Missouri children are faring well overall, but the latest Kids Count Data Book from the Annie E. Casey Foundation points to some areas of concern.

Missouri earned a score of 567 out of 1,000, topping the national average and ranking 28th in the nation.

Tracy Greever-Rice, Missouri Kids Count program director for the Family and Community Trust, said one troubling trend is the growing number of children without health coverage — a problem she noted is being driven in part by changes at the federal level.

“Now that we're in some policy transitions, we're seeing people start to fall off, and we anticipated this would happen,” Greever-Rice explained. “We were concerned this would happen.”

Medicaid expansion is often credited with helping more Missouri children gain health coverage, although researchers said some of the gains are now at risk.

The report highlighted ongoing education challenges, with more than 70% of Missouri fourth and eighth graders not proficient in reading and math. Even so, Missouri's strongest showing was in economic well-being, ranking 15th nationally. Greever-Rice pointed out lower housing costs initiatives and stronger family supports help. According to the Casey Foundation, fewer children across the nation are living in neighborhoods with concentrated poverty.

Leslie Boissiere, vice president of external affairs for the foundation, said unstable housing can have a ripple effect on children's safety and long-term success.

“There's a 22% decline in kids who live in neighborhoods that have high concentrations of poverty,” Boissiere reported. “We know those neighborhoods tend to have more crime and tend to be less stable communities for families.”

The report encouraged state leaders to use the data to identify policies and investments to help children thrive.

“We can improve and strengthen our ability to have conversations about both funding policy and educational goals, and educational attainment,” Greever-Rice emphasized.

The Casey Foundation said its new scoring system is designed to measure whether policies and public investments are improving children's lives over time, not just how states rank against one another.

Source: Public News Service