Poor, single-mother families on the rise in South Carolina

By Anna Mitchell  

JULY 29, 2010 9:25 a.m. (2)

An annual study of factors that help determine whether a child will thrive – the education of his mother, income situation, whether there’s a father in the house, etc. – South Carolina has again come in 45th out the nation’s 50 states.

South Carolina Kids Count, a project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, found the state’s infant mortality rate was down, as were teen births and teens who’ve left school without a diploma. However, low birth-weight babies were on the rise, as were children living in poverty and the number of single-parent families.

The study, available at www.sckidscount.org, broke down data by county as well.

In 2007, 779 babies in Greenville County were born to mothers younger than age 20; of these 213 were not the first births to the teen mothers. The overwhelming majority of teen mothers – 85.6 percent – were also single.

Additionally, a quarter of babies born in Greenville in 2007, the most recent year for which comprehensive data were available, were born to moms who hadn’t finished high school This at least was an improvement over the rate in 1970 – when 43 percent of mothers hadn’t finished high school.

The rate of single mothers in Greenville County – that is, those who aren’t married – showed huge differences among demographic groups. About 31 percent of white babies were born to unwed mothers, whereas 70.5 percent of mothers who were black or from another minority group were not married.

In 2007, almost a fifth of all babies were born with no paternal acknowledgements, wed or unwed. The figure in 1960 was 7.6 percent.

Children living in poverty was also up in Greenville County – up to 18.5 percent in 2008 compared to 13.7 percent in 1999. Children in single-parent families made up 57 percent of all the county’s children living in poverty.

Baron Holmes, South Carolina Kids County director, said the study reveals little continual progress in the state to improve the lives of children.

“Concern remains for the rapid growth in children in poverty over the past decade,” he said.

Sue Williams, chief executive officer of The Children’s Trust of South Carolina, said the state should approach the problem in a more holistic manner.

“Being ranked 45th continually for the past two decades causes serious concern for the next generation of children,” she said.