jobs in the state for store clerks, house cleaners,

waiters, and gas station attendants. But these jobs, paying $6 to $8 an hour,

are not enough to support a family. The state needs to build a new economy

based on something more than the money that is already here. It needs to

attract opportunities for all segments of its population. That means

continuing its efforts to build an economy on a strong educational base that

is likely to attract the most lucrative industries of the future: health care,

technology, and innovative business enterprises with a global reach. With that

end in mind, there is at least one hopeful statistic in the Kids Count survey:

the high school dropout rate in Connecticut, five percent, is just half the

national average.

With a well educated work force, Connecticut will be better able to attract

companies with better paying and more meaningful jobs, which will ease the

crush of poverty that splinters so many families. More children will get a

chance to grow up in a secure, stable, and healthy environment. Though it

almost never comes up in our discussions about the state economy, there is a

reason why we should take pains to nurture business and industrial enterprise:

we should do it because we wish to nurture our children. We forget sometimes

how much the latter depends on the former. We should remember that in the end,

the welfare of our children is perhaps the best measure of our well being.