Florida Rankings In Health Care and Education

The Lawton Chiles Foundation has compiled a list of Florida's national in health care, education and social economic matters. The closer the ranking is to 50 the worse Florida's rating is compared to other states. For instance, Florida ranks 49th in uninsured children. The education numbers are dismal and prove no one should take Jeb Bush seriously on education matters.

Florida ranks 41st in child abuse-related deaths. The Florida Department of Children and Families is in need of aggressive reform. The DCF officials have been charged with committing crimes. THe DCF has failed to move children from abusive homes. In 2008, One in four foster children were homeless. Only one out of ten foster children were at grade level.

A mother was denied parental rights because she no longer attended "therapeutic visitations and individual therapy." The DCF discontinued these sessions due to budget cuts. The mother was found at fault for not attending sessions the DCF terminated. The Third District Court of Appeal reversed the DCF decision. This level of incompetence is normal for the DCF.

The Third DCA also held that the trial court erred in terminating the mother’s parental rights based on her failure to comply with her case plan. "The failure to comply with a case plan may not be used as a ground for termination of parental rights if the failure is due to the parent's lack of financial resources or the failure of the department to make reasonable efforts to reunify the parent and child." K.J. v. Dep't of Children & Family Servs., 906 So.2d 1183 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005); see T.M. v. Dep't of Children & Families, 905 So.2d 993, 997 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005).” The mother completed her parenting classes. The mother’s failure to complete the therapeutic visits and individual counseling was partially attributable to the department.

Finally, the Third DCA held that the trial court erred in terminating the mother’s rights based on abandonment. The mother made more than a marginal effort to communicate with her child. The mother failed to provide child support but that alone does not warrant a finding of abandonment as the mother lacked the ability to provide child support.

The Third DCA reversed the TPR order and remanded for further proceedings.

Florida's national rankings in health care, education and social economics.

HEALTH

Ranking on number of uninsured children
Florida ranks 49th. About 19 percent, or 763,000 of our children, do not have health insurance, versus a national average of 11 percent.
Source: The Annie E. Casey Foundation Kids Count Data Center

Immunization Coverage
Florida ranks 10th, with 82.4 percent of children ages 19 to 35 months
receiving complete immunizations.
Source: United Health Foundation, America’s Health Rankings, 2008

Access to Prenatal Care
Florida ranks 47th in the percentage of pregnant women receiving prenatal care in the first trimester, with 70 percent. More than 71,000 women in Florida do not get prenatal care in the first trimester.
Sources: Kaiser Family Foundation, StateHealthFacts.org; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, VitalStats.

Infant mortality
Florida ranks 32nd in the number of infant deaths (before age 1) per 1,000 live births with a rate of 7.2, or more than 1,600 infant deaths annually.
Source: United Health Foundation, America’s Health Rankings, 2008; Kaiser Family Foundation, StateHealthFacts.org.

Low birth weight babies
Florida ranks 36th in the nation in the percent of low-birthweight babies, defined as babies weighing less than 5 ½ pounds at birth – 8.7 percent of all births, or nearly 21,000 babies a year.
Source: The Annie E. Casey Foundation 2008 Kids Count Data Book; Kaiser Family Foundation, StateHealthFacts.org.

Teen birth rates
Florida ranks 30th, with a rate of 42 (births per 1,000 females ages 15-19), or more than 25,000 teen births annually.
Source: The Annie E. Casey Foundation 2008 Kids Count Data Book; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, VitalStats.

EDUCATION

State spending on education as percentage of total resources
Florida ranks 42nd. As a state, Florida spends only 3.1% of its resources on education.
Source: Education Week, Quality Counts, 2009

State per capita spending on corrections vs. education
Florida ranks 50th in per capita spending on education, but ranks 16th in the nation in spending on corrections.
Source: NEA Rankings of the States 2008

High School Graduation Rates
Florida ranks 43rd, with 60.8 percent of public high school students graduating with a diploma.
Source: Education Week, Quality Counts, 2009

Standardized Test Scores
Florida students rank 48th in the nation in average composite scores on the ACT, a standard college entrance exam.
Source: American Legislative Exchange Council, Report Card on American Education, 2008

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC

Children in Poverty
Florida ranks 31st in the percentage of persons under age 18 who live in households at or below the poverty threshold, with 17.9 percent. The federal poverty threshold for a family of four is $22,050 annual income.
Source: United Health Foundation, America’s Health Rankings, 2008

Children in Single-Parent Families
Florida ranks 40th, with 35 percent.
Source: The Annie E. Casey Foundation 2008 Kids Count Data Book

Child Abuse Deaths
Florida ranks 41st, with 2.9 child abuse fatalities per 100,000.
Source: Every Child Matters Education Fund, “Geography Matters: Child Well Being in the States,” 2008

Teens not working and not attending school
Florida ranks 36th, with 9 percent.
Source: The Annie E. Casey Foundation 2008 Kids Count Data Book

Juvenile violent crime
Florida ranks 48th in the nation in juvenile incarceration rates, with a custody rate of 451.8 per 100,000 children ages 10 and up.
Source: Every Child Matters Education Fund, “Geography Matters: Child Well Being in the States,” 2008