Topeka ? A national report suggests that the status of Kansas children has improved in many areas in recent years, but a prominent advocate remains concerned because of the state’s budget problems.

The annual Kids Count report said Kansas had improved in six of 10 measures of child welfare from 1990 to 1999. Its infant mortality and child death rates and the number of babies born to teen-agers dropped, and the percentage of teen-agers not either in school or working declined.

	www.aecf.org/kidscount

In one area, the percentage of children living in families where no parent has a job, remained constant. In three other areas, the welfare of children declined.

The report also noted several other statistics that set Kansas apart from the nation as a whole. It noted that the percentage of children living in poor families receiving food stamps is half the percentage for the nation as whole.

The report was released early today by the Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation, a private research and grant-making group that focuses on children.

Gary Brunk, executive director for Kansas Action for Children, said the report had some good news for the state.

“Overall, more things have improved than haven’t improved,” he said during an interview Wednesday. But Brunk said he was concerned because of the state’s ongoing financial problems. Those problems led legislators to increase taxes $252 million, even while making selected cuts in state spending.

Legislators also voted to appropriate $11.5 million from Kansas’ share of a 1998 legal settlement among states and large tobacco companies to provide extra aid to public schools. Under a 1999 law, tobacco money supported social services for children.

“In the context of the session we just finished, I’m concerned about our ability to sustain that improvement,” he said.

Overall, the national Kids Count report ranked Kansas 18 in the nation for the status of its children down one spot from last year’s report. Brunk attributed the drop to other states’ improvements.

Among states in the region, Iowa ranked fourth; Nebraska, 10th; Colorado, 24th; Missouri, 26th, and Oklahoma, 40th.

The report didn’t use the percentage of children in poor families receiving food stamps as an indicator of child welfare, but it noted that the figure was only 12 percent for Kansas, when the national average was 24 percent.