Budget cuts must spare Michigan kids

When the state's economy is bad, the ones who are hurt the most are children.

That's the conclusion of the most recent Kids Count in Michigan report, released Tuesday.

Current statistics about children living in poverty or suffering abuse and neglect are mixed.

The percentage of children relying on government assistance for the basics -- such as food and health care -- has grown. The percentage of children growing up in families eligible for food stamps last year was 20 percent. Six years earlier, it was 10 percent.

The percentage of children eligible for Medicaid has shot up to 32.1 percent, from 20 percent in 1999.

The statistics are part of an annual national assessment of the state of America's children. The assessment in Michigan is backed by the Michigan League for Human Services and Michigan's Children, two advocacy groups.

Not everything in the report was bleak.

Michigan's children may be getting poorer, but apparently the state's safety net is still mostly secure. The number of children who had adequate prenatal care has increased since 1995. And the number of births to teenage mothers also fell during the same period.

The report said the number of confirmed child victims of neglect and abuse is up, however. But it's hard to know if that's because state workers are more diligent on abuse and neglect cases or if the incidence rate is higher.

Next year, when the Granholm administration and the Legislature grapple with yet another state revenue shortfall and executive-order budget cuts, we hope they'll spare the state's most vulnerable.

That won't be easy to do. Given the economic situation, state resources to continue services to poor children are declining at the same time children's needs are escalating.

The mounting needs of poor, abused and neglected children also point to the problem of putting a lifetime limit on how long Michigan residents can receive welfare. Michigan's economy has always been a roller-coaster, especially in the manufacturing sector.

Families supported by manufacturing jobs may find themselves seeking state assistance several times over the course of their lives. So it follows that the children in those families will be repeatedly economically vulnerable as well.

A lifetime cap on welfare benefits may sound like an appealing way to trim the cost of social services. But it might ultimately be more costly -- both in terms of the toll it could take on young lives and on future state budgets that may end up spending more on police and prisons.

If we can preserve our investment in Michigan's children today, we will reap the benefits tomorrow.