The Report Card tracks 17 indicators of children's well-being in Greater Kansas City. Four of the five categories we measure saw improvements this year, with the fifth category remaining the same. Our community saw gains in the number of children being immunized, the high school graduation rate, and the quality of child care in the metro area. On the down side, the benchmarks for teen homicide and youth substance abuse have seen little progress in recent years. On the same day that the Partnership for Children released its Report Card on the Status of Children in Greater Kansas City, our friends at Kansas Action for Children issued its 2000 Report Card on the well-being of children in the state of Kansas.
Some kids find a safe and stable environment in a foster care setting.
But for many others, the instability and stigma of foster care is a nightmare. Now there's a new book on the foster care experience told from the children's point of view. It explores the connection foster care kids have with their birth families, the guilt many children in foster care experience, and the often difficult transition out of foster care. The American Academy of Pediatrics has also just issued some new recommendations for young children in foster care. The guidelines are designed to ensure optimal brain development for children under the age of five who are entering the foster care system.