The State of Florida's Children

Here are some facts regarding the state of infants, toddlers and all other children in Florida and the consequences of funding priorities that have diminished or undermined programs meant to serve our children.

Children's Health, Special Needs and Insurance

• Ninety percent of human brain development occurs during the first five years of life, making those years crucially important to the overall development of our children.1
• Florida regularly ranks in the bottom half of states in child health, largely due to the high rate of babies born underweight and children who die within their first year of life.2
• By most measures, Florida ranks 49th in the nation in the percentage of uninsured children,3 and a recent report places our state last. More than 500,000 of Florida’s children do not have health insurance.
• Thirty-two percent of Florida's uninsured children do not have a regular place of care, compared with only 7 percent of insured children.⁵ As a result, many uninsured children do not swiftly seek treatment when they are ill.⁶ When uninsured children finally are able to enter a hospital in Florida, they are 1.5 times more likely than insured children to die in the hospital.⁷
• The cost of uncompensated care for uninsured Florida children and adults was around $2.9 billion in 2005 and was estimated to rise to more than $4 billion in 2010.⁸ To help pay for this, each insured Florida family absorbs a hidden $1,400 insurance premium surcharge, and each insured Florida individual pays a $510 hidden surcharge.⁹
• Florida meets just two of eight policy benchmarks aimed at addressing children’s dental health needs. More than half of the children on Medicaid received no dental service in 2007, the last year for which data are available.¹⁰
• Early screening for and treatment of children's special needs can help children thrive and save $30,000 to $100,000 per child.¹¹
• Research shows that those with better childhood health earn and save more money, are more productive,¹² and are less dependent on welfare and public subsidies.
• Every dollar spent by Florida to improve the health and well-being of children in the state creates an aggregate total of $4.55 in economic output. That is a return on investment of 455 percent.¹³
• Florida ranks 47th in the percentage of pregnant women receiving prenatal care in the first trimester.¹⁴

High Quality Pre-Kindergarten Programs

• Florida's pre-kindergarten program meets only four of 10 nationally recommended standards and ranks 34th among 38 states in per pupil funding.¹⁵
• Studies show returns of up to $17 for every $1 invested in a high-quality preschool education. These savings come from increased school achievement and high school graduation rates, decreased child abuse and neglect, reduced reliance on public assistance, increased adult earnings, and decreased contact with the criminal justice system.¹⁶
• Research shows documented reductions in special education of up to 43 percent and documented reductions in grade repetition of up to 39 percent among children who receive a high-quality preschool education.¹⁷

Parent Skill-Building Programs

• The importance of loving, responsive and caring adults in the lives of children is central to children’s healthy development.¹⁸ Research and experience prove that high-quality information for parents can make a difference for all families.¹⁹
• Children of parents who participated in parent-skill programs were as much as 22 percent less likely to later commit a crime.²⁰
• Florida has one of the highest rates of child abuse in the United States (29.6 cases per 1,000 children, more than double the national rate).²¹
• A meta-analysis of more than four dozen studies of parent skill-building programs found parent skill-building programs can effectively increase parent knowledge of child development, can prevent behavior problems such as antisocial behavior and delinquency, and produce consistently positive results across different contexts and populations.²²

Mentoring Programs

• Research shows that children with an ongoing relationship with a mentor are 46 percent less likely to use illegal drugs, 27 percent less likely to use alcohol and 32 percent less likely to hit someone.²³
• Though funding has been slashed for Florida's once-premier mentoring program, return on investment studies estimate a savings of $4.89 for every $1 invested in mentoring programs, with some studies showing returns as high as $8.18 for targeted programs to reduce property crimes among high-risk youth.²⁴
• The average mentoring program costs between $1,000-$1,500 per child mentored,²⁵ with costs increasing for more comprehensive programs. In contrast, Florida currently spends $2 billion a year in public school remediation, an average of $40,697 per youth for a year of juvenile justice services,²⁶ and $18,980 per inmate for a year of adult incarceration.²⁷

Read The State of Florida's Child report.

