When a low census count hurts children’s well-being
“The 2020 census is mired in challenges that could shortchange the official count by 1.5 million children younger than age 5, a recent report cautions. The Casey Foundation’s 2018 KIDS COUNT Data Book warns that this discrepancy would put hundreds of millions of federal dollars at risk, under-funding programs that are critical for family stability and opportunity. The census mandates that ‘everyone be counted, only once, in the right place.’ In turn, those counts drive funding allocations for many federally funded programs and subsidies that support young children’s healthy development. But recent changes to the way that census data are collected threaten an accurate count.”