The value of the 2006 Maine Kids Count data book, released last week by the Maine Children’s Alliance, is found primarily neither in its statewide numbers nor in this year’s edition. But by examining the county-level information and looking across several years of data, these annual check-ups show patterns of conditions and behaviors that, in turn, make sound policy possible and inspire Maine to not just talk about problems but help solve them.

Or celebrate improving trends. Smoking, alcohol and marijuana use are down, so are teen pregnancies while the number of high-school graduates who intend to go to post-secondary school is up. Compared with the national average, Maine’s children do fairly well, on average. But there are exceptions within the state.

For instance, that falling teen pregnancy rate was 7.7 (per 1,000 females) statewide in 2002 but in Hancock County the number was a mere 4.2 while in Knox it was 13.5. And for teen deaths, the safest counties are Cumberland, Franklin and Androscoggin, which have death rates only one-third of 16th-ranked Waldo County. Going back over a half dozen five-year average measures, these rankings remain roughly stable, suggesting the need to target policies to particular counties.

The statistics on mental-health hospitalizations for children through age 19 are even more dramatic. They have risen more than 40 percent since 2000, to 2,759 in 2004, with 70 percent of hospitalizations for children ages 13-17 for mental illness. The increase raises multiple questions about the kinds of interventions and treatment children are receiving for mental-health conditions, the possible sources of the rise in cases and the level of access to treatment across counties. Whatever the cause, the Kids Count book is underlining a serious issue here and policymakers should act on it.

There is much more in the data book (or at the Alliance Web site: www.mekids.org), but the point of the book isn’t merely to compile numbers. It is to connect the dots of where Maine children have been in their economic and social lives, and with their physical and mental health so that Maine might know where they are headed. Kids Count performs a valuable service when it reveals these patterns and, especially with the new data on mental-illness hospitalizations, points to a path for action.