By Alabama Public Radio
Undated – The annual Kids Count report suggests the overall well-being of Alabama's children isn't very good. Alabama ranks 48th in the survey, which uses federal census, health and education data to reach its conclusions. The report says Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi are at the bottom of this year's list. Nationally, the study found a half million more American children were living in poverty in 2003 than in 2000. Infant mortality was up for the first time in 40 years, and the teen death rate also has gone up. There were some improvements, though. The child death rate dropped. So did the teen birth rate and the high school dropout rate.