About eight in 10 black children in Indiana are born to unwed parents -- a start to life that sets them up for problems during adolescence and beyond, according to an Indiana Black Expo report.
Indiana's black youths fare significantly worse than Hoosier youths in general across 18 indicators of well-being, such as graduation rates and poverty levels, and do worse than black youths in the U.S, according to the report being released Friday.
Tanasha Anders, acting president and chief executive of Indiana Black Expo, said the problem comes down to education -- making sure young people finish school and understand the consequences of having a baby.
"Everything else is a domino effect," she said.
The explosion of births to unwed parents is driving many of the state's social problems, such as increases in poverty and child abuse and the growing cost of public aid, said Bill Stanczykiewicz, president and CEO of the Indiana Youth Institute. He added that the problem is not exclusive to any one race.
Indiana's out-of-wedlock birthrate is at an all-time high, with unwed mothers accounting for nearly 40 percent of all births, he said. Nationally, about 36 percent of all births are to unwed mothers.
Stanczykiewicz said the situation is among the toughest social issues to address.
"It is very difficult, even for well-meaning people, to get together and talk about how we talk to people about their sex lives and how to parent children," he said.
Another complicating factor is that a growing number of the single-parent births are to young adults, instead of teens, and that requires a new and different kind of message. But finding a way to address the situation is critical, he said.
Child Trends, a nonpartisan national children's research organization, reports children born to single mothers are more likely to:
• Live in poverty and experience social and emotional problems.
• Have low educational attainment, engage in sex at younger ages and have a premarital birth.
• Enter adulthood neither in school nor employed, or have lower occupational status and income, and more troubled marriages and divorces than those born to married parents.
The issues that spin out of struggling single-parent families show up throughout the new Black Expo report, including the teen birth rate of 81 per 1,000 for blacks. That is almost twice the state's overall teen birth rate of 43.5 per 1,000.
About 35 percent of black children live in families headed by married parents, compared with 69 percent of all Indiana children, according to the report.
Among other factors the report examines are median family income, homeownership, neglect cases, and graduation and unemployment rates.
To address the growing out-of-wedlock birthrates, the Black Expo report calls for increasing resources for sex education programs with proven track records and public education campaigns that promote healthy marriage.
Curt Smith, president of the Indiana Family Institute, which advocates for traditional families and values, blames the sexual revolution, no-fault divorce and the more recent discussions about same-sex marriage and other "marriage substitutes."
"That all sends a message that marriage doesn't matter," he said.
Smith said the situation leaves his organization playing defense and offense. The institute is helping pastors strengthen marriage and fighting trends such as cohabitation, while developing programs that enrich and support marriage.
"There are fewer and fewer successful role models for young people, and we are trying to do something about that," he said.
While the battles over social values are being waged in churches and the Statehouse, Betty Cockrum, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Indiana, said young people need accurate and comprehensive education about sex and family planning.
"We're failing," she said, "and the consequences are abysmal."
Cockrum said Indiana is struggling, at least in part, because of the state's strong conservative bent and a belief that information about sex should be taught by parents.
That philosophy shows up in state requirements for insurers: States such as California, Washington and Wisconsin require insurance companies to provide coverage for contraception; Indiana does not. And Indiana's Medicaid program -- which pays for more than half of all births in the state -- does not provide family planning services. At least 25 other states do.
Public education is working in other places, Cockrum said. Since Oregon instituted a comprehensive approach to sexuality education, she said, the teen pregnancy rate has fallen 27 percent and is below the national average. During the same period, the number of high school students who said they were sexually active decreased.
Black Expo's Anders said officials hope the new report, based on data from 2004-05, will be a call to action for families, civic and faith groups, public agencies and political leaders.
While the percentage of black children raised in single-parent families historically has been higher than that for whites, Anders said there has been a tradition of extended families stepping up to help.
"The questions are: 'Where is that extended family now?' and 'What else can we do?' " she said.
Indiana comparisons
|
Blacks in Indiana |
Indiana overall |
Blacks in U.S. |
Year |
| Families headed by married parents |
34.9% |
69.1% |
36.4% |
2005 |
| Families headed by single fathers |
8.2% |
7.7% |
8.6% |
2005 |
| Families headed by single mothers |
56.9% |
23.2% |
55% |
2005 |
| Unemployment rate for ages 16+ |
15.6% |
6.9% |
13.2% |
2005 |
| Median household income |
$28,760 |
$43,993 |
$30,939 |
2005 |
| Children ages 0-17 in poverty |
42.1% |
16.7% |
56.2% |
2005 |
| Households owning their home |
43.0% |
72.0% |
45.8% |
2005 |
| 18-year-olds with high school diploma* |
53.2% |
77.5% |
73.3% |
2004 |
| Students in gifted and talented programs** |
4.3% |
11.5% |
9% |
2006 |
| Infant deaths |
1.7% |
0.8% |
N/A |
2004 |
| Babies born at low birth weight |
13.7% |
8.1% |
13.4% |
2004 |
| Babies born pre-term |
13.9% |
10.2% |
17.7% |
2004 |
| Babies born to unmarried parents |
77.9% |
38.8% |
68.8% |
2004 |
| Number of libraries per 1,000 children age 0-19 |
2.3 |
0.3 |
1.4 |
2005 |
| Number of teen births per 1,000 females ages 15-19 |
80.9 |
43.5 |
63.1 |
2004 |
*Estimate based on 2004 National Center for Education Statistics data and 2004 American Community Survey population data. Calculation by the Indiana Youth Institute. **U.S. comparison statistic is for 2005
IndyStar.com
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080124/LOCAL/801240450/-1/LOCAL17
