A national survey that ranks states on how well they treat their children puts Missouri just below the middle of the pack, right where it has been for the past ten years. The annual Kids Count rankings have been released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, rating the states on health and social economic indicators that affect the well-being of children. Cory Anderson with Kids Count says Missouri has made gains in the number of children covered by health insurance, the percentage of children immunized and the number of idle teenagers. The state even gained in the area of teenager deaths, but not that much compared with other states. Such poor performance in that category and in the number of single-parent households offset many of the state’s gains and kept it just below average. Missouri has remained stuck in about the same position for ten years. The state ranked 30th on the Kids Count survey in 1990 and ranked 31st in 2000.
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