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Article Excerpt
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Throughout the United States, low-income families and the children who live in them face significant challenges. Historically, these challenges have been compounded in Montana by a lack of job opportunities. Over the past few years, however, the economic outlook for Montana has been encouraging, with four consecutive years of economic growth, a 3.7 percent unemployment rate, and a 6.3 percent increase in per capita income (www.bber.umt.edu). Despite this growth, the child poverty rate in Montana has not diminished.
Montana's future well-being is tied to the health, education, and stability of its children; many of them are the state's future work force, leaders, and taxpayers. There is undeniable evidence of the importance of cognitive and non-cognitive ability in economic life, and both contribute significantly to leading productive lives. Families are the primary venue for producing these abilities, and the foundation they establish raises a child's productivity in schools and jobs. Gaps in education and social development are more evident in children who grow up in poor families. On the whole, higher-income children do well, as many higher-income parents have the means to get their children any help they may need. Investing in low-income children is necessary; because of their families' financial situation, they have fewer options and less access to the social structures and educational opportunities most middle- and upper-class American families take for granted.
Each year, Montana KIDS COUNT seeks to inform policy-makers, service providers, and all citizens on the progress made by Montana children and the problems they still face. By using consistent and reliable data, the program reports on the demographic, socio-economic, health, and educational status of children in Montana.
Demographics and Family Characteristics
The continuing story on demographics in Montana between 2000 and 2005 is the decline in the number of children. The state's overall population grew by 3.5 percent, but the total number of children under age 18 fell by 11 percent. The decline in the number of children was slightly more for males than for females, 12 percent and 10.5 percent respectively, although counts since 1990 show that males have always outnumbered females. Although the number of both white and American Indian children (the two largest groups in the state) fell, the number of white children fell by 11 percent significantly more than the 1.9 percent decline in American Indian/Alaska Native children.
Social and Economic Status
Poverty rates for Montana's children ages birth to 17 are high. In 2005, 20 percent lived in households below the federal poverty level (FPL), a fairly consistent percentage since 2000. However, that percentage sharply increases to 34 percent for children living in households below 150 percent of FPL. There has been little change in these rates over the past five years. This lack of change holds true for children living in extreme poverty (below 50 percent of the poverty rate), as well as for children living below 250 percent of the poverty rate. The group that represents the largest share (23 percent) of children in poverty is kids under 5 years of age. See Table 5, page 17, for more information on poverty rates.
The number of families receiving benefits through the federal welfare program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), has been decreasing steadily with the enactment of welfare reform which emphasized finding employment. However, the increase in the number of people receiving other forms of public assistance such as Food Stamps and Child Care Subsidies indicates that despite finding work, many former welfare recipients have still not made it out of poverty.
Health and Health insurance
Participation rates in the Medicaid program did not change...
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