Other Issues in Early Childhood Development

Prenatal Care

The early years of a child’s life are a time of physical, emotional, cognitive, language, and social development. These areas of early development, in turn are critical for getting a child ready for school, subsequent academic success, the process of maturing and the transition into self-sufficient adult livelihood. Positive early childhood development begins before birth with healthy, relatively stress-free pregnancies supplemented by early interventions, if necessary.

In addition, ideal conditions for early childhood development include parents who are aware of the critical importance of early development and have the skills and resources, supplemented when necessary by supportive families, friends, neighbors and communities, to nurture their children through the early phases of life.

We know that early interventions can help mitigate the most extreme consequences of problems arising in early childhood development. An important milestone in making sure that such interventions are possible, when necessary, is to ensure that parents have appropriate prenatal care, beginning as early as possible in the pregnancy.

In addition to watching and caring for the health of mothers and their babies during pregnancy, it is equally important to have healthy and supportive parents, families, neighborhoods, and communities. These interrelated socio-economic structures can contribute to or detract from successful early childhood development. Therefore it is essential to prepare the full continuum from parent to community for the arrival, nurturing and early development of all children.

Beginning with families, research shows that family resources have a significant impact on child development outcomes. Such things as income, employment, levels of parental stress and parental beliefs about raising children all shape the quality of a child’s home environment.

Research shows that over the last 25 years more young children are growing up in single parent homes, more mothers with young children hold full-time jobs, and more children are growing up in poverty.

Health indicators for 0-6 population¹

In 2004, the infant mortality rate was 4.4 per 1,000 live births. This is considered a low rate. However, significant racial disparities exist and may be getting larger.

• The 2002-2004 infant mortality rate for African Americans(9.0/1000) was more than two times higher than that for whites and the rate for Native Americans(14.7/1,000) was more than three times higher than that of whites.
• Low birth weight is an important predictor of poor health and risk of death among infants. The low birth weight rate in King County has increased significantly. The rate was 6.3% in 2003. This increase is attributed to an increase in multiple births resulting from assisted reproductive technologies. The rate of low-birth-weight babies has not changed for singleton births. African American, Native American, and Asian people have higher rates of low-birth-weight babies than do White or Latina mothers.
• Preterm births. Babies born at less than 37 weeks of gestation are considered preterm. These infants are at significant risk of death in the first month of life and more likely to have lifetime health problems. In 2002, 12.8% or 2,784 births in King County were preterm. All non-white racial groups have higher rates of pre-term births than whites.
• King County had the 11th highest rate of late or no prenatal care of 15 major metropolitan counties.
• Latinas, African Americans, Native Americans and Asian/Pacific Islanders have significantly higher rates of late or no prenatal care than whites.
• Rates of late/no prenatal care have declined over the past 10 years for all groups.
• Adolescent birth rates have declined over the last 10 years. King County had the lowest rate of teen births in 2003 of 15 major metropolitan US Counties. Disparities continue, however. Latinas, African American and Native American teens have significantly higher rates than Whites and Asian/Pacific Islander.

Child Abuse and Neglect

The trauma of child abuse and neglect has a dramatic impact on early childhood development. Infants and children who are subjected or exposed to violence often have lifelong difficulties in cognitive, social and emotional functioning. Physical and emotional neglect can also cause abnormal physical, cognitive, social and emotional development. Prevention of and early intervention in child abuse and neglect is much more effective in promoting school readiness and healthy child development than later intervention.

Child Protective Services (CPS) investigates reports of child abuse and neglect. Most referrals are reported from within a family. Some referrals are not accepted because they are not considered credible or serious enough to consider for investigation. “accepted referrals” are those that are investigated further by Child Protective Services workers. While this data does not represent a total number of violent acts, it does give us an indication of how many cases are being investigated.

• Child Abuse and Neglect – 10,522 children (all ages) in King County were reported as victims to Washington State Child Protective Service and accepted for further action in 2006. The rate of accepted referrals has declined over the past 10 years[2].

Return to Top

Foster Care

Children are placed in foster care homes or other foster care facilities when the state deems their home and family situations to be unhealthy, unsafe or when parents are no longer able to care for a child for whatever reason. While foster care can be supportive and nurturing, the living situations often lack the permanency to provide many children the full range of supportive relationships needed for healthy development. Children in the state foster care program have sometimes been abused or neglected, and/or may have special emotional needs.

Whenever possible, children are placed with relatives or close family friends. This keeps them connected with their extended families and to their family culture.

Children are removed from their parental homes only as a last resort, and ideally they are returned to their homes after a very short period of time in foster care. 82% of children are reunited with their families within 12 months.

Among those children who are returned to their homes following out-of-home placement, about 11% recycle back into the foster care system, because the return to home didn’t work.^[3] If it is unlikely that children will be able to return to their biological families, efforts are made to provide permanent homes through adoption, and there has been a steady increase in the number of such adoptions over recent years.

Return to Previous Page