Kentucky Kids Worse Off

Sliding closer to Mississippi every day.

From the Courier:

The number of children living in poverty continues to increase in Kentucky and Indiana, according to the latest Kids Count, an annual survey of child well-being.

Kentucky dropped into the bottom 10 states in the survey’s overall ranking of child health and welfare. It ranked 41st this year compared to 40th in last year’s report. Indiana improved slightly, to 31st from 33rd last year.

Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates, said Kentucky’s latest ranking is discouraging but not unexpected, since child well-being is tied to poverty.

“We dropped one notch,” he said. “We now officially are a bottom-10 state when it comes to the overall wellness of kids.”

In Kentucky, 26 percent of children live at or below the federal poverty level — $22,350 in yearly income for a family of four — compared to 23 percent in last year’s report.

View the full Kids Count Report here.

Liberals know that children are a society's canary in the coal mine: increasing child poverty means our economy is out of whack and headed downhill.