In the same year a Baltimore teenager died in a state-run residential detention center and a Prince George?s County youth died after a tooth infection spread to his brain, child advocates Wednesday pressured Maryland lawmakers to improve problems affecting kids that, according to a new report, appear to be worsening.
Maryland?s rank nationally fell from 23rd to 24th in an annual child- wellness report released Wednesday by the Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation, which analyzed factors including infant mortality, teen pregnancy and high school dropout rates. Using the foundation?s indicators and some of their own, local advocates said the ranking should be much better considering Maryland is the second-wealthiest state in the nation.
They said the gap is the third-largest in the country.
“There is a pattern of consistent disappointment for the well-being of Maryland?s children,” said Matthew Joseph, executive director of Advocates for Children and Youth. “The first step to moving Maryland from a state of disgrace to a state of success is to stop being a state of denial.”
Statistics indicate Maryland?s achievement gap, juvenile recidivism rate, kids? access to dental care and the number of abused and neglected children in group homes are also worsening, according to a panel of local and national experts.
But their study used newly analyzed data that predated Gov. Martin O?Malley?s administration ? which they said is showing initiative, such as considering bonuses to attract principals to under-performing schools.
Citing 17-year-old Isaiah Simmons, who died in January while being restrained by staff at Bowling Brook Preparatory Academy in Carroll County, Department of Juvenile Services Secretary Donald DeVore, an O?Malley appointee, said the state is seeking to keep offenders in the community rather than transfer them out of state or into detention centers. The state closed Bowling Brook in March.
Foster home recruitment is also a top priority for the new administration, said Brenda Donald, secretary of the state?s Department of Human Resources, another O?Malley appointment.
“We do agree Maryland can do better and we will,” she said.
But advocates said they?ve heard the promises before. Charles Cooper, administrator of the state?s Citizens? Review Board for Children, said the state could save $50 million by recruiting foster homes instead of sending children to group homes ? the wrong solution, he said, for kids with “fixable” problems.
“We?ve heard before there was going to be progress, but we haven?t seen it,” Cooper said. “This crisis is one that could be a danger and an opportunity.”
BY THE NUMBERS
» Maryland has the nation?s second-worst achievement gap for low-income fourth-graders and others in reading and math; the gap is the fifth-worst nationally for eighth-graders.
» 70 percent of Maryland?s children enrolled in state-funded health programs go without any dental care in any given year.
» Of the nearly 10,000 Maryland children removed from their parents? house because of abuse or neglect, 27 percent live in group facilities rather thanfoster homes or with relatives; the figure has doubled in the last decade.
» 53 percent of juvenile inmates commit a crime again within one year of release.
Source: Advocates for Children and Youth Inc.
