By Joe Ulery
Indiana News Service
INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana ranks 27th in child well-being, according to the 2024 Kids Count Data Book by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, slipping three spots from last year.
The latest findings highlighted the need for Indiana leaders to better prepare children for future success as the state faces significant economic impacts due to current shortcomings.
Ashley Haynes, vice president of data and communications for the Indiana Youth Institute, stressed the need for more investment in education and well-being to ensure all children have equal opportunities to succeed.
“There are definitely some areas the data may have gotten worse or going in the wrong direction for kids but also because it’s a comparison to other states,” Haynes pointed out. “Other states may have just gotten better at something faster.”
Data revealed several positive trends for Hoosier families. From 2019 to 2022, 75% of Indiana parents secured full-time employment, outpacing neighboring states. Housing affordability improved, with only 22% of children living in high-cost households, compared with the national average of 30%. Additionally, 95% of teens were enrolled in school or employed by 2022.
“I think that’s just speaking to the trend of more of our Hoosier kids being engaged,” Haynes noted. “Whether that is in school when they’re still in that 16-18 high school range or when they’re leaving school entering the workforce.”
Despite gains, Indiana struggles with 30% of eighth graders achieving proficiency in math in 2022, an 11% drop from 2019. Chronic absenteeism also remains high, particularly among Black and disabled students.
Leslie Boissiere, vice president of external affairs for the Annie E. Casey Foundation, said a large percentage of U.S. children have experienced at least one adverse childhood experience.
“Trauma can have a significant effect on a child,” Boissiere stressed. “Forty percent of children experience one or more adverse childhood effects, which could be divorce, incarceration of a parent, experience of domestic violence or even witnessing somebody subjected to a violent act.”
