PROVIDENCE — Rhode Island Kids Count, a children’s policy organization, on Monday released its 25th annual factbook, which provides a statistical look at the issues affecting child welfare in Rhode Island.
This year’s factbook contains new data on childhood obesity and shows that 35% of Rhode Island children between the ages of 2 and 17 are either overweight or obese.
“That’s an alarming statistic,” said Elizabeth Burke Bryant, executive director of Kids Count.
The organization also recently started tracking e-cigarette use among young people — an issue that has garnered national attention.
In 2017, about 20% of high school students reported ongoing use of e-cigarettes, up from 19.3% in 2015. Also in 2017, 40% of high schoolers reported ever having used an e-cigarette.
Burke Bryant said the rates of tobacco use are declining among kids, but, “The news that’s more concerning is that more and more high school students and middle school students are reporting the use of e-cigarettes.”
Another disturbing data point showed a 37% increase in the number of reports of child maltreatment from 2017 to 2018, Burke Bryant said. The number of completed investigations by the Department of Children, Youth and Families increased by 25% during that time.
This increase may be in part due to a heightened awareness about child abuse and maltreatment as well as changes to the department’s policy around determining what cases it investigates, Burke Bryant said.
“While obviously an increase in child abuse and neglect is always concerning, it’s really important that these cases are on the radar screen and are being investigated,” she said.
In more encouraging news, the percentage of children in poverty has continued to decline from 19.8% in 2014 to 16.6% in 2017, Burke Bryant said.
Although, she said, racial disparities in poverty have remained stagnant over the years.
“Children of color are much more likely to be living in poverty than white children in Rhode Island,” she said.
Another highlight of this year’s factbook, she said, is the data that shows a decline in the number of youth detained at the Rhode Island Training School, the state’s juvenile corrections facility.
A total of 283 youth were in the care or custody of the training school at some point during 2018, down from 383 during 2017. In 2008, there were 1,037 youth at the training school at any point during that year.
“We’re continuing to see a decline in the number of youth who are being detained in the juvenile training school as well as a decline in juvenile wayward and delinquent offenses referred to Rhode Island Family Court,” Burke Bryant said. ”... There’s a lot of increased awareness that there are other alternatives for youth that are really important to have available in community-based settings.”
Burke Bryant said Kids Count factbooks are meant to spotlight areas of concern for the state’s children and spark conversation about what measures can be taken to improve their lives.
“We’ve been releasing this comprehensive portrait of Rhode Island’s youth for 25 years,” Burke Bryant said. “We want it to be used to inform the best possible policy decisions.”
Rhode Island Kids Count hosts its annual factbook breakfast on Monday morning at the Crowne Plaza in Warwick.