Report: 35% of La. children under 5 at moderate, high risk of having development challenges

Of the estimated 314,260 children under the age of 5 in Louisiana, a new report released this morning by the LSU/Tulane Early Childhood Policy and Data Center estimates 111,034 of them—or 35.3%—are at moderate to high risk of having poor early childhood outcomes. The study also says 55 of Louisiana’s 64 parishes score high on at least one of 11 risk factors, “revealing significant vulnerabilities for the development of young children” in Louisiana. “These findings reveal not only that early childhood risk is widespread, but also that the nature of that risk differs across parishes,” says Kirby Goidel, director of the LSU Public Policy Research Lab. “For many parishes, the primary risk factors are economic in nature, while in other parishes the risks reside in poor health or educational outcomes.” Among parishes in the Capital Region, East Baton Rouge is given an overall low-moderate risk rating in the report, while Ascension and Livingston are rated as having low risk. While almost all parishes score high on at least one risk factor, almost every parish has identifiable resources from which to build. “The report shows that almost all parishes, regardless of their current risk ranking, have strengths from which to build and vulnerabilities that need to be addressed,” says Geoff Nagle, director of the Tulane University Institute of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health. You can see the complete report here.