Commentary - Matthew H. Joseph: Maryland can do better for children

This disappointing pattern is confirmed when measures not included in KIDS COUNT are considered.

Advocates for Children and Youth just completed an analysis of the achievement gap between low-income and other students on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Maryland has the second largest achievement gap for fourth graders, and the fifth largest gap for eighth graders.

Seventy percent of children on publicly-funded health insurance do not get dental service each year, according to a new analysis by Dr. Norm Tinanoff at the University of Maryland Dental School.

New data shows that Maryland places abused and neglected children in group homes at more than five times what some national experts say is needed. The placement rate has doubled in the last decade, at the expense of children and taxpayers.

Finally, our recidivism rate for delinquent youth is more than 50 percent within one year of release from confinement.

This is the mess that Gov. Martin O’Malley, his team and legislative leaders in Annapolis inherited since the data reflects conditions before the time they took office.

What will it take to create a success story in Maryland? Gov. O’Malley and his administration are already considering many needed steps.

As a candidate, the governor promised to implement bonuses to attract good principals to challenging schools and expand positive behavioral intervention systems.

Gov. O’Malley also promised to ensure the large infusion of state education funds from the Thornton legislation is used for maximum benefit. A major block of this funding is provided to each school district based on its number of at risk students and can ensure that these students have access to personalized interventions as early as kindergarten, and extended learning opportunities if they continue to perform poorly.

The death of Deamonte Driver this year because of an untreated cavity and its untreated infection caused tremendous public concern. Secretary of Health and Mental Hygiene John Colmers said improving dental care is a top priority for his department. A work group he created will make recommendations next month on how to increase the number of dentists who treat children and provide alternative systems to deliver preventive oral health care.

Secretary of Human Resources Brenda Donald and Secretary of Juvenile Services Donald DeVore are seeking to create a continuum of community-based services so that more abused, neglected or delinquent children can safely stay in their homes and communities.

Donald also understands the need to improve case practice so that children remain in or return to permanent, family-based settings. DeVore is committed to creating juvenile residential facilities that are humane and provide rehabilitative services during confinement and afterwards.

None of these remedies are budget busters, but neither are they budget neutral. Many involve using existing funds more effectively, and making modest new investments in less costly prevention and early intervention strategies. That is particularly important given that the governor has also inherited a large budget deficit that will make finding new money difficult.

As advocates, we can do our best to help support the governor as he tries to translate a national shame into a national success story. If the failure persists, we can do our best to highlight it. We can educate decision makers about the possible solutions and rally forces in favor of reform.

The new data on child well-being in Maryland shows that Maryland not only needs to do better for children, but also that it can and must do better.

Matthew H. Joseph is the executive director of Advocates for Children and Youth, a nonprofit that is the KIDS COUNT organization for Maryland and advocates for the needs of the state's children and families in the community, the media and the public policy arena. Reach him at mjoseph@acy.org.