A measles outbreak that has claimed the life of a kid, growing charges of uninsured youngsters, and a maternal well being disaster — these are all worrisome issues that put the well being of youngsters in danger. However add within the Trump administration placing Medicaid on the chopping block, and Well being and Human Companies Secretary Robert F. Kennedy seeking to change the childhood vaccine schedule, and instantly the way forward for youngsters’s well being in the US appears to be like much more precarious.
However how are children really faring in 5 key states — California, Texas, Mississippi, Florida, and New Jersey? Knowledge from nonprofits and advocacy teams reveals loads of challenges, from racial disparities in well being care entry to gaps in preventative screening. And though some states are making strides towards larger well being fairness, tens of millions of kids stay susceptible. Right here’s a better have a look at what the info exhibits us, and what’s being finished.
California
With extra folks than every other state, the Golden State is usually seen because the golden normal, by way of well being care coverage. About 13 million youngsters (about twice the inhabitants of neighboring Arizona) dwell in California’s 58 counties.
Kids Now, an Oakland-based nonprofit group targeted on bettering youngsters’s well being and schooling, is monitoring how properly California children are doing. Its 2025 statewide scorecard reveals that, on common, 31% of kids with Medi-Cal have been screened for lead by their second birthday. However when analyzing 10 counties with a Black inhabitants of greater than 6%, solely about 25% of kids have been screened for lead by age 2.
“We all know that there’s no secure degree of lead for youths, however some children are extra uncovered to the risks of lead — on account of housing injustice and environmental racism,” Mike Odeh, senior director of well being coverage at Kids Now, advised us final 12 months. “It is a results of a number of programs failing Black children.”
From ages zero to 18, youngsters want dozens of preventative care screenings starting from developmental screening to autism screening to immunizations to imaginative and prescient screening — all to guard the well being of a kid. However on common, solely 30% of kids with Medi-Cal obtained a developmental screening by age 3. That leaves tens of millions of kids within the state unchecked for any variety of potential well being points.
Why aren’t children getting screened? Odeh says it’s sophisticated. A number of the components embrace language limitations, pediatricians not having sufficient time with their younger sufferers, and extra time spent on baby behaviors and parenting methods.
“I feel what’s taking place is that we count on a number of providers to occur at these properly baby visits,” he stated in a February interview. “Generally issues don’t get finished, simply to be frank. To not anybody’s fault.”
Options: “California policymakers should make children the primary precedence in well being care and enhance households’ entry to culturally acceptable well being care suppliers for his or her youngsters in a well timed approach,” based on Kids Now. “There have to be a extra proactive deal with lowering the racial, linguistic, geographic, and different disparities in youngsters’s well being care entry and outcomes.”
Texas
Greater than 8 million youngsters dwell in Texas all through its 254 counties. However with a measles outbreak in West Texas, a number of the strictest abortion bans affecting the state, and a rise in toddler deaths, the Lone Star State is coping with quite a few challenges.
Learn extra: 2 Years After Roe, Abortion Entry a Patchwork for Black Girls
Each Texan, an Austin-based nonprofit coverage group, tracks the well-being of Texas youngsters. In its 2024 Texas Children Rely Knowledge Guide, the nonprofit recognized the charges of uninsured youngsters, prenatal care, meals insecurity, psychological well being, and demise.
In 2022, Black youngsters had the very best demise charge, with 100 deaths per 100,000 youngsters. “These statistics level to the pressing want to handle systemic, unequal entry to well being care and the social situations that contribute to greater demise charges amongst Black youngsters,” the report states.
In 2021, Black or African American moms have been the most definitely to have had no prenatal care throughout being pregnant. A scarcity of prenatal care is linked to greater charges of maternal mortality, particularly for Black girls who’re 3 occasions extra possible to die from a pregnancy-related trigger than white girls.
Options: Each Texan’s report requires expanded entry to household planning sources and focused efforts to handle disparities in prenatal care, significantly for Black moms.
Mississippi
The Magnolia State, dwelling to about 800,000 youngsters throughout 82 counties, faces a number of challenges, significantly round psychological well being and preventative care The Kids’s Basis of Mississippi, an unbiased basis, produces information pushed info on the welfare of those youngsters. The 2025 Mississippi Children Rely Factbook recognized the charges of childhood psychological well being challenges, low birth-weight infants, variety of insured youngsters, and weight problems.
Between 2018 and 2023, youngsters in Mississippi had greater charges of a number of psychological, emotional, developmental, or behavioral situation than youngsters nationally. Yr over 12 months Mississippi youngsters ages 3 to 17 with MEBD reported charges 4% to 7% greater than children in different states.
Much like California, about 30% of Mississippi youngsters haven’t had a properly baby go to. And Black youngsters usually tend to report no preventative well being care visits up to now 12 months – about 10% greater than the nationwide common for all youngsters.
Options: “All through their journey to maturity, even probably the most mentally resilient youngsters and youth can encounter unanticipated psychological well being crises,” the report states. So Mississippi is working to bolster psychological well being providers and coordinate care throughout organizations to raised assist youngsters’s well being.
Florida
The Sunshine State is dwelling to about 4.5 million youngsters throughout its 67 counties. The Florida Coverage Institute, an unbiased non-profit group conducts analysis to drive coverage change. Within the 2025 Florida Little one Effectively-Being Index, the group tracked baby meals safety, financial well-being, schooling, and well being.
In 5 Florida counties with a inhabitants of greater than 30% Black People, the speed of uninsured youngsters elevated between 2017 and 2022. Jefferson county noticed a 2% improve inside these 5 years.
Options: Florida Coverage Institute’s report requires extra investments in youngsters and households so that every one Floridian youngsters have entry to inexpensive and high quality well being care.
New Jersey
The Backyard State is dwelling to about 2 million youngsters throughout its 21 counties. The nonprofit Advocates for Kids of New Jersey, researches points and produces experiences to tell its policymakers. Within the 76-page New Jersey Children Rely 2024 pocket information, the group tracked household financial safety, baby well being, baby safety, and schooling.
In 5 New Jersey counties with a inhabitants of greater than 15% Black People, Black youngsters have been the most definitely to be born preterm in 2021. In Camden County, almost 14% of Black youngsters have been born preterm in comparison with 9% of white youngsters.
Options: Advocates for Kids of New Jersey emphasize the necessity for data-driven insurance policies to enhance baby well-being and “assist inform vital choices for kids and households.”
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