January 12, 2006

North Dakota Children Doing Well, But Obstacles Remain

North Dakota KIDS COUNT’s publication, the “2005 Overview of Children’s Well-Being in North Dakota,” confirms the state’s children are doing well with respect to many quality-of-life issues. For example:

• Most children in North Dakota reside with two parents.
• North Dakota students perform well academically.
• North Dakota is one of three states with the lowest high school dropout rate.
• The state ranks sixth in the nation for its low teen birth rate.
• North Dakota youth are less likely than youth in the U.S. to lack exercise, watch a lot of television daily and be at risk of becoming overweight.

“The publication also points to challenges the state faces in its effort to create a positive, healthy environment for children,” says Richard Rathge, North Dakota KIDS COUNT executive director and North Dakota State University State Data Center director. Among the challenges:

• The number of children in North Dakota continues to decline.
• Providing more economic opportunities for single parents and minorities would benefit one in five children.
• About 14 percent of North Dakota children are poor, but only 6.6 percent received assistance from TANF in 2004.
• The number of children in early childhood and special education programs is growing. Continued support of Head Start and special education is vital for children’s success.
• North Dakota youth are more likely than other youth nationwide to binge drink, drive after drinking and ride in a car with a driver who has been drinking.

Polly Fassinger, research analyst for North Dakota KIDS COUNT, indicates that looking at strengths and challenges together can help create a better understanding of actions that might help children thrive and excel.

“North Dakota benefits from a child-care industry that contributes millions of dollars to North Dakota’s economy,” Fassinger says. “Child-care workers constitute the 10th largest occupation in our state. These are significant strengths. However, our state’s child-care workers often are poorly paid and have high job turnover, which creates less stability for children. Finding ways to help build economic opportunities for child-care workers would improve many children’s quality of life in North Dakota.”

For the past 11 years, North Dakota KIDS COUNT has been tracking data and analyzing the well-being of children. The mission of North Dakota KIDS COUNT is to promote the well-being of North Dakota children through data-based public awareness activities, such as the 2005 overview.

The “2005 Overview of Children’s Well-Being in North Dakota: Strengths and Challenges” is one of a series of new publications on children’s well-being in North Dakota published by North Dakota KIDS COUNT. The publication is based on recent North Dakota data on population, family composition, economic conditions, education, childcare, health and children at risk.

North Dakota KIDS COUNT also is releasing the “2005 North Dakota KIDS COUNT Data Guide.” This publication directs people seeking data on children’s well-being to North Dakota KIDS COUNT and national KIDS COUNT resources that provide access to trend data, profiles, graphs and maps and rankings for states, counties, and state legislative districts.

The third publication, the “2005 North Dakota KIDS COUNT Fact Book,” is readily accessible online (www.ndkidscount.org), has state, regional and county profiles of child well-being in North Dakota. The 2005 overview and 2005 data guide are available in paper format by contacting the organization at (701) 231-8621. All three publications are accessible online at www.ndkidscount.org.

”North Dakota KIDS COUNT is providing these publications to the public as a tool to use in various efforts to improve the well-being of our greatest resource, our children and families,” Fassinger says.

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Source: Richard Rathge, (701) 231-8621, richard.rathge@ndsu.edu
Editor: Rich Mattern, (701) 231-6136, richard.mattern@ndsu.edu

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