Florida KIDS COUNT Responds to National Calls to Action For Unemployed Parents

A report just released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation reveals that the number of children living with unemployed parents has increased from 3 million to 4 million since 2000. According to the 16th annual KIDS COUNT Data Book, unemployed parents are often faced with issues that make connecting to the workforce especially difficult - domestic violence, depression, substance abuse, and prior incarceration.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation KIDS COUNT project is a national and state-by-state effort to compile the best available data to describe the educational, social, economic and physical well-being of the nation's children. KIDS COUNT seeks to enrich local, state, and national discussions concerning ways to secure better futures for all children by providing policymakers and citizens with benchmarks of child well-being.

This year’s report shows that in 2003, approximately 168,000 children in Florida lived in low-income households where no adult worked in the past year, accounting for 4 percent of Florida’s total child population. The report also found an increased rate of children in single parent households. In 2003, 36 percent of Florida’s children lived in households led by a single parent, compared to 35 percent in 2000.

This year's Data Book reveals a critical need for state and local leaders to build support for vulnerable parents in a more systematic, comprehensive, and integrated way. The 2005 Data Book’s essay highlights public and private initiatives around the country that address the needs of America’s most persistently unemployed families. The Department of Child & Family Studies and the USF Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute are involved in a number of initiatives with the same goals. Information on those initiatives and contact information can be found at: http://cscf.fmhi.usf.edu/flkc/fmhi05programs.htm. For information in other parts of Florida, contactlocal Florida Children’s Services Councils.

The 2005 Data Book can be viewed at the National KIDS COUNT website at http://www.aecf.org/kidscount/sld/databook2005.jsp.

Contact:
Susan Weitzel
813-974-7411
cscf@fmhi.usf.edu
(See additional contacts in Program Descriptions and Florida Children’s Services Councils.