The State of America's Children® 2011 Report

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CDF’s new report The State of America's Children 2011 finds children have fallen further behind in many of the leading indicators over the past year as the country slowly climbs out of the recession. This is a comprehensive compilation and analysis of the most recent and reliable national and state-by-state data on population, poverty, family structure, family income, health, nutrition, early childhood development, education, child welfare, juvenile justice, and gun violence. The report provides key child data showing alarming numbers of children at risk: children are the poorest age group with 15.5 million children—one in every five children in America—living in poverty, and more than 60 percent of fourth, eighth and 12th grade public school students are reading or doing math below grade level.

View this year’s interactive report or download the document.

Addressing the Challenges of Reentry in the Juvenile Justice System

With the largest juvenile justice system in the country, Los Angeles County officials are concerned about the programming juveniles receive while they are incarcerated, as well as the services to support successful reintegration into society after release. Marian Wright Edelman recently joined with Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas in a press conference to discuss the current state of juvenile reentry and policies to meet the educational, mental health and substance abuse needs of the County's juveniles, and further dismantle the Cradle to Prison Pipeline.

A report on juvenile reentry was prepared for Supervisor Ridley-Thomas' office earlier this year by Michelle Newell and Angelica Salazar, former masters candidates at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government who now both work at the Children's Defense Fund on juvenile justice policy. Supervisor Ridley-Thomas has introduced this report as a motion to the Board of Supervisors in an effort to shed a light on the high recidivism rate and begin to improve the path that youth take when reentering their communities. The report's recommendations include things like strengthening the planning for a youth's transition back into the community, ensuring continuity in care to make sure youth do not experience educational or health disruptions, and improving the data collection and analysis capability of the Probation Department.

Click here to view Supervisor Ridley-Thomas and Mrs. Edelman's press release, Ridley-Thomas' motion to the Board of Supervisors, the executive summary of the report, or the whole report.