Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

If an Austin-based child advocacy organization gets its way, next week's legislative session will ooze improvements for the state's struggling children.

Texans Care for Children's campaign report, released Tuesday, again ranked Texas behind most other states in many child well-being indicators such as infant survival rates, school graduation rates and access to health insurance.

Among other findings, the report highlighted that Texas:

-- Has one of the highest rates of child deaths from abuse and neglect in the nation.

-- Ranks last among states for health insurance coverage for children.

-- Has one of the highest teen birth rates in the nation.

The report is based on several sources of existing data and consensus of more than 120 child experts across the state. It includes recommendations for legislative action.

“The lesson here is that under-investing in our children has real consequences,” said Eileen Garcia-Matthews, executive director of Texans Care for Children.

Local child advocates say they are optimistic that improvements will be made; lawmakers are hoping to make far-reaching changes.

Cam Messina, executive director of Voices for Children and a member of Texans Care for Children, said he hopes to see change.

“I'm hoping that we're entering a political era where policy decisions are predicated on data — not on whim or emotion, but on what are the conditions of our children. We've got a lot of research that shows that the earlier that you intervene, the better off they will be in the long run.”

Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, said she was glad to see that the organization's report noted some improvement, such as an uptick in child support payment collections, but she and other advocates found the infant mortality rates, the number of child abuse and neglect deaths, teen pregnancy and high school dropouts troubling.

Of the 80 bills Van de Putte is working on, many address children and families.

“I am very, very excited. I haven't been this excited and optimistic since my first session a decade ago. The pendulum is swinging where the majority of the policymakers understand that without investment in what I call the human capital investment that we will languish.”

Becky Cervantez, executive director of Avance-San Antonio, a nonprofit organization that works to support low-income families through various programs, says prevention is key.

“We still have a lot of room for improvement. We need to make sure that we commit to giving our children a healthy start,” she said.

“If we do start early, we won't have to do so much after-the-fact treatment. It has to start early. There's a lot of work ahead of us.”