St. Louis Post-Dispatch

January 28, 2004

Section: Editorial

(Republished with permission of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

Copyright (2004) St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The people at Vision for Children at Risk are hoping to generate some sparks one of these days. They have issued six well-researched studies in a dozen years on the stark disparities in the status of children in the St. Louis region. But so far, the findings haven't stirred civic and business leadership to address the disparities.

The latest report stresses that most of the region's 582,000 children are a healthy, happy bunch, measuring up to national norms on all social and economic scales. But the report points to a less encouraging picture of roughly 141,000 kids in the five-county region. These youngsters face severe risk factors, such as low birthweight, child abuse, infant mortality, lead poisoning and crime. Richard Patton, head of Vision for Children, points out that it is in the region's own best interest to tackle these social and health problems.

"If the St. Louis region is to increase its vitality and remain sustainable, it must initiate serious civic efforts to improve the well-being of the community's most disadvantaged and imperiled children," the report says.