While the overall well-being of Connecticut children is better than in most other states, the economic downturn has not spared the state’s youngest population, according to an annual report released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
One in 10 children in the state during 2010 had an unemployed parent, mirroring the national average. Four years earlier, one in 20 children in the state had a parent with no job.
Three percent of Connecticut children have had their home foreclosed on between 2007 and 2009 and 6 percent are in extreme poverty.
When it comes to Connecticut’s overall education system, the state comes in fifth place. Connecticut has more of its 3- and 4-year-olds in high-quality preschool programs than every state except New Jersey, which has a court order requiring many of its children to be offered preschool. Connecticut also has one of the lowest high school dropout rates.
Other notable findings include:
- One-third of children live in a single-parent family, an steady increase over the past 10 years.
- 3 percent of children in the state live with their grandparents.
- Connecticut has one of the lowest rates of teens having children — 21 of every 1,000 kids.
- 7 percent of the state’s children did not have health insurance in 2009, which aligns with the national rate. 11 percent of the state’s children have a parent with no insurance, a much lower rate then the national rate.
- The rate of children in foster care dropped over the last two years, and now aligns with the national average.
- The state has one of the highest rates in the nation of foster children living in a group home or institution with shift workers.
See more indicators here.