Utah kids 4th best off in U.S.

Daniel Romero bounced between 10 foster homes from the ages of 11 to 18 while growing up in Utah. After leaving the government program, he didn't know where to go. He ended up "couchsurfing" from friends' and families' homes.

"Jumping from couch to couch, family to family, friend to friend," said the 20-year-old Romero. "I just didn't know where I was going to stay the next night. It was rough."

Romero represents one of the 162 Utah children who aged out of foster care without having a permanent family for support. That statistic, along with many others regarding the well-being of Utah's children, was released this week as part of the Annie E. Casey 2007 Kids Count.

Utah ranked fourth best in the nation for child welfare, according to the annual count, improving from sixth last year and ninth the year before. Utah ranked first in the country for the fewest children in single-parent homes, at 18 percent. Utah kids also scored the number one ranking for the fewest children living in families where no parent has full-time, year-round employment, at 26 percent.

The worst ranking fell under child death rates, where Utah ranked 20th, worsening 5 percent from 2000 to 2004.

One of the primary suspicions experts held for the high death rate stems from the high volume of uninsured and unimmunized children.

"I suspect that the increased child mortality rates may be related to access to care and the type of patients (treated)," said Dr. Charles Pruitt of Primary Children's Medical Center. "We're seeing a lot more uninsured and unimmunized children."

The report shows 11 percent of Utah children were without health insurance in 2004, and 24 percent of Utah children were not immunized in 2005. The former stat ties in with the national average while the latter is lower than that of the nation.

Despite the concern with uninsured and unimmunized children, the majority of child deaths in Utah happen on freeways and dirt roads in motor vehicle-related accidents.

"It's the leading cause of death among children 14 and under by far," Pruitt said. "I am personally seeing more recreational type injuries, more ATV injuries."

Janet Brooks, Child Advocacy Manager at Primary Children's, has fought for the past four years to get a booster-seat law passed in the state Legislature. It would require children up to the age of 8 — or under 4 feet, 9 inches tall — to ride in booster seats. So far, she has worked without success.