Annual KIDS COUNT Data Shows Mixed Results for Middletown

Recent results of an annual privately-funded nationwide study show that while Rhode Island ranked among the top 10 states for lowest child and teen mortality rates, as well as low teen birth rates, town-by-town data revealed that child homelessness, as well as increased rates of reported child abuse and neglect cases, had increased in Middletown. 

The KIDS COUNT Data Book is put out by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a private charitable organization that collects data from federal agencies and works to shape public policy in the area of children, family and human service reforms. The KIDS COUNT program tracks and releases data collected from federal and state agencies on education, economic well-being, and health issues with state-to-state comparisons as well as city-to-city comparisons.

The Kids Count Data Book's recent findings showed that Middletown ranked 3rd out of 36 communities in Rhode Island for most homeless children, with 136 homeless children as identified by public schools. That's more than double the number of homeless children reported in Newport and six times more than the number of homeless children reported in Portsmouth, according to Kids Count. The two communities in Rhode Island with higher homeless children rates were Providence, with 238 homeless children, and North Kingstown, with 147 homeless children. No data for prior years was available.

Social service providers like Lucy's Hearth, an emergency homeless shelter for women and children, rely on such data every year because it assists them in making their case and securing necessary funding from various sources, such as special grants.

Jennifer Barrera, Program Manager of Lucy's Hearth, concurred with the overall KIDS COUNT findings that homelessness among children is on the rise given the unstable economy, larger numbers of "working poor" families with low-wage jobs and limited resources, and mothers who receive only government assistance and rely heavily on social service providers to meet basic survival needs for themselves and their children. However, she cautioned that some data showing an overall homeless count in Middletown may be slightly skewed either from the presence of homeless shelters and group homes, which sometimes bring homeless individuals from outside town, or skewed in the opposite directions because the numbers may not reflect those homeless mothers and their children who stay on family couches to get by and go unreported as "homeless."

"If Middletown is correctly identifying these kids, then that's good because it means they're hopefully getting the support they need," said Barrera, noting that children in such instability typically also encounter a variety of psycho-social, mental health, behavioral, educational, and healthcare issues besides economic hardships.

Also reported was that Middletown ranked 13th highest in the state for child abuse and neglect, according to KIDS COUNT, showing an increase from 8.8 incidents reported per 1,000 children in 2008 to 10.2 incidents per 1,000 children in 2009. The state average in 2009 was 11.7 per incidents per 1,000 children, according to KIDS COUNT. The data published by KIDS COUNT is somewhat of a meta-analysis that procsses data collected from a variety of federal, local and state agencies, from local school districts to government social welfare agencies such as the Department of Children and families, healthcare programs, food assistance programs, housing agencies and more. As such, not all data viewed by one particular group would necessarily match that of any one agency that tracks data based on its own services and programs.

For example, Middletown Police Department records show that no child abuse cases were officially reported in 2008 and that in 2009 three arrests for child abuse were reported and none were reported for neglect, according to Lieutenant Robert Nutt, spokesperson for the police department.

When it comes to tracking crime statistics, increases are usually attributed to more victims or witnesses coming forward to report crimes, an increase of occurrences, or both. Nutt explained, "We had zero cases reported in 2008...When we compare our numbers from 2008 to 2009, it shows a 300-percent increase in child abuse arrests for 2009."

He added, "I believe the reason we showed an increase for 2009 was that people are more willing to report an incident of child abuse to the police."

When comparing against Middletown's population of 17,334 as recorded by the most recent available 2000 census data, he noted that the cases of child abuse would come out to less than .02-percent incidents per overall population and that would place Middletown 13th among Rhode Island's 38 cities and towns. 

"One case of child abuse or neglect is unacceptable," said Nutt. "The men and women of the Middletown Police Department will do everything possible to prevent these types of crime from occurring." 

Middletown also ranked among the top 10 highest rates of alcohol and drug use among high school students engaged in drug abuse at 33-percent and alcohol consumption at 44-percent, an increase of 3-percent and 4-percent respectively since 2007. High school students also showed a 30-percent usage rate for cigarette smoking.

The trend has not gone unnoticed by town officials. Nutt noted how the town and police officials in recent years worked with the Middletown Substance Abuse Prevention Task Force to update town ordinances to give the police department greater ability to address the underage drinking problem in the community. Additional funding from the State of Rhode Island has also enabled the police department to increase alcohol and tobacco enforcement checks at town businesses.

"Any alcohol and or drug use among high school students is troubling," said Nutt, adding, "Any business or restaurant which provides alcohol or tobacco to underage individuals is cited for the violations."

In matters of education, Middletown ranked 20th in the state for the number of high school students that graduated within 4 years, with a rate of 82-percent, down from 84-percent in 2008.  However it was not known at press time if the presence of the local U.S. Navy Base or the populations at area homeless shelters and group homes skewed data there due to the transient nature of those populations.

Public school students rank 9th in the state for 8th grade math proficiency, 24th in the state for 8th grade reading proficiency, 25th for 4th grade math proficiency, and 26th for 4th grade reading proficiency. The percentage of proficiency was lower by as much as 9-percent across all four tests over 2008 test scores. The average daily attendance rate at Middletown High School was 95-percent and ties with six other communities as 3rd highest in the state. 

For the complete list of data and to see how other communities in the state and across the nation ranked, go to http://datacenter.kidscount.org/.

For more information about Middletown efforts to stop underage drinking, please visit: http://stopkidsdrinking.com/Ordinance.pdf and http://stopkidsdrinking.com/Social%20Host%20Ord%20Passed%203-1-10%20with%20Clerk's%20seal.pdf