The new 2022 KIDS COUNT Data Book is out. It’s the annual, Annie E. Casey Foundation report that takes a deep dive into how the nation’s children are doing.

This year, the data book points out that while the pandemic and widespread economic uncertainty have caused harm, there are also pockets of progress. 

This year’s report focuses on children’s mental health.

“As of July 2022, the health crisis had killed more than 1 million people in America, including more than 1,600 children,” the foundation says of the pandemic’s impact. “During this same time span, more than 200,000 kids had lost a parent or primary caregiver to the virus.”

This has “helped fuel what the U.S. surgeon general has called a mental health pandemic for youth. According to the Data Book, the incidence of anxiety and depression among kids has spiked. Comparing pre-pandemic to the first year of the COVID-19 crisis: The share of children struggling to make it through the day rose nearly 26% — from 9.4% (5.8 million kids) in 2016 to 11.8% (7.3 million kids) in 2020.”

Another challenge is racial and eth­nic dis­par­i­ties that have con­tributed to “dis­pro­por­tion­ate­ly trou­bling men­tal health and well­ness con­di­tions among chil­dren of col­or. Nine per­cent of high-school­ers over­all but 12% of Black stu­dents, 13% of stu­dents of two or more races, and 26% of Amer­i­can Indi­an or Native Alaskan high-school­ers attempt­ed sui­cide in the year pri­or to the most recent fed­er­al sur­vey.”

In addition, “many LGBTQ young peo­ple are encoun­ter­ing chal­lenges as they seek men­tal health sup­port. Among het­ero­sex­u­al high school stu­dents of all races and eth­nic­i­ties, 6% attempt­ed sui­cide; the share was 23% for gay, les­bian or bisex­u­al students.”

Here in Massachusetts, the pandemic has taken its toll, but the state has also seen improvements. The rate of child poverty was 14 percent from 2008 to 2012 and fell to 12 percent in 2016 to 2020. Over the same time periods, children whose parents lack secure employment fell from 29 percent to 26 percent.

Massachusetts is ranked second nationally among states in education. But it has seen loses in key areas:

“The data clearly show that the Commonwealth has a lot further to go to create an equitable future for our children,” said Marie-Frances Rivera, President of MassBudget, the home of KIDS COUNT in Massachusetts. “If we’re going to rank #1, we must ensure that all kids means all kids. We can achieve this here in the Commonwealth by raising new, sustainable revenue to make the investments needed to drive equity for this generation and the next.”

Nancy Wagman, MassBudget’s research & KIDS COUNT director will be on Strategies for Children’s 9:30 call on Wednesday, September 21, 2022, to share more about the Data Book and its implications for Massachusetts. To join in, sign up on our 9:30 call webpage.

To address the challenges children’s face, the data book makes key recommendations.

“Early research indicates that addressing youth mental health needs can reduce or even eliminate pandemic-related stress. Accordingly, the Foundation calls on lawmakers to enact the programs and policies needed to ease mental health burdens on children and their families.”

These recommendations include:

• prioritizing efforts to meet kids’ basic needs, such as having “nutritious food, stable housing and safe neighborhoods”

• ensuring that “every child has access to the mental health care they need,” and

• “bolstering evidence-based mental health care that considers young people’s experiences and identities”

“Amer­i­can pol­i­cy­mak­ers must pri­or­i­tize solu­tions that don’t leave any­one behind,” Lisa Hamil­ton, president and CEO of the Casey Foundation, says. ​“Chil­dren deserve to thrive regard­less of their back­ground or in which state they live.”