STUDY: STATE RANKS NEAR BOTTOM IN SOCIAL HEALTH

The number of children living in impoverished homes without electricity or
with parents addicted to drugs contributed to Oklahoma's low ranking in a
national study on social health. Oklahoma ranked 40th out of 50 states in
the study released Wednesday by the Fordham Institute for Innovation in
Social Policy in New York. The report graded states in 16 areas, from
unemployment to suicide.

Oklahoma's poorest marks were for child abuse, health insurance coverage
and child poverty. The state got Fs in all three categories.

The state was 48th in child abuse, above only West Virginia and Montana.

"It's terrible. Really, it's appalling," said Micah Silvernail, director of
the Exchange Club Parent Child Center, an Oklahoma City child abuse
prevention program. "We're a very poor state. Poverty plays a huge part in
these issues, so that's a huge strike against us."

Many neglect cases involve children living in homes without adequate food
or heat. Other neglected kids try to fend for themselves because their
parents are drug addicts, she said.

"The methamphetamine problem in Oklahoma is just wreaking havoc on our
kids," Silvernail said.

Child abuse experts in Oklahoma don't deny the state has high child abuse
rates, but say the situation appears worse than it is because the state
keeps such thorough records.

"We investigate it all, and we're finding less," said George Johnson,
spokesman for the Department of Human Services. "But what we are finding is
the more serious things that are happening to children, as far as neglect
is concerned."

State welfare workers investigated 35,943 child abuse reports in fiscal
2003 involving more than 62,000 children. One in five of those children
turned out to be abused or neglected, Johnson said.

That's a decrease from a decade ago, when the number was one in three, he said.

Oklahoma moved down one spot in the survey this year.

Iowa, Minnesota and Pennsylvania were the top states, while Mississippi,
Louisiana and New Mexico ranked last.

Oklahoma received Ds in nine categories - infant mortality, homicides,
elderly suicide, elderly poverty, high school competition, average wages,
income inequality, teenage suicide and housing cost.

There was some good news. Oklahoma ranked in the top 10 in two categories:
alcohol traffic deaths and teenage drug abuse.

About 9 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds in Oklahoma reported using drugs,
according to the survey. About one-third of the state's traffic deaths
involved alcohol, compared to about half among the worst states in that
category.

Oklahoma received Bs in unemployment and food stamp coverage.

It was the second year for the Fordham study, a comprehensive look at
social indicators meant to convey quality of life, said Marc Miringoff,
director of the institute.

The overall ranking for each state often correlates to its economic
standing, he said. Three factors - child poverty, health insurance coverage
and high school completion - drive the rest of the scores, Miringoff said.

"If there are limited resources, then the best place to invest ... is in
those areas," he said. "We can't have children suffering like this."