ABOUTCDF he Children's Defense Fund (CDF) exists to provide a strong and effective voice for all the children ofAmerica who cannot vote, lobby, or speak for themselves. We pay Tparticular attention to the needs of poor and minority children and those with disabilities. Our goal is to educate the nation about the needs of children and encourage preventive investment in children before they get sick, drop out of school, suffer family breakdown, or get into trouble. Our staff includes specialists in health, education, child welfare, mental health, child development, adolescent pregnancy prevention, family income, and youth employment. CDF gathers, analyzes, and disseminates information on key issues affecting children. We monitor the development and implementation offederal and state policies. We provide information, technical assistance, and support to a network of state and local child advocates, service providers, and public and private sector officials and leaders. We pursue an annual legislative agenda in the U.S. Congress and in states where we have offices. CDF educates hundreds of thousands of citizens annually about children's needs and responsible options for meeting those needs. Since 1973 CDF has been working to create a nation in which the web of family, community, private sector, and government supports for children is so tighdy woven that no child can slip through. We believe that no child should be left behind, and that every child needs and deserves a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start, and a Moral Start in life. CDF is a private, nonprofit organization supported by foundations, corporate grants, and individual donations. The State of Children's Defense Fund 1 995 Copyright© 1995 by Children's Defense Fund All rights reserved. ISBN: 1-881-985-910-5 ISSN: 1055-9213 25 E Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 202-628-8787 This book is dedicated to the memory ofthree extraordinary human beings and child advocates: Elizabeth Glaser, cofounder ofthe Pediatric AIDS Foundation) James E Grant) UNICEF executive director, 1980-1994) and Jean Childs Young) International1iar ofthe Child) former CDF board member, andfriend. ABOUT THIS BOOK elva Finlay was the coordinating editor for this book, managing all editorial work and writing the chapters on Violence, Children and Families in Crisis, Child Care and Early Childhood Development, Band Housing andHomelessness. CliffJohnson, CDF's director ofPrograms and Policy, provided overall editorial direction and collaborated with CDF writers Ed Wiley illand Lisa Rhodes in preparing the Education and Teen Pregnancy Prevention chapters, respectively. Grace Suh wrote the Health chapter, and Alice Yang the Food and Nutrition chapter. Substantive expertise came primarily from the following members ofCDF's program staff, who may be contacted for more information: MaryLee Allen (Children and Families in Crisis, Housing and Homelessness), Gina Adams and Helen Blank (Child Care and Early Childhood Development), Lucy Hackney (Health), Darold Johnson (Hunger and Nutrition), Hattie Ruttenberg (Violence), Robin Scott (Housing and Homelessness), James D. Weill (Violence, and 1995: The New Federal Climate), and Deborah Weinstein (Family Income). Carol Regan and Enola Aird contributed to the Health and Violence chapters, respectively. Paul Smith and Janet Simons generated the extensive tables in the Appendix and verified data, and Simons gathered data for the graphics within the chapters. Arloc Sherman and Martha Teitelbaum also produced and verified data. Donna M. Jablonski oversaw development and preparation of the book and provided extensive editorial assistance. David Heffernan copy-edited text, and Janis Johnston managed production. Special thanks to Paul Jargowsky ofthe University ofTexas at Dallas for use ofhis analysis of1990 Census data on poor neighborhoods; to Lois Fingerhut ofthe National Center for Health Statistics for producing the data on fIrearms deaths; and to Cindy Brown ofthe Council ofChief State School Officers and Kati Haycock of the Education 'llust of the American Association for Higher Education for their helpful comments on the Education chapter. The creation, publication, and distribution ofthis report were underwritten by an endowment gift from the DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund. Media inquiries should be directed to Lynn Bowersox-Megginson or Stella Ogata. CONTENTS Introduction Progress or Peril? Community or Chaos? America's Unfinished Symphony for Freedom and Justice What you can do 4 A prayer for children 6 1995: The New Federal Climate 9 Balanced budget amendment 10 Eliminating the entitlement stams ofchild survival programs 11 Block: grants and consolidation ofselected discretionary programs 12 Contract with