COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – The Michigan Kids Count report for 2017 says Branch County has dropped to 57th out of 82 Michigan counties in child well being.
That’s a drop of five spots in the annual reports which examines 15 indicators of child well-being to see how children are doing around the state.
The Michigan League for Public Policy says while there have been improvements in several areas since 2008 and 2009, Michigan has consistently ranked in the bottom half of states in the national KIDS COUNT rankings and there are significant disparities in outcomes by race, ethnicity, place and income.
Most of the data in the report for Branch County is from 2015.
It shows that nearly 2,400 children under the age of 17 in Branch County, or 23-point-7 percent, live in poverty which was a slight increase from 2014.
A total of 3,095 Branch County students, or nearly 55 percent, received free or reduced priced school lunches which is an increase from 3,066 in 2007.
There was a positive trend as births to teenagers between 15 and 19 dropped according to a three year average.
Infant mortality rates remained the same but a three year average showed the number of children in homes investigated for child abuse or neglect went up by 22 percent but the number of children receiving care outside of their home went down slightly.
The total population of Branch County dropped almost five percent from 2008 to 2014 when the population stood at 43,545.
