Georgia ranks in bottom 10 of states in caring for kids

State has improved, but one in four children living in poverty.

Georgia is seeing slightly fewer children living in poverty and more children with health insurance, but it continues to rank among the 10 worst states for the care of its children, according to a new national study.

For the second consecutive year, Georgia ranked 42nd in the country for the well-being of its kids, according to a compilation of state and federal information called the annual KIDS COUNT Data Book.

Some good news emerged. The percentage of children living below the poverty level fell for the third year in a row. The figure dipped below 25 percent for the first time since the recession, standing at 24 percent, according to the 2015 data used for the study by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

But with nearly one in four Georgia children living in poverty, the state continued to do worse than the national average.

“There are still too many children growing up in poverty, and they are not getting the opportunities of children living in higher income families,” said Rebecca Rice, the Georgia KIDS COUNT coordinator.

The percentage of children without health insurance continued to drop, from 10 percent in 2010 to to 7 percent.

“Healthy kids do better in school, and kids who do well in school have more of a chance to enter the work world,” Rice said.

The percentage of children whose parents lack secure employment also decreased from 34 percent in 2010 to 30 percent.

Georgia improved on 14 of the 16 indicators measured in the report. When the study began some 25 years ago, the state ranked 48th in the country, and it has been among the top states in terms of gaining ground, said Rice of the Georgia Family Connection Partnership.

Still, Georgia continues to do worse than the national average for teen births, children in poverty and children whose parents lack secure employment.

Nearly one in 10 children born in Georgia has a low birth weight, which is associated with physical and cognitive problems. It is often an indicator of poor maternal nutrition and health care in pregnancy.

“It starts with healthy moms,” Rice said. “Healthy moms make healthy babies.”