Across Colorado, fewer women are smoking while pregnant and more children are getting immunized against such diseases as measles and whooping cough, according to KidsCount in Colorado, an annual report on conditions for the state’s nearly 1.2 million kids.
But too few children are able to enroll in full-day kindergarten programs, and roughly 180,000 children lack health insurance.
“(The) overall grade in taking care of kids in Colorado? I would say a ‘C,”‘ said Megan Ferland, president of the Colorado Children’s Campaign, which released the report Monday. “There’s improvement in some areas, but not enough improvement in some areas.”
In the fall of 2005, for example, 28 percent of kindergartners in Colorado were enrolled in full-day programs. Ferland said that’s an improvement for the state, but the nationwide average was 65 percent.
KidsCount in Colorado provides a statewide and county-by-county glimpse of how children fare in health, education, poverty and family life.
It shows how the lives of kids vary throughout Colorado. In Summit County, where the median income of $52,220 surpassed the state median of $50,105 in 2004, 85 percent of kindergartners were enrolled in full-day programs in 2005.
Meanwhile, in Jefferson County, where the median income was $59,060, just 35 percent of kindergartners were enrolled for a full day.
Statewide, the percent of women smoking during pregnancy was 7.5 percent in 2005, down from 11.9 percent in 1999. And childhood immunizations were up significantly, from 77.1 percent in 2004 to 83.4 percent in 2005.
The report serves as a launching point for statewide discussions on how to improve the lives of Colorado’s youngest citizens, said Alex Medler, vice president for research and analysis at the Children’s Campaign.
“We leave the work of advocacy for specific solutions up to readers, and we engage in those debates the rest of the year,” he said.
In Weld County eight years ago, a Kids Count in Colorado report spurred residents to create a “Promises for Children” campaign that encouraged women to seek prenatal care before they were visibly pregnant, provided education on eating foods rich in folic acid and assisted women in filling out applications for health care.
It worked, said Sheila Watson, a director of children’s services at the United Way of Weld County.
“In 1999, 10.4 percent of pregnant women received delayed or no prenatal health care,” Watson said. “In 2004, that number had dropped to 5.8 percent.”
Steve Federico, a pediatrician and health-initiatives fellow at the Children’s Campaign, said kids in families without a regular health-care provider often have delays in vaccinations and other treatment.
Staff writer Karen Rouse can be reached at 303-954-1684 or krouse@denverpost.com.
Facts… …about children in Colorado:
About 180,000 children under 19, or 14 percent, lack health insurance. (Twelve percent are uninsured in the U.S.)
The percentage of employers offering health benefits has dropped from 69 percent in 2000 to 60 percent in 2005.
Teen deaths due to injuries fell by one-third in the past 10 years.
