Some sta­tis­tics will be released today to tell us the num­bers of Min­nesota chil­dren in poverty. The report also warns on the effects of poverty on the chil­dren, result­ing in a “toxic stress” that will ham­per devel­op­ment and well being.

From the Min­neapo­lis Star Tri­bune, writer War­ren Wolfe fills us in.

Ris­ing child poverty means that more Min­nesota chil­dren are suf­fer­ing phys­i­cal and emo­tional “toxic stress” that, for some, will result in irre­versible delays in brain devel­op­ment, accord­ing to a new report that tracks 14 indi­ca­tors of child well-being over the last decade.

Even in the best years, more than 100,000 Min­nesota chil­dren live poverty. But the past few years have not been good for chil­dren, accord­ing to the 2009 Kids Count report by the Children’s Defense Fund-Minnesota.

About 140,000 Min­nesota chil­dren were in poverty last year — up from 106,000 in 2001 — and the cur­rent reces­sion may have pushed that num­ber as high as 180,000, said Kara Arza­men­dia, the report’s main author and the agency’s research director.

“Kids are resilient, and the won­der is that some over­come the effects of poverty,” said Jim Kop­pel, pres­i­dent of the non­profit agency. “But there’s a lot of research that shows a last­ing impact of poverty on many chil­dren. That hurts the chil­dren and it hurts soci­ety with more crime, fewer trained work­ers and a range of social problems.”

In its annual Kids Count report, the Children’s Defense Fund exam­ines a range of demo­graphic, edu­ca­tion, health, income and other government-collected data.

The report expands on a state-by-state analy­sis by the Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion released in August that found Min­nesota second-best among the states.

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