KIDS COUNT in Delaware

Devoted to improving the well-being of our state's children, youth and their families, KIDS COUNT in Delaware has been using highly credible research, data collection and education to inform change on behalf of children for the last 25 years.

KIDS COUNT is a national and state-by-state effort by the Annie E. Casey Foundation to track the well-being of children in the United States. KIDS COUNT in Delaware, a project of the Center for Community Research & Service, is a collaborative effort of over forty organizations to enrich local and state discussion concerning ways to secure better lives for all children by providing policy makers and citizens with benchmarks of child well-being.

KIDS COUNT in Delaware Team:

Janice Barlow, MPA, Policy Scientist and KIDS COUNT Director

Erin Lynch, MS, Assistant Policy Scientist

Natalie Paramo, Public Policy Intern

The COVID-19 pandemic and recent civil unrest resulting from racial injustice have intensified the need to re-imagine how communities and public systems support children and families. Because these barriers persist even with the broad progress of the past twenty-five years, it is more urgent than ever for leaders to focus on systemic solutions that work for everyone.

In a year-long webinar series "Timeline Tuesdays," KIDS COUNT in Delaware brings together leaders from across the state to engage in conversations - both grounded in data and informed by those working in the field - to advance collaboration towards positive outcomes for children and families. The goal of this series is to translate research and policy from the past 25 years into effective action steps in partnership with stakeholders.

Webinar dates & topics planned:

• March 16, 2021 at 1:00 PM Data Snapshot: Housing Register Now
  
• April 20, 2021 at 1:00 PM Data Snapshot: High School Graduation
• May 18, 2021 at 1:00 PM Data Snapshot: Children in Poverty
• June 15, 2021 at 1:00 PM Data Snapshot: Student Assessment
• July 20, 2021 at 1:00 PM Data Snapshot: Children in One-Parent Families
• August 17, 2021 at 1:00 PM Data Snapshot: Births to Teens
• September 21, 2021 at 1:00 PM Data Snapshot Wrap-up, Revisit and Review

Registration for future webinars within the series will be forthcoming.

Data from the KIDS COUNT in Delaware 2020 Fact Book: Now & Then show progress has been made in the last 25 years on many measures of child well-being. Howeer, negative outcomes persist for children and families who are marginalized, suggesting who will be most impacted from the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Strides have been made in the past 25 years regarding many aspects of child health and wellbeing: Delawares teen birth rate has fallen, the percentage of children without health insurance has dropped, safety standards have decreased the number of child deaths, and the creation of an initiative for juvenile alternatives to detention has impacted the rate of incarcerated children.

The next 25 years present an opportunity for improvement on various social determinants of health: reductions in the rate of babies born at low birth weight and the percentage of babies born to single moms. COVID-19 has brought to light an urgent need to reimagine how communities and public systems support children and families. We knew vulnerabilities existed in many communities, says Janice Barlow, and now, during a public health crisis, we see how devastating they can be on a whole new scale. Data from the past 25 years show that we as a state have failed to eliminate the persistent racial and ethnic inequities that are shown in the measures of child well-being.

The online KIDS COUNT Data Center offers data on education, employment and income, poverty, health and youth at-risk factors. We invite you to discover ways to customize the data and join us in using this data to make informed decisions by investing in Delaware's biggest asset, our kids.

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