KANSAS TEENS' DRUG USE TOPS U.S. AVERAGE

The Kansas Children's Report Card has some good news: Overall grades
are up from last year, and the availability of child care is improving
in Sedgwick County.

Teenagers in Kansas and Sedgwick County use drugs and alcohol at rates
higher than the national average, according to this year's Kansas
Children's Report Card.

Sedgwick County teens also have a much higher pregnancy rate than the
national average. And obtaining child care in Kansas is becoming more
difficult, though that's less of a problem for parents in Sedgwick
County.

"We hope this report card helps to raise the public's awareness of
issues that impact children's lives," said Gary Brunk, executive
director of Kansas Action for Children, which put out this year's
report card. "We're grading the well-being of kids, which is how well
we actually do for kids."

For Kansas, the overall grade improved from last year's C-plus to a
B-minus; for Sedgwick County, it improved from a C to a C-plus. The
annual report was compiled from 1999 statistics and is designed to
indicate how well communities treat their children, Brunk said at a
news conference Tuesday at Exploration Place. The communities are
rated on a four-point scale in a number of categories.

Self-reporting surveys of alcohol and substance abuse by eighth- and
12th-grade students show use of alcohol, cigarettes, cocaine,
inhalants and smokeless tobacco at rates higher than the national
averages. The surveys, conducted in the 1999-2000 school year, asked
students whether they had used various substances in the past 30 days.

For example, 46.3 percent of county eighth- and 12th-graders reported
using alcohol in the past 30 days versus 43.5 percent statewide and
36.1 nationally.

Such numbers point out the importance of maintaining good
communication with teens.

"It becomes much more difficult to stay involved in your child's life
as they become older -- and by then, the stakes are so much higher,"
said Judy Frick, executive director of Communities in Schools, which
worked with KAC to provide the Sedgwick County report card.

According to the report, the availability of child care is worsening
in Kansas but improving in Sedgwick County. Here, child care workers
receive higher-than-average pay, compared with those throughout
Kansas. But the costs of child care to parents are becoming a larger
portion of the household income.

"Pay for day care people is directly related to quality because you
can't keep good people," said Teresa Rupp, executive director of the
Child Care Association of Wichita and Sedgwick County.

"What makes a huge difference as far as kids are concerned is that
they have the same teacher, and I would guess that no more than half
of the children in day care have the same teacher for a whole year."

And, she said, when almost 16 percent of a household's income is spent
on child care for an infant, that's alarming.

"If you've got an infant, that's a big bunch of money," Rupp said. "If
we really want to have children go to school ready to learn, then
don't we also have some responsibility to help parents with children
in child care manage, so they can work?"

The teen birth rate in Kansas of 47.3 per 1,000 births is slightly
lower than the 49.6-per-1,000 national average. But Sedgwick County's
figures are far more troubling, at 60.5 births per 1,000. Those
numbers have stabilized but still scare child advocates.

"Our teen birth rate is really not acceptable," Frick
said.

Pat MacDonald, director of community education for the
Wichita-Sedgwick County Department of Community Health, agrees. But
there may be something even more troubling behind the local trend, she
said.

"To my knowledge, I think what is happening is there are more teens of
a very young age, 13 and 14, giving birth, and fewer of the older
teens giving birth," MacDonald said. "And it's not a good trend.
Babies born to teenagers just lack so much that other babies do get,
with regard to the parents' resources, nurturing and other things."

Also present at the news conference were a handful of young people who
spoke about the importance of having caring adults in their lives to
offer them guidance they may not want to accept from parents.

"I think kids just need someone to relate to," said Larry Anderson,
18, who is attending classes at the Towne East Adult Education Center.
"They need someone to pay attention."

The Towne East program has had a life-changing effect on him, Anderson
said.

"The staff helped me get a job and helped me to work on my academics,"
he said. "They gave me a second chance at life. They are my heroes,
and I'm proud to say that."