Sussex ranks fifth statewide in Kids Count

Sussex County — Sussex County ranked fifth out of New Jersey’s 21 counties when measuring 15 indicators of child health, safety, education and overall child well-being, according to New Jersey Kids Count data released recently. The county received its lowest score on the percent of three- and four-year-old children enrolled in state-approved preschool, ranking last in this indicator. The county received its best mark for the percent of women receiving early prenatal care. With 90 percent of women getting this crucial early care, Sussex was well above the state average of 76 percent. “Kids Count county profiles illustrate that even in the wealthiest state in the nation, too many children still have needs that go unmet,” said Cecilia Zalkind, executive director of the Association for Children of New Jersey, which publishes the Kids Count reports. “Comparing places within our state paints a much clearer picture of how children and families are faring and can allow us to target our resources to areas in need of improvement.” Camden, Hudson, Atlantic, Salem and Cumberland were the five lowest ranking counties, while Hunterdon, Morris, Somerset, Bergen and Sussex were the top five. While this is the second consecutive year that the Association for Children of New Jersey has ranked the counties, due to an increased availability of U.S. Census data in six counties, caution should be used in making direct comparisons between last year’s rankings and this year’s. Still, even with the addition of new data this year, no significant changes were made in the position of counties. There were several rearrangements in position of the counties in the bottom half of the rankings, but no county made the jump into the top 10. The top five counties did not change at all. Kids Count uses indicators like poverty, income, child health and test scores to draw a statistical portrait of the well-being of New Jersey’s children. County profiles profiles and additional data can be found at www.acnj.org. Internet users can also access more online data to create comparative charts and graphs at www.cliks.org, the Web site of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which funds the national Kids Count project.