
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 1, 1991                   TAG: 9102010210
SECTION: NATL/INTL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

STUDY: 1980S `TERRIBLE' FOR CHILDREN

The 1980s were a "terrible decade for children," with clear deterioration from 1980 to 1988 in their social and economic condition, and nowhere were the effects more pronounced than in the District of Columbia, according to a national study released Thursday.

"This country fell behind or stalled on six key indicators of child well-being," said Judith Weitz, coordinator of a project called "Kids Count." Sponsored by the non-profit Center for the Study of Social Policy, the study measured the social and economic conditions of children under 18 for each state and the District, which ranked last.

Nationally, there were substantial increases in the percentage of children in poverty, juveniles who are incarcerated, out-of-wedlock births and teen violent deaths. There was also an increase, though smaller, in the percentage of babies born at low birthweights, which lead to physical and mental impairments and sometimes death.

The only improvements were in child death rates, infant mortality rates and the percent graduating high school.

Vermont's composite score was the best in the country, and the District's the worst. The District's statistics in five categories - low birthweight, infant mortality, teen violent deaths, teen out-of-wedlock births and juvenile incarceration - were all the worst in the country, and it also did poorly on child poverty, child death rates and high school graduation rates. It did show improvement on four of the eight measures since 1980.

The study did not have racial breakdowns for all categories but clearly showed that white children are better off than black or Hispanics. For example, 15.4 percent of white children were below the government's official poverty line from 1985 to 1989; the figure for blacks was 43.8 percent and for Hispanics 38.2 percent.

Weitz said one of the reasons for the declines in many states during the 1980s was that the levels of support in the state Aid to Families with Dependent Children Program, the major welfare program for low-income families, "have significantly decreased. The U.S. average of the sum of AFDC and food-stamp benefits for a family of four was 66.3 percent of the established poverty line in 1988, down from 70.9 percent in 1980."

She said the recession of the early 1980s cut incomes for a substantial number of families, some of whom had never fully recovered.

by CNB