CONCORD – New national data shows that New Hampshire ranks second in the United States for overall child well-being. The number two ranking, released as part of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2020 KIDS COUNT® Data Book, is a welcomed recognition, but it reveals a drop from first in 2019, leaving room to improve supports and services for Granite State children and families, especially under the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“New Hampshire is frequently ranked among the best states in the nation to raise a family, but many children across our sate still struggle to access the support they need to thrive,” said Rebecca Woitkowski, Kids Count policy coordinator for New Futures, New Hampshire’s leading health policy and advocacy organization. “This is true now more than ever as COVID-19 has overwhelmed our communities and threatened the stability of our children and families, especially among people of color, who have been disproportionally impacted by this public health crisis.”

In New Hampshire and across the country, child well-being has broadly improved in the three decades since the first Data Book was released. Still, national data mask a great deal of state and regional variation in child well-being. A child’s chances of thriving depend not only on individual and family characteristics but also on the community in which she or he is born and raised.

Quality, affordable childcare and family supports, like home visiting and other services offered at family resource centers, are evidence-based programs that lay the foundation for the brain’s developing architecture, setting a sturdy or fragile stage for all of the learning, health, and behavior that follows. Yet, across the Granite State, many children are raised in communities with underfunded public schools as well as lack of access to affordable quality childcare, Family Resource Centers and other critical supports that are proven to mitigate adverse childhood experiences.

“COVID-19 has overwhelmed states and communities and has challenged the health and economic stability of Granite State families, with profoundly disparate outcomes experienced by people of color,” said Rebecca Woitkowski, early childhood policy coordinator at New Futures Kids Count. “Undoubtedly, 2020 has a year of immense pain and uncertainty for our state’s families.”

The data included in the report are from 2018, the latest available year for the indicators that comprise the child well-being index, meaning that they do not reflect current conditions amidst the COVID-19 crisis. While this year’s Data Book may not reflect what many New Hampshire kids and families are experiencing it remains an important marker of child well-being in America as we look to recovery.

“The 2020 report show that lawmakers must pass policies that support families and improve health equity. All Granite State children deserve to live in strong communities where they have ample opportunity to learn, play and grow,” said Woitkowski.

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