South Carolina Kids Count
The condition of South Carolina's children today determines what our state will be like tomorrow because children are our future. They are tomorrow's parents, our next generation of leaders, and the future workforce that must compete globally.
The primary determinant of a child's character, values, and desire to succeed is the family. Parents exercising their responsibilities to and making sacrifices for their children are essential to avoiding most of the problems described in this report. The efforts of families must be supported by community partners such as schools, religious congregations, businesses, and youth-serving organizations. Communities must provide for learning, set good examples, organize positive recreational activities, and develop recognized roles for young people. Thus strong, loving families, in partnership with supportive communities, must provide the solutions to the many difficulties experienced by so many children in our state. Government must be an effective partner, making its greatest contribution through reinforcing the role of families and communities, and by supporting services necessary for good health, learning, and preparation for adult responsibilities.
Many of South Carolina's outstanding successes are the result of creative partnerships among families, government, and caring individuals in the communities across our state. Through their efforts, much valuable progress has been made.
Even with these efforts, however, too many of our youngsters are at risk of becoming unskilled, disconnected, and unproductive adults. In fact, a quarter of South Carolina's children are at severe risk, and another quarter are at moderate risk, of not growing up to be nurturing family members, self-supporting adults, and responsible community citizens. Simply stated, 500,000 children are at risk in the Palmetto State.
The reports identify several dozen problems that measure the condition of our children in six major areas: families, economic status, health, readiness and early school performance, student achievement, and adolescent risk behaviors. Additional special perspectives are provided in analysis of demographics, male-female differences, African-American children, and trends. The report shows that much remains to be done. Too many babies are born to young, at-risk mothers. Too many children are growing up in struggling, impoverished families. Too many children need health care. Too many children are not adequately prepared to start school. Too many children are not successful in school. And too many youth engage in risky behaviors.
The report tells us:
No single factor causes the problems. The reasons are many, and therefore, the opportunities for making improvements are many. The solutions, like the causes, are in our families and communities, our religious institutions, the economy, the health care system, our schools and courts, the media, and peer relations. Every one of us, not just our elected officials and other public decisionmakers, must work to improve the conditions of children. Family members, employers and workers, religious congregations, health care providers, teachers and administrators, community leaders and citizens, and young people themselves must all join together to make a difference. Our children must be saved one at a time...family by family...community by community.
This report is designed to provide parents, policymakers, educators, children's service providers, and the public with a better understanding of the needs of children, youth, and families.
South Carolina is one of 50 state projects currently publishing state and local profiles of the condition of children as part of the nationwide Kids Count project funded by The Annie E. Casey Foundation, the nation's largest philanthropic organization devoted exclusively to disadvantaged children. The Annie E. Casey Foundation has given South Carolina an opportunity to compile and disseminate data about children for each of the 46 counties in our state. In South Carolina, Kids Count is administered by the South Carolina Budget and Control Board in collaboration with the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and many partners committed to the children in our state.
The report follows the overall strategy of South Carolina Kids Count to improve the status of our children through:
Kids Count defines and describes problems that South Carolina children face, determines the causes, and recommends strategic directions for preventing or reducing the problems. The South Carolina Kids Count project works with many partners to enhance their ability to describe existing efforts addressing these problems, to assess the cost and effectiveness of the efforts, and to make comprehensive and detailed recommendations.
Kids Count quantifies the problems of our children in terms of absolute numbers and percentages by age/race/sex subgroups. The Kids Count data come primarily from five state agencies: the Department of Education, the Department of Social Services, the Department of Juvenile Justice, the Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services, and the Department of Health and Environmental Control. The Health and Demographics section of the Office of Research and Statistics, in the South Carolina Budget and Control Board, aggregates the data and provides the Census data on South Carolina. Data are compiled for each county and for the state as a whole. The Kids Count data represent real children in need and is published to help people design effective strategies that will work in their communities to help children succeed.
Since children live in local neighborhoods, Kids Count promotes building coalitions of all appropriate community groups able to help children. Kids Count seeks to increase the collaboration and commitment of families, religious groups, schools, youth-serving organizations, state agencies, local government, civic groups, businesses, the media, and, most important of all, children and youth themselves. By focusing their collaboration on the problems of children in their communities, each organization and individual will learn how to play a uniquely constructive role in prevention.
In order to target and coordinate the efforts of state and community organizations, Kids Count promotes public policies that prevent the major problems that children face. Too many current policies are fragmented and, in some cases, inappropriate for meeting the needs of families and their children.
Because so many problems affect such large numbers of children and youth and because resources in our state are limited, Kids Count seeks to inform all members of the public about what they can do personally to prevent and reduce the problems. Our strategies for protecting and supporting children in their communities must be as well-designed and as well-funded as our treatment programs. Informed communities that protect and support their children will avoid exposing children to the many risks and problems described in this report.
Kids Count is a partnership. In planning and organizing our reports during the early 1990's, core Kids Count partners included the South Carolina Budget and Control Board, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Joint Legislative Committee on Children, the Office of the Governor, the Children's Trust Fund of South Carolina, the Columbia Urban League, and the Alliance for South Carolina's Children. More recently, Kids Count reports have been prepared by the South Carolina Budget and Control Board with support from the SC Department of Health and Human Services and the Annie E. Casey Foundation. In data compilation, problem analysis, and community coalition-building, Kids Count has worked closely with a variety of state agencies and nonprofit organizations, most prominently the Departments of Education, Health and Human Service, Health and Environmental Control, Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services, Mental Health, Social Services, and Juvenile Justice, the Division of Children's Foster Care Review, the Continuum of Care for Emotionally Disturbed Children, the Alliance for South Carolina's Children and the United Way of South Carolina. Kids Count is a true team effort. Collaboration among the Kids Count partners assures that our reports affect policy development and community coalition-building in a positive way.
Kids Count provides the facts on how well or how poorly South Carolina is doing in bringing up the next generation. People who work in fields associated with children and families are well acquainted with what statistics mean in human terms. Simply put, Kids Count numbers can be translated into human costs paid daily by our children.
What's New?
2007 State and County Reports (12/21/2007)
First Steps to Success 2007 (12/21/2007)
Success by Seventeen 2007 (12/21/2007)