By Mark Bashore, WKAR News
LANSING, MI –
Ingham county officials are worried that recent improvements in young peoples' health may be short-lived. The newly released Kids' Count report shows ongoing declines in teen deaths and pregnancies and fewer kids being placed outside the home. But human service professionals worry that the gains--from 2007 and 2008--are in jeopardy. Marcus Cheatham is a spokesman for the Ingham County Health Department.
"A lot of kids' parents who were working back in 2008 are not working right now," he explains. "And that's going to have an impact of the child if the family loses their home .the father, the mother, the breadwinner becomes uninsured "
The Kids Count survey provides county-by-county data on income, health, education and other measures of child welfare.