New Tool to Help States Improve Outcomes for Babies

The United States ranks 31st out of 38 economically advanced nations for relative child poverty. The picture is particularly grim for our youngest children with nearly a quarter of infants and toddlers living below the poverty level ($24,600 for a family of four in 2017). The State of Babies Yearbook: 2019, a new report from ZERO TO THREE and Child Trends, lays bare how each state is serving, or failing to serve, its youngest residents. States are ranked across three domains—good health, strong families, and positive early learning experiences. This new data source will support officials at state and national levels to make informed decisions and equip advocates to hold them accountable.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the Chairwoman of the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee, speaking at the report launch said, “We cannot know where we should be improving and investing if we do not know where we are excelling or where we are lagging.” The State of Babies Yearbook provides a road map for creating systems and guiding future investment. For example, nationally only 7 percent of eligible infants and toddlers are able to access Early Head Start (EHS). But this national average masks great variation among states where access to EHS ranges from 3 percent in Tennessee to 21 percent in Vermont. Leaders can use data like these to identify gaps in care and target resources to ensure equitable access. Because the data cross sectors and funding streams, they can help administrators of departments of human services, education, and health understand the reach of programs across departments. They also offer insight for how administrators can collaboratively build a constellation of programs to support families.

The new report is a great tool for advocates. State-level data allow officials to measure their performance relative to other states. Public shaming for being 51st of 51 can be a powerful statistic to galvanize support for action. In the 2019 issue of the report, 12 states were ranked in the highest overall tier with 13 states ranked in the second, third, and fourth tiers each. The authors provided further detail by ranking states by domain (good health, strong families, and positive early learning experiences) and displaying scores on indicators within the domain. This means overall ranking will not mask a strength or a weakness in any single domain. Advocates in the third and fourth tier states can push hard for reform. And decision makers from states performing poorly on an indicator can look to high-scoring states for advice.

The State of Babies Yearbook can also serve as an accountability tool. The inaugural report provides a baseline against which future annual reports measure growth. Government administrators can use it to drive behavior among contractors providing services to infants, toddlers, and their families. For example, at the report launch, Joshua Baker, director of the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, stated his plans to shift away from providing bonuses to contractors based on population-level measures. Instead, he is going to require growth in closing racial, gender, and geographic outcome gaps. Baker said, “It is important that the government use it’s purchasing power to get the behavior that it wants out of the people providing services.” The State of Babies Yearbook will provide the data necessary to track those outcomes and to hold providers responsible.

The State of Babies Yearbook will enable a state to review data, identify where they fail to achieve desired outcomes, and target resources to that area. Whether states are spurred to invest in underfunded programs that work, like Early Head Start, or seek innovation, one thing is clear—they must take action. Every child deserves an equal opportunity to a quality foundation that will prepare them to grow, learn, and succeed. As DeLauro said, “Let us take the areas of strength as a national source of pride and a road map for expansion. And let us take the areas of weakness as a call to action.”

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