Politicians need to make health, well-being of our children a priority

Saw an item in the paper the other day: For the first time, the candidates for Florida governor have been invited to have a debate focused entirely on the future of Florida's children.

Now, if you're underwhelmed by this news, I don't blame you. Politicians always say they love children. They're forever being photographed kissing babies, reading to school kids, trotting out their own offspring for public inspection.

But I hope this debate, being hosted by the University of Miami and the Children's Movement of Florida, is an opportunity to get past the "children are our future'' platitudes and talk about reality.

Fact is, life is terribly hard for a lot of Florida's kids.

"Florida consistently ranks at or near the bottom in measure after measure of how we invest in our children — the time has come to change that,'' said David Lawrence Jr., co-chairman of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Children's Movement. He said Democratic nominee Alex Sink has pledged to participate in the Oct. 16 debate, and Republican Rick Scott is in talks with organizers.

Here's why this item caught my attention:

In 1990, as a reporter in our state Capital bureau, I wrote about efforts to deal with Florida's alarmingly high infant mortality rate. I visited rural Gadsden County, where babies were dying at twice the national rate. A local woman whose job was to help out poor moms and kids took me into a shack that looked from the road to be abandoned. It didn't have plumbing, but it was home to a family of 10, including a new baby.

The late Gov. Lawton Chiles declared infant mortality to be his top priority when he took office in 1991. Today, about 7 babies per 1,000 births die before their first birthday, compared with about 10.5 when I made my visit to Gadsden County.

On infant mortality, Florida ranks 28th in the nation, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

But overall, the foundation's 2010 Kids Count Data Book ranks Florida 35th in its key indicators of child welfare. These also include child poverty, kids in single-parent homes, child and teen death rates, teens not in school, and a bunch of others.

Progress is being made in some of these areas, proof that concentrated effort pays off. But clearly there's a long way to go to move Florida up in the rankings, and more importantly, improve life for our kids.

News of the Children's Movement debate got me thinking: Instead of trying to figure out who sounds most sincere in their love for children, why not grade our elected officials on the actual results they get for children? We surely have plenty of data.

After all, Florida schools are graded according to their students' scores on standardized tests. It's a controversial system, and perhaps imperfect, but our politicians do seem to like it.

Why not give them a similar opportunity to prove their worth when it comes to the health and well-being of Florida's children?

Charlotte can be reached at sutton@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8425.

Read the full article here.