May 2010

Renewed efforts are underway to achieve passage of legislation that would provide for a state-level child well-being survey. Bipartisan legislation was introduced in both houses on May 21, 2009.

In the Senate, Senators John D. Rockefeller (D-WV) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) introduced S.1151. In the House, Representatives Chaka Fattah (D-PA) and Dave Camp (R-MI) introduced H.R. 2558.

On May 18, 2010, Representatives Camp, Fattah and Stark hosted a briefing on child indicators and this legislation that was co-sponsored by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Chapin Hall and Child Trends. View materials from the briefing.

Supporters of the legislation will ask those who sponsored the bill during the last Congress to sign on again as co-sponsors.  Potential new sponsors will also be approached. State policy makers and advocates can reach out to Members in the Senate and House to emphasize the importance of state-level data for our nation's children.

Over the past decade, the federal government has shifted greater responsibility to the states for programs that benefit children and families. As state officials assume greater responsibility, however, they require data on child well-being that is both timely and state-specific.

Unfortunately, most state officials currently lack reliable data on many aspects of child well-being in their state. Where data does exist, it is often collected so infrequently or released so many years after collection that it cannot guide policy making. Often, the available data is  administrative data that only includes children who participate in particular programs, such as the public school system or the Medicaid program. This means the data leaves out precisely those children not being served, who are most at risk.  Other data measures only one aspect of a child’s life, such as teen pregnancy and sexual activity, making it impossible to identify multiple risk factors that lead to unwanted behaviors.  Very little data is available on positive behaviors that should be encouraged.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation is supporting the efforts of Senators Rockefeller and Snowe, and Representatives Fattah and Camp, to pass a state-level child well-being survey that would provide timely state-specific data. The legislation would require the Maternal and Child Health Bureau of the Health Resources and Services Administration in the Department of Health and Human Services to gather data from a representative sample of families in every state. This data will be statistically reliable for every state, made available to states within six months to a year of collection, and cover all domains of child well-being. Timely, accurate and comprehensive data will help ensure that states can make better policy decisions for children, and that federal funds are effectively used in programs for low-income families and children in every single state.

If Congress passes legislation that funds a state level survey of child well-being, the Annie E. Casey Foundation has pledged to supplement that funding to give states, researchers, policy analysts and community groups technical assistance in understanding and using the data. This will ensure that the data collected by a state survey is accessible to and used by state policy makers. This commitment constitutes a jointly funded project with the federal government. The federal lobbying restrictions on private foundations provide an exception for jointly funded projects, at §53.4945-2(a)(3), which enables the Annie E. Casey Foundation to lobby on the bills proposed by Representatives Fattah and Camp and Senators Rockefeller and Snowe.

Continue to visit this website for updates. Throughout this year, it will be important to reach out to Members in the Senate and House to emphasize the importance of state-level data for our nation's children

© 2010 Child Indicators