NJ Ranks 8th, Pa. 16th in Child Well-Being

The Inquirer reports: “New Jersey’s ranking for overall child well-being slipped to eighth best in the nation from fifth last year, and Pennsylvania inched up from 17th to 16th, according to data released Tuesday by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.”

According to the report, more children in Pennsylvania are in poverty or have parents who lack secure employment, but the state saw improvements in the child health insurance rate and a lowering of the teen birth rate.  New Jersey, meanwhile, had strong showings in the report’s educational component — with more children attending preschool and reading at fourth-grade proficiency than the year before.

The Inky adds: “Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children president Joan Benso called the state’s new ranking ‘a hopeful indication that we have reversed the slide we saw last year, but also a sobering reminder that we still have to set up our investments in proven programs that benefit our youngest citizens.'”