Between birth and age three, a child’s brain develops faster than it will at any other stage of life. But that development can be impeded if a baby isn’t properly cared for and nurtured—if a family is homeless, for example. A new report from nonprofit SchoolHouse Connection estimates that in 2022-23, almost 447,000 infants and toddlers across the U.S. experienced homelessness—including almost 14,000 in Washington, more per capita than in the nation as a whole. Less than 10 percent of these Washington youngsters were enrolled in any form of early childhood education program, less than the national average.
Based on data gathered by the University of Michigan, SchoolHouse Connection estimates that homelessness among infants and toddlers in the U.S. increased by 23 percent between 2021 and 2023. In Washington, the number of homeless schoolchildren surged 31 percent during the same period, according to data gathered by the nonprofit Building Changes.
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Thank you for this excellent article; I plan to take this information with me to a planned meeting with Washington state legislators. So I’m grateful for this.
I cannot believe Washington State has the highest number of homeless infants in the nation. Cannot rather than do not, because I cannot understand how this state would let it become so. More than Mississippi? More than Florida, Arkansas? Why do I have this penchant to associate homelessness and poverty with Southern states rather than my own? How is it possible? The poor, even the middle class, can no longer live in Seattle because only the rich can afford the housing. Is that part of the reason? Didn’t we used to be a notable union state? Has our demand for lower costs overwhelmed the ability of the poor and the working and middle class, if such classes still exist, to provide for their children? If we know the numbers, he pressing questions are why and how did we allow this to develop?