NATCHEZ &045; Mississippi ranks 50th and Louisiana 49th in an annual evaluation of child well-being statistics.

The 2005 Kids Count data, released early this morning by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, shows that in both states, the share of children living with unemployed adults is greater than the national average &045; and has been growing worse.

In Mississippi in 2003, 63,000 children lived in low-income houses where no adult worked in the past year &045; accounting for 8 percent of the total child population in the state. In Louisiana, 9 percent of children lived in such households, ranking both states at the bottom in the nation.

&uot;The nearly 4 million children living in low-income households where neither their parents nor any other adult in the household worked at all in the past year is an alarming increase of more than 1 million children since 2000,&uot; said Douglas W. Nelson, president of the Casey Foundation. &uot;The best way to improve the future for America’s most disadvantaged kids is to improve the financial security of their children today.&uot;

Martha Mitternight, director of Catholic Charities in Natchez, said the agency has programs to reach out to parents who need work.

Among the first priorities of the Guardian Shelter for abused women and children &045; after making sure the families are safe &045; is finding permanent housing and employment for the mothers.

Another program, Healthy Start, helps young mothers with a variety of issues, including finding work.

But Mitternight said one of the first obstacles Health Start caseworkers face is the mothers are sometimes too young to find work &045; and work for those who are unskilled can be hard to come by.

Jane Boykin, project director for Kids County Mississippi and president of the Jackson-based Forum on Children and Families, said the seasonal nature of employment in some sectors of the Mississippi economy is a factor.

&uot;Unfortunately, eight percent of our children lived in low-income families where there was no ‘season’ that provided employment for any adult in the household for the prior 12-month period,&uot; she said.

Boykin said Kids Count data often raises issues about the role of education in economic development.

&uot;It’s always the question of whether education is the chicken or the egg and never a consensus answer,&uot; she said. &uot;However, these data make it clear that job training and employment support are the rooster that provides parents the opportunity to work their way out of poverty.&uot;

The Kids County study also states that 30 percent of Louisiana children live in poverty, and 29 percent of Mississippi children live in poverty. The trend has worsened in both states over the past four years.