America 13 Family Income 17 Growing hardship among children and young families 17 Help for working poor families 18 Key facts 18 Costs ofchild poverty 19 Welfare reform debate heats up 20 States experiment with welfare 23 Child support enforcement continues to lag 23 SSI for children with disabilities 24 An innovative response: Project Match 25 Recommendations 25 Health 27 Increasing numbers of uninsured children 27 The health ofAmerica's children 28 Key facts 28 The demise ofnational health reform 29 State managed care plans under Medicaid 31 The administration's Childhood Immunization Initiative 33 Community response: Increasing Medicaid enrollment in New York City 33 Looking ahead to 1995 34 Recommendations 35 Child Care and Early Childhood Development 37 Strengthening Head Start 37 Key facts 38 Other improvements in federal early childhood policy and programs 39 State preschool initiatives 39 Child care quality comes under scrutiny 40 Competition for child care assistance 41 State response: North Carolina's Smart Start 42 Looking ahead to 1995 43 Recommendations 43 v CON TEN TS Hunger and Nutrition 4S Childhood hunger 45 Food stamp reforms 46 Key facts 46 Improved child nutrition programs 48 Healthier school meals 49 Community response: La Pintoresca Summer Food Program 50 Looking ahead to 1995 50 Recommendations 51 Violence S3 Firearms: the death toll on children 54 Key facts 54 Prevention measures in the 1994 crime bill 55 Regulating fIrearms 57 Handguns: myth vs. reality 58 Guns in schools 58 Juvenile justice and the 1994 crime legislation 58 State response: Caring Communities Programs 59 Recommendations 60 Housing and Homelessness 63 A snapshot ofhomelessness 63 The housing problems of poor families 64 Key facts 64 Housing assistance and welfare 65 New assessments of housing problems 65 The administration's actions 66 The second wave of restructuring plans 67 Housing discrin1ination 68 Educating homeless children 68 New state trust funds for housing 68 State response: Virginia's Homeless Intervention Program 69 Recommendations 70 Children and Families in Crisis 71 Children in need of help 71 Key facts 72 Legislation related to vulnerable children 73 Fanilly preservation and support planning gets under way 75 Better data to improve services 76 Building stronger communities 76 State response: Alabama overhauls child welfare system 77 Looking ahead to 1995 78 Recommendations 78 VI CHILDREN'S DEFENSE FUND Teen Pregnancy Prevention and Youth Development 81 Teen birth rates decline slightly 81 Key facts 82 Job prospects improve but wages stagnate 83 Teen drug use rises 83 New data on causes, consequences ofteenage childbearing 84 Welfare reform focuses on teen childbearing 86 States expand school-based health centers 87 Federal youth employment and service programs get under way 87 Crime bill debate focuses on youth development 88 An innovative response: Girls Incorporated's Preventing Adolescent Pregnancy Program 88 Recommendations 89 Education 91 Poor and minority children struggle to catch up 92 Key facts 92 Segregation and disparities in quality ofeducation persist 93 Federal legislation strengthens education 94 Progress in school reform uncertain 96 Charter schools and privatization trigger controversy 96 Confronting school violence 97 California's Proposition 187 98 An innovative response: ensuring Success for All 98 Recommendations 99 Appendix 101 Children in the Nation 101 Poverty among children 101 Maternal and infant health 102 Adolescent childbearing 103 Maternal labor force participation ofmarried women with children younger than six 104 Youth unemployment 105 Children in the States 106 Number and percentage ofpersons younger than 18 who are poor, based on 1989 income 106 AFDC maximum monthly benefit for a three-person family, 1970 and 1994 108 AFDC and food stamp benefits for a single parent with two children, as a percent ofpoverty, January 1994 109 Child support enforcement, FY 1993 110 Percent ofbirths to women receiving early prenatal care, 1992 111 Percent ofbirths at low birthweight, 1992 112 Infant mortality rates, 1992 113 Percent oftwo-year-old children adequately immunized, 1988-1990 114 Health insurance coverage ofchildren llS Children reported abused or neglected, distribution by race and ethnicity, 1992 116 Children younger than 18 in foster care, FY 1990-FY 1993 117 Children living in group quarters due to own or family problems, by race and ethnicity, 1990 118 VII CON TEN T 5 Children living in group quarters due to own or family problems, by reason, 1990 119 Head Start enrollment, by race and ethnicity, FY 1994 120 Maximum number ofchildren allowed per caretaker and maximum group size in child care centers, by age ofchildren 121 Fair market rent vs. the minimum wage, 1994 122 Number ofchildren receiving