1. Shonkoff, J. P. & Phillips, D. A. (Eds). From neurons to neighborhoods: The science of early childhood development. Washington D.C.: National Academy Press.
2. 2010 Florida Children's Budget Report, Florida Children and Youth Cabinet.
3. Urban Institute and Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured estimates based on the Census Bureau's March 2008 and 2009 Current Population Survey (CPS: Annual Social and Economic Supplements). http://www.statehealthfacts.org/comparetable.jsp?ind=127&cat=3
4. Douglas McCarthy, Sabrina K. H. How, Cathy Schoen, Joel C. Cantor, and Dina Belloff. Aiming Higher: Results from a State Scorecard on Health System Performance, 2009. October 8, 2009. The Commonwealth Fund. http://www.commonwealthfund.org/~/media/Files/Chart%20Maps/2009%20State%20Scorecard/Florida_combined_tables_v2.pdf
5. “The Impact of Medicaid and SCHIP on Low-Income Children’s Health.” The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. February 2009.
6. Jeffrey J. Stoddard, Robert F. St. Peter, and Paul W. Newacheck. “Health Insurance Status and Ambulatory Care for Children.” New England Journal of Medicine. May 19, 1994. Volume 330: 1421-1425.
7. “The Great Divide: When Kids Get Sick, Insurance Matters.” Families USA. February 2007.
8. “The Added Cost of Care for the Uninsured in Florida.” Families USA. June 15, 2005.
9. Ben Furnas and Peter Harbage. “The Cost Shift from the Uninsured.” Center for American Progress Action Fund. March 24, 2009.
10. The Pew Center on The States, The Cost of Delay, State Dental Policies Fail One in Five Children, February 2010. http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/uploadedFiles/Cost_of_Delay_web.pdf
11. Frances P Glascoe and Henry L Shapiro. “Introduction to Developmental and Behavioral Screening.” Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics Online. American Academy of Pediatrics. May 27, 2004.
12. James Smith. “The Impact of Childhood Health on Adult Labor Market Outcomes.” August 2005. RAND Labor and Population Working Paper.
13. Washington Economics Group (January 2010). The Economic Impact and Return on Investment of Investing in Children's Health Care, including the Screening and Treatment for Developmental Disabilities.
14. Kaiser Family Foundation, State Health Facts.org; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, Vital Statistics.
15. Barnett, W. S., Epstein, D. J., Friedman, A. H., Stevenson Boyd, J. Hustedt, J. T. (2008). State of Preschool Yearbook. National Institute for Early Education Research, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Available: http://nieer.org/yearbook/
16. Rolnick, A. J. & Grunewald, R. (2003). Early childhood development: Economic development with a high public return.
17. Belfield, C. R. (2004) Early childhood education: How important are the cost-savings to the school system? New York: Columbia University. Available: www.plan4preschool.org/documents/ny-cost-savings.pdf
18. Theokas, C., & Lerner, R. M. (2006). Promoting positive development in adolescence: The role of ecological assets in families, schools, and neighborhoods. Applied Developmental Science, 10(2), 61-74.
19. Partnership for America’s Economic Success (2009). Parent education is economic development. Available: http://www.partnershipforsuccess.org/uploads/20090708_PAESParentingBriefFinal.pdf
20. Piquero, A., Farrington, D., Welsh, B., Tremblay, R., & Jennings, W. (2008). Effects of Early Family/Parent Training Programs on Antisocial Behavior & Delinquency. Available: http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/224989.pdf
21. 2010 Florida Children's Budget Report, Florida Children and Youth Cabinet.
22. Piquero, A., Farrington, D., Welsh, B., Tremblay, R., & Jennings, W. (2008). Effects of Early Family/Parent Training Programs on Antisocial Behavior & Delinquency. Available: http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/224989.pdf
23. Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy. (2010). Social Programs that Work: Big Brothers Big Sisters (Community-based mentoring program for disadvantaged youth ages 6-18). Available: http://evidencebasedprograms.org/wordpress/?page_id=117
24. Anton, P. A. & Temple, J. (2007). Analyzing the social return on investment in youth intervention programs. Wilder Research: St. Paul. Available: http://kidschange.org/html/SROIYouthInterventionProgramExSumFinal.pdf
25. Walker, G. (2007). Mentoring, policy and politics. Public/Private Ventures. Available: http://www.ppv.org/ppv/publications/assets/224_publication.pdf
26. Florida Department of Juvenile Justice Budget.
27. Florida Department of Corrections Budget.