Cape May County Rises to 14th in Kids Count Rankings

COURT HOUSE – Cape May County rose to 14th place in the annual New Jersey Kids Count rankings, which measure progress in improving the lives of children in 13 critical areas. Last year, the county ranked 15th.
Cape May County saw significant progress in three key areas – a jump in median family income, more women receiving early prenatal care and households spending less of their budget on licensed child care. The county received its best ranking – 4th – for its percentage of low-income children receiving school breakfast.
Cape May County still has the highest rates of unemployment, children in an out-of-home placement and juvenile arrests in New Jersey.
“Statewide, we are seeing some positive trends, including fewer uninsured children and more children starting their school day with a healthy breakfast,” said Cecilia Zalkind, executive director of Advocates for Children of New Jersey, which publishes the Kids Count reports. “In the face of rising poverty, these supports are essential to ensure children have the nutrition and healthcare they need to succeed in school.”
“This is the fifth straight year that child poverty has increased in New Jersey,” Zalkind added. “While we have taken some steps to address this, we continue to put children on the budgetary backburner. As New Jersey legislators discuss the governor’s proposed budget, the top priority should be investments in children and families, including tax credits for the working poor, preschool and child care assistance.”
This year’s New Jersey State Kids Count report includes a special section on race, which found that black, Hispanic and mixed race children, on average, struggle more than children of other races. These children are more likely to live in poverty, experience negative health outcomes, be involved in the state child protection and juvenile justice systems and struggle in school. These data, however, are not available on a county-level.
Following are some key trends in Cape May County.
Family economics. The percent of children in Cape May County living in poverty remained at 10, but increases in other counties helped Cape May advance from 10th to 7th this year in the Kids Count rankings. During that same time, the county also saw a sharp increase in the median family income from about $61,000 to $81,000– much closer to the statewide median income of roughly $85,000.
Not all news on the economic front is positive, however. Cape May still held the highest unemployment rate in the state at 12.3 percent in 2014, although this did decrease slightly from 13 percent the year prior.
Child safety. For the third consecutive year, Cape May had the highest rates of children placed in foster care in 2013. Its out-of-home placement rate remained at 9 — more than double the statewide average of 4. Cape May also had the highest juvenile arrest rate at 36 arrests per 1,000 children under 18 – more than twice the statewide rate of 15.
Child health. Cape May County posted positive improvements in areas of child health. The county saw an increase from 77 to 81 percent of women receiving early prenatal care and a drop in the percentage of births to teens from 9 to 7 percent in 2011, the most recent year that data is available.
School breakfast. Cape May County continued to serve half of eligible children school breakfast in 2013-14. With no change from the previous year, other counties posted stronger increases and as a result, the county dropped from 3rd to 4th in the state on this indicator.
Child care costs. Cape May’s working parents spent 23 percent of their income on child care for an infant and toddler, compared to a statewide average of 25 percent, ranking 8th on this indicator. National standards say families should spend no more than 10 percent of income on child care.
In addition to releasing the county rankings, Advocates for Children of New Jersey also released:
– New Jersey Kids Count 2015: The State of Our Children, which provides state-level data on key measures of child well-being.
– New Jersey Kids Count 2015: The State of Our Counties, a pocket guide that provides a 5-year comparison of various measures of child well-being, including poverty, health, education and child protection.
To help counties use the data to address the needs of children, Advocates for Children will host two Kids Count Regional Forums – one in South Jersey and one in Central Jersey — bringing together county, city and state leaders with the people in the community who work with children and families.
“These forums are designed to foster discussions about the data that result in concrete action at the state, county and local levels,” Zalkind said. “When we use data to drive critical decisions about responding to the needs of children, everyone benefits — children, families, our communities and our state.”
To view the county profiles, the pocket guide and the state Kids Count report and for a schedule of Kids Count forums, go to www.acnj.org.