The U.S. legal system gives parents the authority and responsibility to make decisions about their children's health care, and favors parental rights over society's collective responsibility to provide for children's welfare. Neither the federal government nor state governments have an affirmative obligation to protect and promote children's…

This brief provides a snapshot of the types and scale of expansions that states have adopted in the early implementation phase of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), a program to expand health coverage for low-income children up to age 19. In addition, the brief examines how coverage expansions vary in relation to state…

This report focuses on Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) for low-income, uninsured children. It examines the 2000 National Survey of American Families data, concluding that in 2000, over half of all children and about 90 percent of low-income children were eligible for Medicaid or SCHIP coverage. Nearly 70 percent…

This report focuses on Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) for low-income, uninsured children. It presents data from the 1999 National Survey of America's Families (NSAF), which indicated that 72 percent of eligible children without any other coverage were covered by Medicaid in 1999, leaving over 4 million…

This Kids Count report consists of four issues in a series of fact sheets that examine specific indicators of the well-being of children in South Dakota. Issue one focuses on teens and motor vehicle crashes. The fact sheet notes that teen death rates from car crashes have been higher than the national rate for 4 of the 5 years between 1992-1996.…

This Kids Count report examines statewide trends in the well-being of Pennsylvania's children. The statistical portrait is based on trends in 17 indicators of child well being: (1) birth weight; (2) early prenatal care; (3) infant mortality; (4) substantiated cases of child abuse or neglect; (5) out-of-home placements; (6) delinquent children…