If children matter, they must be counted

The first few years of your child’s life, while joyful, can be stressful, anxious ones. Endless worrying and wondering combine with an altogether new level of decision-making because you fret about the repercussions of those choices on the precious life of your baby. It’s a common, and all too relatable experience and even strangers tend to respect the need for due and diligent consideration on baby matters.

But not the government. In fact, for the past decade, an estimated 10% of children in America between birth and age four weren’t given a second thought, let alone a first one. Those 2 million or so children just didn’t count.

That’s because their numbers weren’t included in the 2010 Census. The decennial, Constitutionally-mandated count of the nation’s people, helps determine how to reapportion Congressional seats amongst the 50 states as well as redraw district boundaries in accordance with demographic shifts.

The census is also used to allocate more than $800 billion of government spending every year, according to Count All Kids. That’s $800 billion in school funding, early learning and child care, health insurance, food and housing assistance, and more.

So, when those 2 million children under 4 (the most undercounted of all age groups) get signed up for Head Start or their first day of school, those programs are short-funded their share and their entire communities lose out on vital resources that help all children succeed.

Undercounting means hungrier children, inadequate health care, and overcrowded classrooms.

In 2015, Pennsylvania’s unaccounted for children under 4 meant the Commonwealth lost $44 million in funding. Only Texas and Florida lost more.

What’s particularly troublesome is that some of our more vulnerable kids are at a higher risk of being left out of the Census, like children living in poverty. That doesn’t just mean food assistance programs are underfunded, but that we could have a much higher rate of impoverished children than we already agree is shamefully high.

Other children at greatest risk to be missed are: in foster care; living with caretakers unrelated to them; living with immigrant parents; newborns; living in renter-occupied households; living with parents between the ages of 18-29 who have less than a high school education.

While the national Count All Children campaign spreads the word from coast to coast, Philly Counts is offering local support for those having trouble completing the survey, including email support, in-person assistance, and mailing a paper form to homes.

Philly Counts partnered with PCCY last year at a meeting attended by high quality infant and toddler care providers, explaining how getting as accurate a count of the young cohort is critical to allocating child care funding.

Philly Counts is urging every Philadelphia household to complete the survey and asks all respondents to encourage friends and family to do the same.

Lastly, as there may be some confusion regarding how to count children who divide time between households, if they’re in your house on April 1, 2020, count them. And don’t forget to count newborns!

If children matter, they must be counted.