Key barometers of U.S. children’s well being declined before the economy hit bottom, with the percent of low-birthweight babies and percentage of kids living in poverty both rising in 2008, a new report says.

Plus, more than a quarter of U.S. children lived in homes where no parent had year-round full-time work in 2008, according to this year’s 2010 Kids Count Data Book.

The Annie E. Casey report is the latest to show the extent that children and families struggled as the nation began one of the worst economic downturns in a generation. It found the percentage of children living in poverty rose slightly to 18 percent from 17 percent. This means roughly 1 million kids lived below the federal poverty line - $21,834 a year for a family of two parents and two children. (Check out the great blog EarlyStories for other reports.)

The rate of low-birthweight infants is one of those indicators that are particularly important to early learning advocates, since there is an emphasis on starting quality child care in the womb and infancy and premature babies often struggle early on with health problems.

Overall, progress on children’s well-being stalled even before the economy became really weak, according to the report.

…Overall improvements in child well-being that began in the late 1990s stalled in the years just before the current economic downturn…        Experts project that more up-to-date Census data will show the child poverty climbing to above 20 percent. – 2010 Kids Count research summary, 7/27/10.

There is good news. Washington State ranked 11th among U.S. states, territories and the District of Columbia. (You can read Washington’s profile here.)

Washington families are also reading to their kids. Only seven percent of the children are read to less than three times a week by their families, well below the national average of 16 percent.

The report is full of good news – the teen birth rate fell – and bad news. Check it out.