Recession is Erasing Decades of Gains in Children’s Well Being

Virtually all the progress made in children’s well-being since 1975 — particularly the improvements since the 1990s — will be wiped out by the current recession, according to a report released at a New America event this morning.

“We will lose ground that had been gained over the past three decades,” said Kenneth C. Land, project coordinator for the Child and Youth Well-Being Index, which uses federal statistics to track how American children are faring in domains such as health, safety and education. The 2009 edition was released today and included a special focus report on anticipating the impacts of the 2008-2010 recession.

The report shows that children’s well-being started to decline last year and is expected to dip to its lowest point in 2010, when many economists believe the full impact of the recession will be felt.

It projects that next year 21 percent of children will be in poverty and 28 percent will not have at least one full-time working parent. The median income for all families will drop to $55,700. Single-parent households led by fathers will be hardest hit.

The economic downturn will ripple across other domains as well, according to the report, causing breakdowns in community ties (driven by unemployment or housing crises) and family structure (due to an expected uptick in divorce rates). Fewer children at 3 and 4 will be enrolled in pre-kindergarten programs, and violent crime will likely increase. The number of children reporting good health is expected to dip (with obesity rates increasing due in part to a reliance on less healthy foods), but government health insurance policies should lessen the economy’s ill effects.

Among the panelists at today’s event was Barbara Bowman, one of President Obama’s advisers on early education. “The Child Well-Being Index has become one of the most important documents we receive annually,” Bowman said, adding that it is used “as a planning tool.”

Bowman said that although the report delivered sobering news, she is reassured by the strong support for childhood programs she has seen in President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan. However, she said, the recession will exacerbate at least three problems: “the continued reluctance to see young children as serious learners” deserving of education programs, “the fear of standards” for early childhood education and the idea that “life begins at age 9” or when 3rd grade testing starts, which she said is promulgated by No Child Left Behind.

“We must be careful not to let the recession get in the way” of programs that support children across a continuum from birth to age 8, she said.

Other panelists remarking on the report’s conclusions and the economy’s impact on children were: Ruby Takanishi, president of the Foundation for Child Development; Reihan Salam, fellow at the New America Foundation; and Greg Acs, senior fellow at the Urban Institute. The event was moderated by David Gray, director of the Workforce and Family Program at the New America Foundation.

The Child Well-Being Index is funded by the Foundation for Child Development and coordinated by the Child Well-Being Index Project at Duke University.