- June 21, 2021
- Schmudget Blog
Every child needs access to food, health care, safe and stable housing, and education. However, hundreds of thousands of children in Washington state lacked these necessities prior to the pandemic. And the ongoing fallout of the economic and public health catastrophe has brought thousands more children face-to-face with challenges ranging from lost health insurance and bare pantries to the possibility of homelessness due to eviction or foreclosure.
Each year, the Annie E. Casey Foundation measures 16 indicators of child well-being across four domains – economic well-being, education, health, and family and community context – in their annual KIDS COUNT Data Book. Because this year’s Data Book does not capture the impact of the past year (that data will not be available until next year), the findings from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey (designed to measure household experiences since the onset of COVID-19) are an important supplement. Together, they help provide a fuller understanding of how children across Washington state have been faring – both before and during the pandemic.