Wisconsin ranks 12th in the nation in overall child well-being, according to the latest Kids Count data book just released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Although that’s up one notch from last year, some child advocates are saying the Badger State’s ranking is misleading. Tamarine Cornelius of the Wisconsin Budget Project says the number-12 ranking gives a very broad perspective on the state. Cornelius says other neighboring states including Iowa and Minnesota are doing better than Wisconsin. Cornelius says the positive ranking is mainly due to local, state, and federal policy-makers investing in the well-being of the state’s children and families. Despite gains in health care in the past year, there are still 46-thousand children in Wisconsin who are uninsured. Native American children in Wisconsin are three times as likely to be uninsured, and Latino and African-American children are twice as likely to be uninsured as white children. Cornelius says our leaders must look at kids as an investment in our future. The complete report is available online at www.aecf.org.
