Ohio is ranked 25th in the nation for overall child well-being in the latest Kids Count data book from the non-partisan Annie E. Casey Foundation.
That's down from 24th last year.The report says Ohio high school graduation rates are up, teen pregnancy is down, and the number of children living in poverty has declined. But an estimated 100 thousand Ohio children live in areas deemed by the U.S. Census Bureau as "hard-to-count." Tracy Nájera of the Children's Defense Fund of Ohio says if children are missed by the 2020 census, the state could lose support funding.
Najera says the risks of an under-count extend beyond Ohio cities.
Foundation spokesperson Laura Speer says the census needs to fully fund state and local outreach, broaden the group of people and organizations who can reach hard-to-count areas and encourage participation.
The report says the under-count has worsened with each census since 1980. In 2010 one million American children under the age of five were not counted. The report says 52 percent of young children in Columbus are at risk of being uncounted in 2020.