The 2024 Kentucky KIDS COUNT Data Book, released Wednesday by Kentucky Youth Advocates, features the latest data on 16 measures of child well-being, showing whether outcomes for children across the Commonwealth have improved, worsened, or stayed the same.
Detailed data are available for every Kentucky county within a new interactive County Data Dashboard at www.kyyouth.org/kentucky-kids-count/.
“The Kentucky KIDS COUNT project is proud to offer advocates and decision makers the child well-being data they’ve come to expect, and this year in a new, more interactive format. While the Data Book still offers that statewide look at how children and families are faring, the online County Data Dashboard presents data at the county and school district-level in a way that allows users to compare to baseline data, to neighboring counties, and to how the state fares overall,” said Dr. Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates.
Additionally, in this 34th edition of the Data Book, the essay dives into the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), progress on efforts to mitigate those impacts, and the power of supportive community environments and positive experiences in building resilience.
The 2014 County Data Book focused on the disproportionate impact of ACEs on Kentucky kids and offered state policy, budget, and practice recommendations to combat those negative experiences and lifelong risks that can follow. A decade later, we are reflecting on progress made and areas in which policymakers can continue to engage in promoting Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs) for a more hopeful future.
“Nearly one in four Kentucky kids have experienced at least two ACEs – within the abuse, neglect, or household dysfunction categories – and we know those traumatic events can increase the risk for developing health issues and engaging in risky decision-making into adulthood. We emphasize each year that what gets measured, gets changed, and this year, I’m urging our policymakers to hear: what can be predicted can be prevented. Understanding ACEs and PCEs creates that opportunity to measure risk and pave the way for prevention,” said Brooks.
The impact of adverse and positive experiences in childhood are highlighted throughout the 2024 Data Book, including within the domains of economic security, education, health, and family and community. Young people from across the Commonwealth shared their personal reflections on how PCEs have helped them navigate adversity. The Data Book offers the following key recommendations to ensure every child has access to nurturing environments where they can grow up healthy and safe:
• Safe, Affordable Housing: Increase the housing supply and quality in Kentucky by investing in the affordable and rural housing trust funds and increasing support for programs that help homeowners remove environmental hazards such as lead paint.
• Mentorship: Increase access to mentors for youth and young adults by encouraging schools, community-based organizations, and faith-based institutions to integrate mentoring into their curriculum and programming.
• Health Care Access: Improve access to care by creating incentives for health care providers who work in underserved communities, accept patients with Medicaid, and co-locate services in places families already are.
• Kinship Care: Prioritize relative and fictive kin care placements if a child cannot safely stay in their home of origin and increase the number of supports available to kinship caregivers, including financial assistance, respite support, community-based connection, and mentoring.
“While the prevalence of PCEs among Kentucky youth has been studied less, research suggests that they are also common. It’s simple but can be profound – building a sense of belonging in high school, having at least two non-parent adults who care, participating in community traditions – these positive experiences in childhood can set our young people up for a lifetime of health, stability, and success. I urge every Kentuckian to ask themselves: how can I play a role in building that future for our kids?” said Brooks.
Overall, Kentucky’s over 1 million children saw improvement in 11 of the 16 child well-being indicators, compared to their baseline data. Yet, in several cases, the Commonwealth is still falling short in making this the best place in America to be young. Child well-being data highlights from the 2024 Data Book include:
• While child poverty rates in 2022 improved in 89 out of 120 counties compared to five years previous, one in five (21%) children overall continue to live in poverty. Due to historic and ongoing barriers to opportunities, 38% of Black children and 28% of Latinx children live in poverty in Kentucky compared to 18% of White children.
• In 2018-2022, 44% of Kentucky households had a high rental cost burden in which renters spent 30% or more of their income on rent plus utilities. While 20 counties show high rental cost burden rates of 50% or higher, 72 counties experienced improved rates over this time period compared to 2013-2017.
• One in five (21%) Kentucky children lived in food insecure households in 2022. Since 2020, 118 counties have experienced worse rates of child food insecurity, with 36 counties currently showing a rate of 25% or higher.
• Just 48% of all Kentucky kindergarteners entered school ready to learn last school year. Additionally, while improving in 113 of the 170 school districts with available data, half (50%) of fourth graders scored proficient or higher in reading. While improving in 94 school districts, just 37% of eighth graders scored proficient or higher in math.
• In 2022, 96% of Kentucky children had health insurance with 90 counties experiencing worse rates compared to 2017. There was an improvement in rates of smoking during pregnancy at 13% in 2020-2022 compared to 19% in 2015-2017, with 119 counties seeing better rates in that time period.
• Seventy counties experienced better rates in children ages 10-19 incarcerated in the juvenile justice system with an overall state rate of 17.4 per 1,000 in 2021-2023 compared to 21.2 per 1,000 in 2016-2018. Sixty-two counties also saw improvement in the rate of children in foster care with an overall state rate of 45 per 1,000 in 2021-2023 compared to 47.3 per 1,000 in 2016-2018.
Kentucky Youth Advocates