FOREWORD
As the entrepreneurs, leaders and workers of tomorrow, children are vital to our country’s growth, prosperity and well-being. When children thrive, our nation thrives. That’s why we have produced the KIDS COUNT Data Book every year for nearly three decades: It provides an annual snapshot of how America’s children and families are faring in every state and across the nation.
WHY IT’S ESSENTIAL FOR OUR NATION’S CHILDREN TO SUCCEED
The indicators tracked by KIDS COUNT® reflect a range of milestones and supportive conditions that young people need to succeed as adults. While all our indicators are important, the child poverty rate demands immediate action given the role that economic hardship plays in nearly every other indicator. When young children grow up in poverty, they are at high risk of experiencing difficulties later in life — having poor physical and mental health, becoming teen parents, dropping out of school and facing limited employment opportunities. African-American, Latino and American Indian children are at far greater risk of these negative outcomes than their white or Asian-American peers.
By not prioritizing poverty reduction and by failing to adequately ameliorate its effects when children are young and intervention has the biggest payoff, we waste an unconscionable amount of individual human potential. And the collective toll on our country is enormous.
A decade ago, researchers found child and youth poverty cost the country an estimated $500 billion a year in reduced economic output and increased health and criminal justice expenditures.1 These costs are undoubtedly higher today. But far beyond wasted dollars, failing to provide children with opportunities to reach their potential jeopardizes our nation’s prosperity and economic position in the world.
Providing individuals with opportunities to achieve based on their abilities and efforts — regardless of family background — spurs innovation, entrepreneurship and overall economic growth. These have long been the engines of American success. Yet economic mobility in the United States has stagnated.2 The American Dream that talent and hard work will lead to a steady climb up the economic ladder has become largely out of reach for people starting at the bottom of the income scale.
Strengthening our economy for the long run cannot happen without adequate investment in the education, health and social well-being of our children. The economist and Nobel Laureate James Heckman asserts that achieving better outcomes for children is the single most effective way to create greater economic productivity and prosperity in the United States.3
But leadership and public calls for investing in the next generation are lacking. Rarely do we have serious discussions about prioritizing the needs of children, even though failing to do so threatens America’s future.
To increase opportunity for the next generation, we need only increase our public and political will to elevate the interests of children among our national priorities. We have tremendous knowledge about what children need to succeed and many examples of proven supports and interventions that help children achieve their full potential, regardless of race, ethnicity or zip code. In the sections that follow, we highlight trends in child wellbeing and discuss key examples of public investments that work.
To read the full report, please click the image above. To learn more about the 2017 KIDS COUNT Data Book, or the KIDS COUNT project, please visit the Annie E. Casey Foundation website by clicking here.
