Report On Child Health: Job Losses, Foreclosure Affecting Connecticut's Children

A national report released today said Connecticut ranks sixth in the country in the health and well-being of children, but state data showed thousands of children live in families where parents have lost jobs and homes to foreclosure.

“We’ve got all the wealth that Connecticut is known for,” said Jude Carroll, director of the CT Kids Count project, which assessed the data in the state. “When people start thinking about the wealthy first, they forget about everyone else.”

The report showed that statewide, almost 30 percent of children live in homes where at least one parent is unemployed. The report also said 46,000 children live in families that have lost homes to foreclosure since 2007. The data was not available by town.

Carroll said the well being of children varies widely, particularly in large cities and communities like Groton where there’s a broad disparity between those in wealth and poverty.

“Every year these reports come out and Connecticut is typically in the top ten. But they only look at state level data, they don’t’ look at the towns,” she said. “If you drill down to Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, and even in Groton. . .What we’re trying to say is it’s a mixed picture.”

The report looked at 17 indicators of health to assess how children are doing, including birth weight, the percentage of children receiving food stamps, those receiving child care assistance and transitional assistance, the drop out rate among teenagers and the percentage of children whose parents don’t have jobs.

Among the reports findings was that enrollment in Connecticut’s child care assistance program Care 4 Kids has fallen significantly during the last two years, mainly because of added restrictions on families who are eligible.

In Groton, the number of children receiving the child care assistance fell 38 percent, from 317 children in 2007 to 196 children in 2009, the report said.

At the same time, Groton reported a 56 percent increase in the number of children receiving help through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – formerly the Food Stamp program. The report showed the number of children on the program soared from 954 in 2007 to 1,496 in 2009.

The number receiving temporary family assistance remained relatively stable; the report said 354 Groton children received the assistance in 2007 and 408 received the help in 2009.

Carroll said Eastern Connecticut has been hurt by layoffs at Electric Boat, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals and Mohegan Sun. The combination has changed the standard of living in the community, she said.

This is the 22ndyear of the Kids Count Data book. Nationwide, the data reported an 18 percent increase in the U.S. child poverty rate from 2000 to 2009, according to a news release. The child poverty rate in Connecticut rose 8 percent during this same time.