N.J. slips as a place where children thrive New survey by watchdog group ranks state 9th in U.S., down from 3rd, due to an increase in poverty cases Wednesday, July 25, 2007 • BY PEGGY O'CROWLEY • Star-Ledger Staff The number of poor children in New Jersey increased at a higher pace than in the country as a whole over the first five years of the century, according to a new survey designed to measure child well-being. The increase in children living in poverty caused New Jersey to slide from its high of third place among the states in 2004 to ninth in this year's Kids Count Data Book, an annual survey released today by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, based in Baltimore. The report ranks the states according to 10 indica tors of child well-being, including birth weight and level of education. "That is astonishing for a state that is among the wealthiest in the nation," Maia Davis of the Association for Children of New Jersey said in a statement. New Jersey's median income is $75,000, compared with $53,000 nationally. Overall, the picture for New Jersey's children was still bright. The state made significant gains, including 25 percent declines in births to teens and in high school dropouts. Infant mortality and child death rates also were down. "More families living in poverty is one of the most troubling findings this year," said Laura Beavers, the report's author. The rise is a reversal of a trend in the 1990s, when a robust economy helped lower the national poverty rate by 30 percent, the largest decline since the'50s, she said. The Kids Count survey defines poverty as income below $19,806 for a family of two adults and two children in 2005. For the most part, poor families in New Jersey are clustered in the cities and some communities in the rural southern counties, said Cecelia Zalkind, executive director of the association, a children's advocacy group. "In Camden, two out of three children live in poverty," Zalkind said. While government-funded health insurance and preschool help poor children, she said, "I wish Governor Corzine would address this head-on." The report's findings mirror the association's 2007 state report, which tracked a 35 percent rise in poor kids under 6 from 2001 to 2005. Earlier this month, the state announced a pilot program to help poor families. The program aims at heading off family crises by stepping in early with services. It will refer requests for health insurance, child care or heating assistance to county-based centers, said Kate Bernyk, a spokeswoman for the Department of Children and Families. The program will be launched in southern New Jersey counties, she said. Despite poverty concerns, the state continues to be among the nation's leaders in other indicators. Fred Jacobs, commissioner of the Department of Health and Senior Services, attributed the decline in teen births partly to sex education that includes birth-control options, as well as to parents taking responsibility for their children. The decline in infant deaths may be due to advances in maternal and fetal medicine, in treating both fetuses in utero and babies born prematurely, said Joseph Apuzzio, director of maternal and fetal medicine at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark. That may also explain in part a rise in low-birth-weight babies. Another reason may be more multiple births by women undergoing infertility treatment. But that doesn't explain the much higher rates of low-birth-weight babies among African-Americans, Jacobs said, a problem the state is trying to address. As usual, Northeastern and Midwestern states -- Minnesota, New Hampshire and Connecticut -- were ranked the top three for child well-being, while Southern and Western states -- Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi -- scored last. The report also looked at the 700,000 children who spend time in foster care each year and made recommendations to improve child-welfare systems. New Jersey's child-welfare system is working on many of those goals, such as making permanent placement a priority. The goals are the result of a settlement between the state and a child advocacy group that sued to force changes. "For the first time in New Jersey, we're financially supporting more children in permanency settings such as subsidized adoption and kinship care rather than fos ter care," said Bernyk of the Children and Families Department. Zalkind said it's too soon to tell if such efforts will pay off. "I think by the end of the year we should begin to see some changes," she said. Peggy O'Crowley may be reached at pocrowley@starled ger.com or (973) 392-5810. © 2007 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with permission.