The author Pearl S. Buck once wrote, “If our American way of life fails the child, it fails us all.”
A recent report from the United Nations Children’s Fund reveals that our country is failing us all.
The UNICEF report compares child well-being in 29 of the world’s most advanced economies. The U.S. ranked 26th in overall child well-being and in the bottom seven countries in material well-being; health and safety; educational well-being; housing and environment; and life satisfaction.
The report received little attention in U.S. media, perhaps because it’s becoming old news. The U.S. has consistently been poorly ranked since UNICEF started releasing the report cards more than a decade ago. Notably, the U.S. and Somalia are the only two member countries that haven’t ratified UNICEF’s Convention on the Rights of the Child, which details the basic human rights of children; 190 countries have ratified it.
As if the news from UNICEF isn’t bad enough, North Carolina ranks 34th in the U.S. in overall child well-being, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation. In other words, our children are in one of the lower-ranked states for child well-being in one of the lowest-ranked advanced economies in the world. In sum, things are really bad for children in North Carolina.
According to the most current data from the Casey Foundation, North Carolina ranks 38th in child poverty, 30th in percentage of children without health insurance, 36th in infant mortality rate, and 28th in the rate of children who are confirmed by child protective services as victims of maltreatment.
And, according to the most current data from the Children’s Defense Fund, North Carolina ranks near the bottom in other key measures: 45th in per-pupil expenditure for public education, 39th in food insecurity, 42nd in percentage of children receiving at least one out-of-school suspension and 48th in the number of youth under 18 in adult prisons.
To make matters worse, all of these negative indicators of child well-being have hugely disparate impacts on children of color. We’re in the midst of human and civil rights crises.
Child well-being may soon worsen in North Carolina. Child poverty in the state has been rising steadily since 2007. Now, more than one-quarter of children live in poverty and half of children live below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. Thus, with more children needing the support of their government, funding for public education, child welfare, mental health and juvenile justice services is declining.
Moreover, pending bills in the General Assembly would:
• Limit access to pre-K programs (HB 935).
• Remove limits on class size and eliminate Personal Education Plans for students who are at risk of academic failure (SB 516).
• Eliminate teacher tenure (SB 361).
• Station more law enforcement officers in schools (SB 589/HB 452), which hasn’t been shown to improve school safety, can increase court involvement for minor misbehavior, can result in serious injuries when excessive force is used, and can create an atmosphere of fear, suspicion and control.
• Transfer more children to the adult criminal system (HB 217).
• Put more children at risk of gun violence by allowing firearms in schools (SB 408, SB 410, HB 17).
• Create more barriers to treatment for STDs, pregnancy, substance abuse and mental health issues (SB 675).
• Require criminal background checks (HB 392) and drug screening (SB 447) for social service benefits.
The Chilean poet, Gabriela Mistral, wrote: “We are guilty of many errors and many faults, but our worst crime is abandoning the children, neglecting the fountain of life. Many of the things we need can wait. The child cannot.”
As a child advocate, I beg you, please don’t wait any longer to stand up for our children. Indifference and neutrality betray our children and our future. They can’t vote and don’t have money to give to politicians. Some ways you can advocate for children:
• Show the children in your life that you love and care about them.
• Learn more about problems facing our state’s children and solutions. Start by visiting www.childrensdefense.org and www.ncchild.org.
• Educate others about the problems and solutions through social media, op-eds and conversations with friends and family.
• Volunteer for an organization that serves disadvantaged children, such as an after-school program, shelter or mentoring agency.
• Vote for candidates who support child-friendly laws and policies.
• Lobby policymakers. Demand that they do right by our children. Sign petitions, write letters and emails, make phone calls, speak up at meetings, testify at hearings and request meetings.
• Organize your fellow citizens. Form a group, hold a community meeting, or plan a rally.
In the words of Frederick Douglass, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”
Let’s join together to ensure all children are safe, healthy, well-educated and economically secure.
Jason Langberg is an education attorney and child advocate in Durham. Email: langberg@gmail.com