By Cheril Lee
Omaha, NE – Voice for Children recently released its Kids Count Report for 2009. Kids Count is a national and state by state effort. In Nebraska, the report is used to track child well-being and to assess how children are doing from year to year, in areas such as education, health and nutrition.
Annemarie Bailey Fowler of Voices for Children says some of the more significant findings in the report revolve around children in immigrant families. She says immigrant children are the fastest growing child population in Nebraska. 12% of the state's child population is immigrants and 61% of those children live in low-income homes.
Fowler says another key issue addressed by the report was infant and maternal health outcomes. Since 1994, Nebraska has seen an increase in babies born with a low birth weight. babies. Because this has been such a long, ongoing trend, Fowler says it was important to bring that issue to the surface and highlight it this year.
A copy of the Kids Count Report 2009 is available online at www.voicesforchildren.com.