23 percent of county’s children living in poverty

Local News

July 30, 2010

By Tim Mandell Register News Writer The Richmond Register Fri Jul 30, 2010, 08:47 AM EDT

RICHMOND — Kentucky is ranked 40th of 50 states in child well-being, according to the annual KIDS Count report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Twenty-three percent of Kentucky children are living in poverty.

Only Mississippi (30 percent), Arkansas (25 percent) Louisiana (25 percent) and New Mexico (24 percent) have higher poverty rates.

West Virginia, Texas and Oklahoma all are at 23 percent.

The rates are defined by the share of children under 18 who live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level, as defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, according to KIDS Count Data Center.

In 2008, a family of two adults and two children fell in the poverty category if their annual income fell below $21,834, according to the KIDS Count Data Center.

In 2007, Madison County had a child poverty rate of 23 percent. Owsley County had the highest percentage in the state, at 55 percent and Oldham County the lowest, at six percent.

Madison County ranked 38th of 120 counties.

According to information from 2008, Madison County’s youth consists of 18,366 persons, of which 16,710 are white, 954 are black, 467 are Hispanic and 235 are grouped together as other ethnic groups.

The number of youth ages 10 to 19 charged with public offenses dropped from 332 to 269 from 2006 to 2009.

While that number dropped, the number of youths charged with status offenses rose from 2006 to 2009, from 243 to 294.

Youth detained by the juvenile justice system rose from 11 in 2005 to 118 in 2009, although the 2009 number was significantly lower than the 148 from 2008.

The number of youth committed to the Dept. of Juvenile Justice remains low, at 13, which is down from 24 in 2007 and 20 in 2008.

In 2006, Madison County had 200 births to mothers who were not high school graduates. That number was up only slightly from 196 in 2004.

Low-birth rates, which are babies weighing less than 5.5 pounds at birth, dropped from 2005 to 2006 from 118 to 102.

Madison County had 13 very low-weight babies in 2006. Very low-weight is less than 3 pounds, 4 ounces.

The 2006 number was down from 2005 when it was 21.

Preterm babies, born before 37 weeks of pregnancy, was 113 in 2006, down from 120 in 2005.

Mothers who smoked was listed at 284 in 2006, which is 26 percent of birth mothers. That number is up from 227 in 2005, which was 22 percent.

Annual infant deaths was five in 2006, the same number as the year before.

(Editor’s note: This story reflects the most recent numbers available for Madison County.)

Tim Mandell can be reached at tmandell@

richmondregister.com or 623-1669 ext. 6696.

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