Polk ranks in bottom 20% in kids well-being

LAKELAND — When it comes to the well-being of children, Polk County remains in the bottom 20% of Florida counties in the Florida Child Well-Being Index released Wednesday.

Polk slipped from its 2018 rank of 50th out of 67 counties to 54th in the 2019 ranking.

St. Johns County, home to Jacksonville, ranked No. 1 statewide. Putnam placed last.

The annual report is a project of Florida Kids Count, an agency based in the College of Behavioral and Community Sciences at the University of South Florida. As part of the national Kids Count Network, the group collaborates with the Annie E. Casey Foundation to help children escape poverty and have better lives.

The national Kids Count evaluates and ranks states on the status of children in the same categories. Florida dropped in this year's ranking as well, placing 37th out of the 50 states, compared with 34th last year.

“We have plenty to do in the Sunshine State to improve overall well-being for our kids,” Norin Dollard, director of Florida Kids Count, said during Thursday's webinar to announce the new report. “We need to keep the focus and not say our work is over. Even though we're better than we were five years ago, we still have one in five children who live in poverty.”

When possible, Florida Kids Count uses the same data the Casey Foundation uses for its national index, such as information from U.S. Census reports.

But in some categories, federal data isn't broken down at the county level, Dollard said. In those cases, the USF group draws upon data from state sources, such as the Florida Department of Health, the Department of Children and Families and the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice.

The Florida Kids Count is based on 16 measures of health, financial stability, education and social welfare in each Florida county.

Polk did best in the health category with a rank of 36th out of the 67 counties, reflecting several positive measures, such as an increase in the number of children covered by health insurance. A snapshot from 2016 found 9,373 uninsured children in Polk, a decrease of 6.3% from five years earlier.

Only 32% of Polk's teens were using drugs and alcohol in 2018, down from nearly 36% in 2014.

Polk ranked 44th in economic well-being with fewer children in poverty and an unemployment rate of 4.6% in 2017, down from 9.6% in 2012.

A 2% increase in the number of children in single-parent households contributed to Polk placing 53rd in social welfare.

There were more 3- and 4-year-olds not enrolled in school between 2013 and 2017, compared with 2008-2012. Additionally, 88% of the county's eighth-graders were not proficient in math. Those two measures contributed to Polk's 55th place ranking in the education well-being category.

Eric Pera can be reached at eric.pera@theledger.com or 863-802-7528.