Most journalists who’ve covered child development over the past decade are at least vaguely familiar with the physiological significance of the first three years of life. Millions of neurons are forming in babies’ brains in that early phase, and research has confirmed that success in school, and later life, can be nurtured during those months and years.
But even with all this evidence, America’s policies still don’t prioritize providing the best start for all babies, Patricia Cole told Future of the America Child fellows in Charlotte. The Senior Director of Federal Policy for the Zero to Three organization walked journalists through the 2023 State of Babies Yearbook. That is the group’s 5th release of data and recommendations aimed at amplifying the true status of the youngest Americans.
Building Strong Foundations
“So we always think about the brain architecture, but it’s really the foundations,” Cole said. “We’re learning all relationships are laid in these first years. So it’s very important to understand that whatever happens to babies and therefore whatever happens to their families is really laying the foundations for their future and for our nation’s future. So you really can’t underestimate what’s happening in those years because everything after that gets harder if you don’t make sure that all babies have what they need to thrive.”
Too many federal and state policy decisions don’t provide those crucial elements. “So what happens when young children are in these threatening situations or threatening from their brain standpoint?” Cole said. “We know from the adverse childhood experiences or ACEs study that what happens in early childhood, there’s some key things that can happen that affect what happens to you as an adult in terms of substance use, mental health issues, heart disease, other health issues, and even early death.”
“Poverty can be associated with diminished brain growth in areas that are important for emotional… for regulation, for cognitive, for language, and this is very concerning. But the one thing (researchers) found that really mitigates and buffers children from those effects is really strong parental support. So that might be a clue for public policy about what’s important to do. And the way it works is that poverty brings these material hardships that are hard on families, but it also increases family stress, and babies pick up on that stress. When the stress is intermittent, we all need to learn to deal with it, so that’s not a bad thing. But when it becomes chronic and unrelenting, then we often refer to it as toxic stress because it releases hormones that bathe the brain in chemicals that can undermine the development.”
The State of Babies 2023
Cole said Zero to Three developed its latest State of Babies Yearbook by compiling data and tracking federal and state legislation related to three areas central to infant and child wellbeing: good health, which includes mental health; strong families, which includes economic policies, child welfare, family supports; and positive early learning experiences.
“We are able to use an equity lens because we take every data point that we can do this with and disaggregate by income, by race and ethnicity, and by urbanicity, where we can do that,” Cole said. “And then finally, because most of you probably know if you dug into data that these big databases from census and other places lag several years sometimes. We use data from the RAPID Early Childhood Survey that comes out of the Stanford Center on Early Childhood. They give us the data on families with infants and toddlers, and we are able to look over time at what’s happening to families. So anytime you see a trend, that’s where it is coming from.”
Research shows there’s a growing crisis for babies in many states due to decreased funding for Supplemental Nutrition for Women, Infants and Children or WIC programs. States also vary dramatically in terms of support for childcare and early education programs. And the data teased out another sobering trend: the percentage of babies living in crowded housing.
“I think it’s about 15% overall. There’s a greater likelihood that children of color will live in crowded housing. Now some of this is… there’s a cultural preference element of families that want to live in multi-generational households, and that’s really important. But we also know that because there’s this confluence of race and ethnicity with poverty that it still can be a danger to the child’s development. And is this balanced out by the fact that you probably have more loving adults around the child?”
“But we also know that lacking a stable house or home, it creates a greater risk of food insecurity as well as poor health outcomes. But one of the startling findings of people who have dug deeper into some of the ACEs research is that when you have poverty connected also with crowded housing in early childhood, that creates a much higher risk for early mortality as an adult.”
Overall, the research into policies and advocacy efforts on behalf of babies and families leads to one irrefutable conclusion, Cole said.
“Probably the best thing you could do is help families increase income. It doesn’t necessarily have to be by tax credits. It could be by minimum wage. It’s this idea that all families need the ability to support their families economically…..Almost 40% of babies live in families with low income. That really speaks to the wage structure in our country. And trying to maybe connect it back to those things and really showing that the investments do pay off.”
“If you give all children this opportunity that… And really try to right the inequities that are present, that if you give all children the opportunity to thrive, you can make these investments, they will pay off down the road. The Birth to Five childcare program that a lot of the research that Heckman does is based on, it really does show greater graduation rates, greater attendance in college, better earnings as an adult. And one of his findings that he added to, it was better health outcomes. So you’re really saving money on the system and you’re creating this society and this workforce that is going to be more productive.”
Access the full transcript here.
This fellowship is funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Heising-Simons Foundation. NPF is solely responsible for programming and content.
