Children of Massachusetts: room for improvement

A review of health and social measurements reported in census data indicates that, compared with other state and national averages, the general social and family conditions for many of the 1.5 million young residents of Massachusetts are quite good. But there are many exceptions, and the challenge is not to lose sight of the need to improve. There are 1.5 million children living in Massachusetts under the age of 18 (including approximately 1.2 million Caucasian, 158,000 Hispanic, and 107,000 African American children). This comes to about 2 percent of the children in all of the United States. These youngsters represent the next generation of patients for current and future dental practitioners. Are these youngsters getting the right start? The Kids Count initiative along with other reports produced by the Annie E. Casey Foundation provides a detailed demographic summary of the 2000 Census and related data, which offer answers to this question. The Foundation report highlights many of the successful--and not so successful--efforts to ensure the best possible beginnings for youngsters throughout the country, individual states, and local communities. In an effort to place the demographic information of youngsters in Massachusetts in some comparative context, the data are matched to information at the national level and for New York and Connecticut.