Report says area children faring worse

On several measures of well-being, Cape Girardeau County's children are faring worse than they did in 2001, according to the latest Missouri Kids Count report, released Thursday by Citizens for Missouri's Children. The number of Cape Gir?ardeau County children receiving free or reduced price lunches at school, the number born to mothers without high school diplomas and the number involved in child abuse or neglect cases were all up in 2005, the year the new ratings are based on, the child advocacy group reported. The good news is that generally the county is better off than most in the state, but the county's overall ranking fell from 25th last year to 30th this year. The Cape Girardeau County ranking is the best in the region. The most dramatic change in ranking took place in Perry County, which moved from 75th in 2005 to 34th in the 2006 ratings on the strength of declines in the births to mothers without a high school diploma, a reduction in the dropout rate for high school students and a decline in births to teen mothers.

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Are children safe at area schools?

An authority figure at a school, someone who once had students' trust, is accused of being a sexual predator. In the past six weeks, these stories sound particularly familiar in the Inland Valley. Since Dec. 14, four adults have been arrested on suspicion of sexual or lewd misconduct with minors. Three of them were teachers, one a coach. The arrests have prompted many frustrated parents to wonder what kind of place schools have become and how safe their children are behind classroom doors. They are understandable questions, but local experts believe the recent spate of arrests is a sign that the public is identifying and aggressively investigating child predators more, and not necessarily evidence that incidents are occurring more often. "This is not a huge new problem, but rather part of the human condition," said Norm Dollar, deputy director of the San Bernardino County Department of Children's Services.

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Pledge to disabled children reaffirmed by Treasury's Ed Balls

A Treasury minister yesterday reiterated the government's commitment to improving the lot of disabled children and their families in the next comprehensive spending review. Economics secretary Ed Balls, a prominent champion of disabled children, laid out how the current Treasury-led review of children and young people's services which will feed into the review in the summer, may benefit the group. .

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