ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 9, 1996 TAG: 9604090056
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DAVON Anderson, 14 when he participated in the severe beatings of two Roanoke men, has become the youngest person to be convicted as an adult in Roanoke Circuit Court and one of only three 15-year-olds incarcerated by the Virginia Department of Corrections. The dismal circumstances of his upbringing were outlined in a news story in this paper Saturday. Sadly, those circumstances are not unique to Anderson.
The Children's Defense Fund recently issued its annual statistical snapshot of children in America. As usual, it's as depressing as it is informative.
It shows, for instance, that 3,398 babies were born each day in 1995 to unmarried mothers - an increase since 1994 when the CDF put the number at 3,325. This includes an increase - from 1,340 to 1,407 - in the number of babies born each day to teen-age mothers.
The snapshot shows, too, an increase - from 9 to 13 - since 1994 in the number of children who are homicide victims each day; an increase - from 7,945 to 8,493 - in the reported number of children who are abused or neglected each day; an increase - from 2,255 to 2,833 - in the number of teens who drop out of school each day.
Each day, reports the CDF, 518 babies are born to mothers who had late or no prenatal care; 790 babies are born at low birth-weight; 95 babies die.
Other statistics in CDF's 1996 report make the snapshot look like a split screen of American values.
While the United States, compared with other industrialized nations, ranks worst in the number of children killed by gunfire, it ranks first in military technology and first in military exports.
America has twice the rate of teen births as England, and the U.S. rate is five times the rates of France, Italy and other Western European nations. But America ranks first in defense expenditures.
The United States is first in health technology - but ranks 18th in its infant-mortality rate.
We rank first in the number of millionaires and billionaires, and first in gross domestic product - but 18th in the income gap between rich and poor children, and 16th in living standards among the very poorest children.
In this election year, Americans can expect to hear lots of talk about family values. Much of it will be sincere - or more precisely, will reflect political responses, of varying degrees of sincerity, to genuinely held concerns among rank-and-file voters.
The CDF's report is a reminder of the extent to which this country, for all the talk of family values, fails to measure up to the standards of the world's other wealthy nations in ensuring the health, safety and welfare of its children.
Of course, not every child born of an unwed teen mother, nor every child who is abused, nor every child whose mother did not get adequate prenatal care, will end up in corrections custody. It is important, too, to keep in mind that a parent in poverty is not necessarily a neglectful or abusive parent.
But the odds aren't as good for a child born in such circumstances, and stories like Davon Anderson's are too often the result. Coming to grips with the situation will take more than political rhetoric.
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