From child poverty to education, here's what experts say should shape public policy

How will you address child hunger? What will you do to make health care more accessible for low-income families with children? In what way would you improve the child welfare system?

These are just a few of the questions that voters should consider asking candidates ahead of the upcoming elections, according to Kids Count in Delaware.

The organization released its annual Focus Book on Wednesday, showcasing data on a multitude of issues related to children. This year’s publication has a particular focus: public policy.

“We really need to be starting with the data as the first piece in order to open dialogue,” said Janice Barlow, director of Kids Count in Delaware and policy scientist at the University of Delaware.

What the data shows

One in 5 Delawareans are younger than 18, according to Kids Count. Of these children, 16.8% live in poverty. It’s the highest poverty rate of any age group in the state and has negative impacts on all aspects of well-being.

Data analyzed by Kids Count found that Delaware’s children are more likely to experience hunger than adults, and nearly a quarter of public school students qualified for free meals. Their families also felt the strain, with 43% of households with children reporting that it’s somewhat or very difficult to pay for usual household expenses.

And while youth homelessness appears to have decreased in 2023, Kids Count attributed the change to the end of COVID-era motel vouchers that made counting more centralized.

This was not the only way in which pandemic measures to alleviate financial burdens were positive.

Efforts like universal free school lunches, increased child tax credit and greater Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits mitigated many of the effects of poverty at the height of the pandemic, Barlow said. But now that they’re no longer in place, concerning trends are once again beginning to emerge.

“We know what works, but we let it stop and our kids are seeing the consequences,” Barlow said.

The impact of the pandemic

While the public health emergency for COVID-19 expired almost a year ago, the lasting impact of the pandemic on children has not gone away. One-fifth of public school students in Delaware were chronically absent — defined as missing at least 10% of school days — in 2023, according to Kids Count, and standardized test scores remain lower than they were before the pandemic.

COVID-19 also exacerbated and “shone a spotlight” on childhood mental health problems, Barlow said, though the issue existed far before 2020. She said that 24% of Delaware parents surveyed in October reported that their children experienced anxiety, and 14% said that their child had depression.

The majority of these same families reported some level of difficulty in finding mental health treatment for their children, with 5% unable to get treatment at all.

Barlow encouraged voters to ask candidates and current lawmakers about how they would address childhood mental health struggles, including whether they would support and fund mental health services in schools—a solution that she said makes students six times more likely to access treatment.

"Obviously, there are a lot of conversations that would need to happen, obstacles around that related to funding and logistics and sustainability, but it's a place to start," Barlow said. "The whole purpose of the data is to open those conversations — what are the challenges, how do we overcome them and how do we get to that point?"

Acknowledging diversity

Delawareans younger than 18 are the most diverse demographic in the state, with over 50% of children identifying as non-white. In comparison, only 35% of adult residents identify as non-white.

This means that children are increasingly likely to encounter inequities in everything from education to healthcare—the same challenges that adults of color regularly face.

Black infants have the highest infant mortality rate in the state, according to Kids Count, and non-white students are more likely to drop out of high school than their white peers.

It’s one of the report’s major themes: “historical policies perpetuate inequities.” The Focus Book itself is not immune; because of an overall decrease in survey responses, Barlow said it's likely that certain demographic groups are especially underrepresented, which may lead to bias in the results.

Still, Barlow said the general takeaways — especially the far-reaching effects of childhood poverty — should be on the forefront of voters' minds this year.

"Kids are tomorrow's leaders," Barlow said. "And if we're not investing in them and giving them a solid foundation so that they can transition into these roles, then we're setting ourselves up for for failure as a society."

Send story tips or ideas to Hannah Edelman at hedelman@delawareonline.com. For more reporting, follow them on X at @h_edelman.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: New Delaware report highlights issues of child poverty, mental illness