Kids Count report: Alabama 39th in overall child well-being

Alabama ranked 39th in the nation for overall child well-being in 2024, up from 45th in 2023, according to data released Monday in the Alabama Kids Count Data Book. 

The report ranks the states based on indicators including within health, education, safety and economic security. Apriell Hartsfield, the director of Kids Count for VOICES for Alabama Children, said the report used an economic well-being lens for the 2024 Data Book.

The state-level report uses data from mostly 2022 and 2023, while the national report that is released in the summer uses older data, according to Hartsfield.

“Our vision, as we developed for this edition of the data book, was an economically secure Alabama for every child,” Hartsfield said at a press conference at the Autauga County Family Resource Center Monday. 

The state moved up the ranks, according to Hartsfield, because of legislative initiatives like the 2019 Literacy Act; the 2022 Numeracy Act and the 2013 Alabama Juvenile Justice Act, which have improved child well-being. The Juvenile Justice Act, Hartsfield said, can be linked to a 61.4% decline in youth incarcerations since its implementation in 2013.

“The community-based approach that is encouraged through the Alabama Juvenile Justice Act is working. On the other hand, there are areas of child well being that need our attention now,” she said. 

Hartsfield also said while Alabama improved, other states fell, especially in education. The report also cited major problems with health care access, gun violence and poverty. 

Hartsfield said that 21% of Alabama children lived below the federal poverty line in 2022, about $27,750 a year for a family of four in 2022. 

“We know that it is vital for families to live healthy, fulfilling lives when their basic needs are met,” Hartsfield said. “The stress level is lower in the home, and the children can go to school, they can focus on school, and they grow up to be more successful and have healthier outcomes.”

Preventable child and teen deaths increased from 175 in 2012 to 179 in 2022, according to a press release. Firearms are the leading cause of these deaths, according to the report.

“Those are completely preventable,” Hartsfield said. “That’s not something it’s not a disease that is in our body that we have to figure out that’s something that we know is a problem.”

Although infant mortality in Alabama from 2012 to 2022 decreased from 8.9 to 6.7 per 1,000 births, infant mortality for Black babies increased from 12.1 to 12.5 per 1,000 births over ten years. Hartsfield pointed to the lack of accessibility to hospitals for rural Alabamians. Fourteen hospitals have closed in rural counties since 2010.

“A lot of our moms who are pregnant have to drive more than 30 minutes to get access to care, and that time is critical when you’re pregnant, especially when you are having complications or giving birth,” she said. “So we need to focus on how we can build up that infrastructure for our healthcare system in Alabama and make healthcare not only covered by insurance but also physically accessible.”

VOICES for Alabama Children is advocating for a Medicaid expansion and firearm safety legislation this session. While a Medicaid expansion is not a priority for legislators this session, there are many firearm-related bills moving through the legislature. 

Hartsfield said VOICES is in favor of HB 103, sponsored by Rep. Barbra Drummond, D-Mobile, that would require gun owners with children to safely store firearms. 

“We’ve got to figure out a way to make those firearms safe for our children, so that if they do not get access to them, they are safe,” Hartsfield said. “So that we have devices on them that make it where they can’t make those guns do the thing that they’re supposed to do, which would injure them.”

While VOICES advocates for change that will take time, the Alabama Network of Family Resource Centers helps families in 46 counties and served almost 53,000 families in 2024, according to Director Joan Witherspoon-Norris. The Autauga County Family Resource Center hosted the Kids Count Data Book press conference.

“We know that when families are economically secure, it really changes the trajectory for those children,” Witherspoon-Norris said. “It changes their situation today, and it also changes the outcomes that they’ll see later.”

Merrill Carroll, director of the Autauga County Family Resource Center, said the center offers a variety of free, grant-funded programs to the community on parenting, adult education and school-based activities.