Briefing Held On The Status Of Area Children

By Andrew Atwal
andrew.atwal@yankton.net

Officials from South Dakota Voices for Children and South Dakota Kids Count were in Yankton on Tuesday to brief community members about the dangers faced by underprivileged children.

Carole Cochran, project director for Kids Count, said South Dakota ranks 17th overall in the country in terms of child well-being. The data comes from several key areas for well-being, including education, health, economic factors, safety and demographics.

“The data we get helps us determine the magnitude and scope of the problems children in the state face,” Cochran said.

The poverty rate for children under age 18 in the state was 19.4 percent in 2010, compared with a national average of just under 22 percent. There are a total of nearly 39,000 children under 18 in South Dakota living in poverty.

In Yankton County, the poverty rate is 5 percent for families and people whose income has been below the poverty level in the last year. The South Dakota estimate for this rate is 9 percent.

“Over the past decade, there has been a steady increase of families in the state that are on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP),” Cochran said. “Children who are hungry and do not have access to sufficient food can face serious problems growing up.”

In addition to the number of kids on the SNAP program increasing, there has also been a similar increase of children who are on Medicare programs.

Also on hand at Tuesday’s briefing was Jennifer Kline, executive director of South Dakota Voices for Children. Her focus of the presentation was on bills in Pierre this legislative session and how they impacted children in the state.

“We want to make sure the health, education and safety of all kids in the state is taken care of the best way we can,” she said.

Kline said that there were 81 legislative bills introduced this winter that had a direct impact on children. Of those 81 bills, the policy committee of Voices for Children took positions on 22 of them.

The group took an in-depth look at the teenage driving bills that were proposed this session.

“Teenage deaths in South Dakota has been right near the top of the nation the past several years,” Kline said. “Most of the deaths have been as a result of car crashes.”

Four bills were proposed this session related directly to teenage driving. Of those four, one was passed.

“SB 106, which was passed, said that teenagers who are just learning to drive should focus on driving and not anything else,” she said. “The bill bans those new drivers from using any wireless communication devices while driving.”

Another bill that Voices for Children advocated for would have placed more regulations on family daycare programs.

“South Dakota is the only state where up to 12 kids can be in a daycare setting with no regulations,” Kline said. “The next state down from us has a limit of seven kids.”

The bill would have brought the limits to seven, and would have placed more safety restrictions on daycare providers. The bill passed the senate committee, but failed in the full senate.

“Our goal is to be able to take the data we have, sort it and arrange it in order to try and improve the well-being of children in South Dakota,” Cochran said. “We want to be able to impact kids in the state and region in a positive way.”

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