Children in Arizona are more likely to be poor, uninsured and part of a family whose home has been foreclosed than most American kids, according to a national survey of child well-being released today.

But the Annie E. Casey Foundation's annual Kids Count Data Book shows things have improved somewhat for teens, with fewer giving birth and dropping out of high school. Even so, Arizona continues to rank among the bottom 10 in those areas.

2010 Census: Children on the rise in Arizona

Arizona has typically ranked near the bottom in most of the 10 key indicators for young children and teens the Baltimore-based charitable organization has tracked over two decades. The exception has been the percentage of low birth-weight babies.

The recession may have erased some of the gains made in other states and allowed Arizona to move up slightly in three areas:

-�Teen birth rate, 43rd from 45th.

-�Percentage of teens who are dropouts, 42nd from 44th.

-�Percentage of teens not in school or working, 40th from 45th.

Overall, the state ranks 37th, up from 39th in last year's ranking. But the findings are based on data from 2009 or earlier, while the recession was unfolding and before some of the deepest state budget cuts, so rankings in some areas are expected to get worse.

In particular, 14 percent of Arizona children were uninsured in 2009, ranking the state 46th. But that was before state lawmakers froze the KidsCare health-insurance program, which now has more than 100,000 children on a waiting list.

"They like to claim they haven't kicked anyone off of KidsCare or (Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System). But freezing people out has just as devastating consequences," said Dana Wolfe Naimark, CEO of the non-profit Children's Action Alliance.

Sen. John McComish, R-Ahwatukee Foothills, said the state's fiscal crisis left lawmakers with no choice but to reduce state spending. And while revenues are beginning to turn around, McComish said the job ahead is to prepare for 2014 when the voter-approved 1-cent-per-dollar sales tax expires and the state begins paying off the debt incurred over several years of deep deficits.

In terms of poverty, Arizona ranks 38th in the U.S. The state, with 23 percent of children living in poverty, has consistently had a child-poverty rate higher than the national average, which is 20 percent. The federal poverty level is $18,530 for a family of three.

Advocates say children living in poverty are less likely to have health insurance and face a host of other barriers in their growth and development. They are more likely to live in unsafe neighborhoods, struggle in school and not graduate, have a mother who did not graduate from high school and be victims of abuse or neglect.

In Arizona and throughout Maricopa County, there are wide disparities in the rate of child poverty. Five percent of children in Legislative District 8, which includes Scottsdale and Fountain Hills, are living below the poverty line, while the child-poverty rate in central Phoenix's District 14 is at 46 percent, according to U.S. census data.

"Kids who live only miles apart face vastly different opportunities," Naimark said. "We can do better."

McComish, whose District 20 boasts one of the state's lowest child-poverty rates at 7 percent, said his part of town isn't immune. There are hundreds of homeless families within the Kyrene School District, he said, and the district regularly provides food and clothing to needy students.

"The problems touch every corner of the state," McComish said.

The nation as a whole showed improvement since last year's Kids Count survey.

Naimark said the steady improvement in Arizona shows what can be accomplished with community education and a consistent effort, particularly in the area of teen births.

A new indicator, tracking children affected by foreclosure since 2007, shows 8 percent of Arizona children live in a family that's been a victim of foreclosure, a rate twice the national average and third in the U.S., behind Nevada and Florida.

Sixth-grade teacher Gloria Chavez sees the fallout from the state's economic meltdown every day in her Mesa classroom.

Students from newly evicted families who land in one of the nearby apartment complexes. Families moving in together to save money. Siblings split up when a relative doesn't have room for everyone.

"We have a lot of families being evicted," said Chavez, a teacher at Adams Elementary School. "And any kind of change at home can affect kids academically."

Chavez said the upheaval and transiency have resulted in efforts to teach along the same "road map," so children forced to move from one school to another won't get left behind.

She's also seen evidence of "team parenting," with parents picking up each other's children or banding together to ensure younger ones aren't left home alone.

"Parents are stepping up and helping each other out," Chavez said.

Reach the reporter at maryk.reinhart@arizonarepublic.com.